Latest news with #Cymande
Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Cork Jazz Fest: First acts announced for the super popular October Bank Holiday festival
The first acts for this year's Guinness Cork Jazz Festival have been announced, offering jazz lovers everything from contemporary innovators to emerging Irish talent. The Cork Jazz Festival will once again bring a swing to the city from Thursday, October 23 to Monday, October 27, and tickets go on sale this Friday. The line-up of acts announced this week includes Cymande, whose infectious blend of funk, soul, reggae and Afrobeat helped influence much of the modern music landscape, JP Cooper, known for his soulful vocals and crossover hits, and the legendary Senegalese band Orchestra Baobab with their signature blend of West African and Afro Cuban brass arrangements and soulful harmonies. Tbl8 take to the streets of Cork City during The Big Fringe at the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival. Picture: Darragh Kane. A festival highlight will be The Pharcyde, marking 30 years of Labcabincalifornia. The influential LA hip-hop group will revisit their jazz-soaked second album, produced in part by the late J Dilla. Other acts include: Jeff Mills presents Tomorrow Comes the Harvest, an exploration of techno-meets-jazz improvisation Ross From Friends, who brings his Bubble Love set, blending lo-fi electronics and soulful textures The Adrian Younge Orchestra Hypnotic Brass Ensemble The Congos Khakikid Le Boom Vieux Farka Touré James Holden & Wacław Zimpel Nigerian-Irish vocalist Tolü Makay. Le Boom will play this year's Cork Jazz Festival. The celebration of Ireland's finest new music continues at this year's festival, with TBL8 Brass, Projective, Syano, Smithereens, Lavery, CamrinWatsin, Wexford-raised rapper Maverick Sabre, and community favourite Mo Cultivation & Friends. Tom Keating will also host a number of shows at Cork City Hall. Cymande will play this year's Cork Jazz Festival. Speaking about the announcement of acts at this year's Cork Jazz Festival, festival director Mark Murphy said: 'The Guinness Cork Jazz Festival is more than an event — it's a legacy and a culture. We're thrilled to bring another great line-up to Cork this October. And with even more exciting announcements still to come, we can't wait to share what's in store.' Maverick Sabre will play this year's festival. Head of partnerships for Diageo, Rory Sheridan, added: 'Guinness has proudly supported the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival for decades, and we're delighted to continue this partnership in 2025. "This iconic festival brings people together through incredible music, culture, and community spirit — values that are at the heart of Guinness. We look forward to another unforgettable October weekend in Cork.' More headline acts will be revealed in the coming weeks and tickets will go on sale on August 15 at
Calgary Herald
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
Calgary folk fest: Cymande may have one of the best comeback stories of all time, but founders say the band never really broke up
Article content While the band was gaining traction in the U.S., it was virtually ignored after returning home to England. Scipio and Patterson left the United Kingdom and both became lawyers. Scipio even became the Attorney General of Anguilla for seven years. Article content 'The success and the recognition, we had reached a certain level (in America) and felt we could not fall below a certain standard,' Scipio says. 'We were not prepared to do that. I should also say family interests had an impact on our decision. So we decided to call it a day, take a break and then revisit sometime down the road.' Article content 'We described it (as) being a question of dignity and properly representing those who had found something worthwhile in the music,' Patterson adds. 'With those two things in mind, you can't go back to something that didn't match those achievements. We had to stand for something, having done what we did, being accepted by American audiences in the way we had been. You can keep going, going, going if you want to play the pub or some small clubs, but that said nothing to us. That did not represent what audiences had done in recognizing our music as valuable to them, as meaningful to them. Having another place to go or a desire (for) another place made it easy to stop for the length of time that we eventually did.' Article content Article content 'I myself have probably always been a lawyer in my head,' Patterson adds with a laugh. 'But that's quite a different thing from being a lawyer in real time. But it was good to have that, if you like, failsafe.' Article content Music has returned to the forefront now. Cymande released Renascence in January, its first new album in a decade. Scipio and Patterson have always resisted characterizing Cymande as a funk band, and the new album showcases a hybrid of genres. That includes the dark funk and deep-soul grooves that open Chasing an Empty Dream, the soft R&B of Road to Zion and jazz beats of Coltrane, a tribute to one of the band's earliest influences. Article content The piano-led ballad Only One Way features a stunning vocal by British neo-soul artist Celeste, who asked to collaborate with the band. British DJ Jazzie B joins the group for the soaring, shape-shifting, sing-along How We Roll. Article content Article content 'Over the years, we have never stopped writing,' Scipio says. 'But this new project has been a real pleasure because we have managed to find an avenue that connected our past with our present and our future as we saw it.' Article content As for the hip-hop artists that helped bring Cymande back to the spotlight, the two musicians are appreciative. Article content 'The young guys who use bits of our music to make their own creations have done a wonderful job,' says Scipio. Article content 'To have your work recognized in that way by peer musicians is a fantastic thing,' Patterson says. 'Especially after the period of time and the struggles that we had experienced in the '70s. To find a younger generation having that connectedness with something you had created all that time ago makes you feel that it had value for it to sustain itself… The thing you created has value that transcends generations. I'm certainly very proud of what we did in the 1970s.'
