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Cymande are the greatest band you’ve likely never heard of and this is their incredible untold story. Formed in south London by musicians who came to the UK from the Carribean as part of the Windrush generation and led by Patrick Patterson (guitar) and Steve Scipio (bass), they combined jazz, funk, soul and Caribbean grooves to create a new sound.
Despite finding success in the US with their first three brilliant albums they faced indifference through prejudice at home, became disillusioned and disbanded in 1975. But their music lived on as new generations of artists, in the UK and the US discovered, sampled and reworked their pioneering sounds, taking their music to new audiences.
Illustrated with archival footage, the story of these unsung heroes is told on screen through new interviews with the original band members filmed over two years.
The Garden Cinema View:
Getting It Back is many things: a snapshot of 1970s London and New York, a musical history of funk and hip hop, and an inspirational battle against significant odds, but above all, it’s a really good time.
With practically every scene scored by the groove of Cymande’s wonderful and groundbreaking music, this is an act of cinematic flower giving to some truly deserving artists. Despite Stateside success, Cymande found themselves smothered by a systemically racist UK music industry, only to be revived through sampling on several significant Hip-Hop records.
Whilst the parade of famous American musician talking heads quickly becomes tedious (I don’t think anyone’s life is richer for knowing that My Morning Jacket are Cyamande fans), the film comes alive with interviews with the band themselves, concert and rehearsal scenes, and some excellent archive footage. One particularly riveting sequence sees DJs explaining how they would cut between two vinyl’s of Cymande’s ‘The Bra’ to extend the breakdown, possibly even creating the foundation for Hip Hop itself…