Project Detail

Getting It Back: The Story of Cymande

Synopsis

They are the unsung heroes of hip hop, disco and a host of other genres, whose message of peace, love and funk sailed beyond Britain's shores and helped shape music for five decades. Long after they stopped playing, the music played on, so they returned to play some more.
In the racially turbulent UK of the early 70s, a group of black musicians came together in South London with a common love of rhythms and a message of peace. Cymande – with the dove as their symbol – combined jazz, funk, soul and Caribbean grooves to form a unique sound. Despite success in the USA they faced indifference in their native Britain, becoming disillusioned and disbanding. But the music lived on, as new generations of artists imbibed and reworked their pioneering sounds in fresh ways. From Soul II Soul to De La Soul, MC Solaar to The Fugees, the Dove had spread Cymande's message far and wide, prompting their return after forty years. This is their story.
Official Selection SXSW Film Festival 2022 - World premiere

Details

Year: 2022
Type of film: Features
Running time: 89 min
Director: Tim Mackenzie-Smith
Producer: Tim Mackenzie-Smith, Matt Wyllie
Executive Producer: John Battsek, Daniel Gordon
Editor: Matt Wyllie
Director of Photography: David Corfield
Archive Producer: Beatrice Read
Music Supervisor: Gary Welch

Genre

Music Black Dance

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

Crawshay Films in association with Ventureland and Very Much So

Crawshay Films

Tim Mackenzie-Smith

tim@deadpan-films.com

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