You've probably heard the Anglo-Caribbean group Cymande, whether you realize it or not, especially if you dig quality vintage hiphop and crafty electronic-music producers such as Luke Vibert. That's Cymande's incomparably uplifting tune "Bra" adding spring to De La Soul's "Change in Speak," and the guitar from "Dove" lending deep intrigue to Wu-Tang Clan's "Problems" and the Fugees' "The Score." That's "The Message" providing slinky groove and buoyant brass to Masta Ace's "Me and the Biz" and the funky, gangsta-lean beats of "Brothers on the Slide" strutting through Metal Fingers' "Cedar." According to whosampled.com, their songs have been sampled 146 times.

Cymande (pronounced "sih-MAHN-day") are a definitive "if you know, you know" band. Their first three John Schroeder-produced albums—1972's Cymande, 1973's Second Time Round, and 1974's Promised Heights—have been gold mines for those samples. With their horns, flutes, congas, and bongos, Cymande created a spicy, soulful mélange of funk, R&B, jazz, reggae, psychedelia, and West Indian folk that the band coined "nyah-rock." The debut LP's liner notes describe it as "the music of the man who finds in life a reason for living."

Despite this catalog of killer cuts, they failed to gain traction in their United Kingdom home base. Cymande's commercial failure there remains one of the music industry's most infuriating episodes. More on that later.

By contrast, America welcomed them with open hearts and swaying hips. During their '70s peak, Cymande opened for soul superstar Al Green, fellow versatile groovers Mandrill, Impressions vocalist Jerry Butler, and soul-jazz populist Ramsey Lewis. Plus, Cymande were the first British group to headline the Apollo. They also appeared on Soul Train.

Speaking over Zoom to Cymande founders Steve Scipio (bass) and Patrick Patterson (guitar) in 2025, I detect no bitterness over their snub by Britain. Instead, these 75-year-old Guyana-born gents are congenial and enthused about their comeback album, the righteous and vital Renascence, and their upcoming US tour. Both men became lawyers after Cymande first split in 1974, with Scipio serving as Anguilla's attorney general, and their demeanors and Caribbean-accented English are as dignified as you'd expect.

Is it weird now for Scipio and Patterson to play songs they wrote over 50 years ago? "Oh no," Scipio says. "We had a rehearsal yesterday. We hadn't played in a while with the band because [Patrick and I] were focusing on the promo with the new album over the last six weeks. But the band got together in preparation for the US tour and started going over the old songs again. And there was a vibe that we got from it. Even after all these years, once you start playing it and the rhythm and the groove kick in, it feels like the first time."

For this tour, fans can expect several numbers from Renascence plus what Patterson says are "standard Cymande tracks that we have to play and that we enjoy playing: 'The Message,' 'Bra,' 'Brothers on the Slide,' 'Dove.' The new songs have been going down very well. We are very pleased with how this album has been received [by the press]."

"It's a debate Patrick and I have a lot, actually, before we went into the studio," Scipio says. "How are we going to approach this album? There's always the issue of whether you should try to repeat the success that you had. You should have a new approach. One of the pleasing things with this new album is the reviewers recognizing this new approach and praising the band for not trying to relive the past."

Renascence begins strongly with "Chasing an Empty Dream," a call to lead a substantive life, to reject frivolous materialism, as uplifting, orchestral funk unfurls with exceptional dynamics. Produced by Ben Baptie, the album deploys strings that sometimes dip into syrupy sentimentality, as on "Road to Zion" and the early stages of the Celeste-sung ballad "Only One Way." Cymande remain best when stripping things down to essentials and allowing space for guitar, bass, congas, or flute to work their fluid magic.

Featuring Soul II Soul's Jazzie B's inspirational rap, "How We Roll" most closely resembles the spacey tranquility of the sublime "Dove." Another highlight is "Carry the Word," which reveals Cymande's affinity for minimalist funk, understated emotional heft, and Curtis Mayfield-like hopefulness.

"Coltrane"—all sleek funk with piquant conga slaps and a slithery Scipio bass line—hails jazz deity John's music as an inspirational force. Blaxploitation-flick orchestral billows and crucial triangle accents trigger shivers; some may note similarities with the Undisputed Truth's "Ungena Za Ulimwengu/Friendship Train."

Patterson says "Coltrane" points to their "great musical kinship" with Alice's husband. "Steve said [John Coltrane is] a metaphor for great Black music. When you think about John Coltrane's repertoire and the way people love and respect him, and the leadership that he has given to us as musicians... I mean, there are others, but he's a great representative of what we need to do—which is, pursue excellence. Musical excellence just doesn't come from here [points to head]. It's a supernatural impulse."

In an interview with Big Issue, Scipio said, "We wanted to have the sound recognisably Cymande, but also, a more contemporary element to it." Toward that end, they enlisted respected jazz musicians from the UK's fertile scene, including keyboardist Adrian Reid, vocalist Raymond Simpson, drummer Richard Bailey, and percussionist Donald Gamble.

"Obviously, we couldn't recreate what we were doing in the '70s," Scipio says. "What we were looking for is that live element. The first album [Cymande] was recorded in a live format, so we went to the studio and the band performed as we would normally onstage. Because that was how we fed off of each other."

Backtracking a bit, it's mystifying that after Cymande had success in America, British media and gatekeepers didn't embrace them. Was this rejection strictly due to racism, or were there other factors? Patterson says, "[British Black music] did not get exposure, except for the type that is innocuous—in keeping with this idea that music of Caribbean people having the bright shirts on, tied around their navels. None of that stuff about standing up for yourself or keeping brotherhood together was acceptable. You can't be poking that down the throats of the British listening public, at their own expense." On the other hand, America "enabled our music to be sustained, and enabled us to come back at this late stage."

Scipio adds, "We left as an unknown band in the UK, had this massive success in the US, and we returned to be an unknown band in the UK. You'd think that the media would wonder, who are these guys? That they'd be proud that a UK band had entered the US and had that degree of success."

Maybe Cymande needed to wear more glittery costumes, I offer. Scipio and Patterson laugh, as the latter says, "We should've done the Hula Hoop."

Thankfully, Cymande regained control of their copyrights in 1989 and have reaped financial rewards from all those samples. But have they heard any that didn't please them? No. "The fact that people find something in your music to inspire them to create their own music, that is in itself worthy," Scipio says.

As a terminal Cymande fanboy, I couldn't resist telling Steve and Patrick that I often begin DJ sets with "Dove," because it works like sonic sage, cleansing rooms of all negative energy. "That's amazing," Patterson says. I proclaim that "Dove" is one of the greatest pieces of music ever and ask what they can remember about its creation.

Scipio recalls, "He started with the melody, and I started with the bass and the melody, and we developed it that way. We experimented, feeding off of each other in its creation."

"You know, it's just about feel ," Patterson emphasizes. "It envelops you, it takes you over. The feeling that we created in putting that song together, everything seemed to be in the right place. It has a very magical sensitivity about it."

For more information on Cymande, watch Tim MacKenzie-Smith's documentary, Getting It Back (available for rental via Mercury Studios beginning Feb 19 for a limited time). Cymande perform at the Crocodile on Feb 22, 6 pm, $30, 21+.