Getting It Back: The History of Cymande, an award-winning music documentary feature, will be released in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on 16 February 2024 by BFI Distribution and on an extended run at BFI Southbank. It will be available on BFI Player and released on Blu-ray by the BFI on 26 February.
The debut feature film from British director Tim Mackenzie-Smith is a riveting account of what happened to Cymande, a Black British group from the 1970s, who by rights should have become homegrown superstars. However, the band’s songs did eventually change music history – and the dancefloor. The film had its world premiere at SXSW and its UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival.
Cymande is a band you may never have heard of, but whose music you will very likely know. This is the band’s incredible untold story. In the early 70s south London, a group of Black musicians, who came to the UK from the Caribbean as children as part of the Windrush generation, formed Cymande. Led by Patrick Patterson (guitar) and Steve Scipio(bass), they combined jazz, funk, soul, and Caribbean grooves to create a new sound; music that was political, and spiritual. They were all about peace and love, using a dove as their symbol – and ahead of its time. Despite finding success in the USA with their first three brilliant albums with hit songs ‘Bra’, ‘Dove’, and ‘The Message’, they faced indifference and institutional discrimination at home, became disillusioned, and disbanded in 1975. But their music lived on as new generations of DJs and artists, in the UK and the US, in Hip Hop, House, Drum and Bass, R&B, and Rare Groove, discovered, sampled, and reworked their pioneering sounds in hits by De La Soul, Wu-Tang Clan, The Fugees, The KLF and more. Forty years later, the band came back to play together again, to rapturous crowds and critical acclaim.
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 documentary also features tributes from musicians and producers who have been influenced and enthralled by their music, including Mark Ronson, Norman Jay, Jazzie B, Craig Charles, Khruangbin, Loyle Carner, DJ Maseo of De La Soul, Jazzy J, Master Ace, Jim James, Louie Vega, and Peanut Butter Wolf.
Cymande will be on tour in support of the film release throughout 2024 in Australia and Europe including UK dates. The band continues to reach new audiences and they are being embraced by yet another breed of fan – the generations who weren’t even born when the band originally split up.
For further information on the film and band, please visit
Image provided by Kush Promotions
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