Wil-Dog Abers of Ozomatli:"I first heard Cymande in 1992. Cut Chemist made me a mix tape...When I first heard Dove, I went nuts. I never heard anything like it before. Cymande mixed so many styles and sounds. They laid the path for bands like Ozomatli.." 
Of all the bands mentioned in the previous Afro Rock posts (see links below), Cymande (means-Dove of Peace), is far and away my favorite. I have a hard time picking out songs for this band because so many are good. Formed by West Indians (Guyana, Jamaicia,St. Vincent), they recorded 3 albums for Chess records subsidiary Janus. The bulk of their classic material comes from the first 2 albums (Cymande, Second Time Around) recorded in England for producer John Schroeder in '73. The records didn't do much in England, but following on from the success of funk bands like Mandrill in the US, they did score an R&B hit in the US with The Message. That success lead to US tours with the likes of Al Green and the aforementioned Mandrill. Their third album, Promised Heights, was recorded as the band broke up. It has just been reissued, and isn't quite up to the standards of the first 2 (There are a couple a single disc collections and one double that do a decent job of distilling all 3 records). Cymande is what the Afro Rock scene was all about:fusion, taking Rasta Philosophy, Nyabinghi drum rhythms, incredible funk bass playing, horns, and Santana-esque guitars, and combining them into a super funky whole, that has inspired countless hip hoppers, Dj's, and groove afficianados. Here's The Message, and please see the super funky FUG and the Santanaesque slow jam DOVE in Comments. If you're in search of some new grooves please check out Cymande and these other fine artists who brought so much more than the funk. Previous Posts in the series:
"Kate's Osibisa"
"Mandrill"
"Lafayette Afro Rock Band"
"Cymande's Bra"
Locating MOG account...
Comments (25)
Mc Solaar - Bouge De La
And two years later I find out that you already wrote about them ... .
it is brutal that they aren't in the MOG system..not that that would matter to you Hermes..but still..I wonder if our uploads will ever come back..or do I have to do a massive redo on all these posts. Hey, now there's a good procrastination project.
If you want to reupload all of those it would be for the good of all your followers in funk. But I would never ask for that. I guess most of it you can find meanwhile on Youtube as well.
Some links lead nowhere, so this is what I recall about Mandrill way back in the days of vinyl, speakers, turntables and tape decks:
As for Osibisa, the Hawaiian Music Renaissance of the 1970's was demanding attention and money, but I do recall "Survival" on KTUH radio:
thanks for the links to the other posts. missed the Lafayette Afro Rock am really liking them now.
hey Cp..theres also
Oneness Of Juju
Black heat
and
The Pharoahs
Of course the posted songs won't work, but if there's any you don't know and want to hear let me know.
Thanks for tracking back.
Lafayette is in the building!
i liked all those posts. Oneness and Black Heat are on MOG player had to search for pyramid but it was well worth it. Thanks
Cool cp, A48, Hermes. I think we've set some kind of retro post activity record here...Olympian thanks.