CBS News
14-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Celebrated New York dance company comes to Lesher Center
The Dance Theatre of Harlem was founded by Arthur Mitchell, partly as a means to create a more accessible style and presence of the art of ballet. Over a half a century later, the company is still carrying on the mission, delivering pretty darned exhilarating performances. The troupe's annual hometown run is a popular attraction throughout New York City, but it also tours across the country. The 18-dancer troupe, now led by Alex Garland, returns to Walnut Creek this weekend, continuing a longstanding relationship with the Lesher Center for the Arts. The program includes a variety of works and styles, from classical ballet to contemporary, urban and postmodern. According to reports, on this tour the company has been performing Garland's world premiere work "The Cookout," set to music by the late Jill Scott, the British Afro-funk band Cymande, and more. Performances are 7:30 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday. Tickets ($89-$110) and more information are available at or (925) 943-7469.
CBS News
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
San Francisco's Noise Pop Festival rolls into first full week
Celebrating its 32nd year, the annual Noise Pop Festival continues Tuesday with a busy schedule of local and national acts including Death Cab for Cutie songwriter Ben Gibbard, hip-hop maverick Earl Sweatshirt and more. A San Francisco institution ever since it began as one night of loud, tuneful local bands back in 1993, the festival has expanded this year to ten days of music, film and art featuring some of the most respected names in independent music. While the focus remains on the cutting edge of indie rock, the eclectic festival also features modern R&B, global grooves and even avant-garde electronic music. Noise Pop will also be returning to unusual venues with multiple events at Grace Cathedral and Mission District art space Gray Area. After going dark on Monday following a busy opening weekend to the festival that included sold-out shows featuring St. Vincent, the Reverend Horton Heat and Chat Pile, Noise Pop ramps up the activity on a number of fronts Tuesday. Feb. 25 marks the beginning of four days of collaboration with radio station KEXP's live session series broadcasting from 25th Street Recordings in Oakland. This week's Live on KEXP feature artists headlining shows during the rest of the festival (Cymande, Wyattja) in addition to some hand-selected local acts including electronic favorites Toro Y Moi, rising Oakland rockers Fake Fruit and experimental punk band Marbled Eye. Tuesday will also commence the annual series of free happy hour shows at popular Mission District dive Bender's that will offer a range of performers like Fake Your Own Death (led by ex-Elephone guitarist Terry Ashkinos) and local songwriter Jacob Aranda. Other highlights on Tuesday include the first of two nights with acclaimed Odd Future member and rapper/producer Earl Sweatshirt, who will be performing two completely different sets at the Great American Music Hall with support from Navy Blue and El Cousteau and a special set from Death Cab for Cutie/The Postal Service principal Ben Gibbard at Grace Cathedral that includes an opening performance by Sea Lemon, the dreampop solo project of Seattle-based musician Natalie Lew. Wednesday finds August Hall hosting a sold-out show by influential and heavily sampled British funk outfit Cymande. Formed in the early '70s by Afro-Caribbean musicians who had ended up in London, the band was discovered at an underground club in Soho by British producer John Schroeder. The band had some success with its eponymous debut and the bass-driven minor hit single "The Message," touring the U.S. with soul vocalist Al Green, jazz keyboardist Ramsey Lewis and like-minded global funk band Mandrill, but a lack of impact in their native country led the group to dissolve after three albums with a fourth that didn't see release until 1981. However a resurgence of interest spurred by the creative sampling of their songs by De La Soul, EPMD, The KLF, MC Solaar, Heavy D and the Fugees eventually spurred a one-off reunion in 2006. That was followed by a full-blown revival a decade later that included a new album and Cymande's first U.S. tour since 1973. The band has since been the subject of an acclaimed documentary and released another new effort entitled Renascence last year. Brooklyn electro-soul duo Bathe opens the show. Wednesday will also mark the first San Francisco appearances by reunited Austin-based band the American Analog Set in 20 years. Crafting a mix of lush, delicate dream-pop and minimalist post-rock instrumentals, the group earned a loyal fan base starting in the mid-1990s. While the band went on an extended hiatus in 2005, they released For Forever, their first album in 18 years, late in 2023 and played their first live shows since 2011 in Austin last year. The group's back catalog is also receiving a deluxe reissue treatment by Numero Group, who put out a box set of their first three albums in 2024 and will release a second box later this year. These two shows at Grey Area will feature AAS playing a 90-minute set drawn from the band's first six albums. More details about Noise Pop's full schedule of events, tickets and festival badges can be found at
Washington Post
12-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Legendary British funk band Cymande is back, with new stories to tell
Even if you think you've never heard Cymande's music, you almost certainly have. Maybe it was as key samples in De La Soul's 'Change in Speak' or the title track to the Fugees' album 'The Score.' Perhaps it was in Spike Lee's post-9/11 masterpiece '25th Hour,' or during a party scene in the acclaimed film 'The Worst Person in the World.'
