Cymande

Cymande are a British funk group from London, formed by musicians from Guyana and Jamaica. Active in the early 1970s, the group includes Jimmy Lindsay, Patrick Patterson, Michael Rose and Steve Scipio. Their music combines funk and psychedelic soul with elements of calypso, jazz, African music and American soul.

Career and recordings

The group is discovered by English producer John Schroeder in a Soho club while he expects to see another band. After hearing Cymande rehearse, he signs them and records their first single, “The Message”, for Janus Records, a division of Chess Records. The single reaches number 20 on the US R&B and Pop charts. Their self-titled debut album follows in 1972.

Cymande then travel to New York, tour the United States with Al Green and share bills with the Latin funk group Mandrill. They also perform at the Apollo and appear on Soul Train. The band releases three albums for Janus: Cymande, Second Time Around and Promised Heights. Their final album, Promised Heights, develops their chilled funk and jazz sound and includes “Brothers on the Slide”, “The Recluse”, “Changes” and the title track.

Later recognition

By the mid-1970s the members go their separate ways. Their original albums later become sought after by DJs and funk collectors, and the group begins to receive financial rewards only many years after their first release, as their music is widely sampled.

“Bra” becomes one of the group’s best-known recordings and is later sampled by De La Soul. “Bra” and “Brothers on the Slide” also become staples of the rare groove and deep house scenes in London and New York during the 1980s. Other recordings by the band appear in film and popular music, including use in Crooklyn and 25th Hour, and samples by the Fugees, Masta Ace, MC Solaar, Ruthless Rap Assassins and others. Aswad also cover “The Message” on their album Distant Thunder.