Cymande will perform Friday, July 25.

In early ’70s South London, a group of young Caribbean-bred musicians began concocting an island-infused mix of soul, funk and African jazz, the likes of which nobody at the time was making. It got some pickup in the States — Cymande was the first British band to play New York’s Apollo Theatre and they opened on Al Green’s stadium tour — but to the combo’s frustration, they didn’t get far. Cymande largely gave up after their third album in 1974, reuniting only occasionally. Then their legend began to grow.

Rap pioneers Grandmaster Flash and DJ Kool Herc revered Cymande and deconstructed their beats and basslines into their own groundbreaking work. The 1990s, hip-hop cognoscenti considered Cymande a must-have in their record crates. The band’s grooves were sampled by De La Soul, The Fugees, Wu Tang Clan and more, and showed up on a couple Spike Lee film soundtracks.

Finally, these cult favourites regrouped and issued a new album in early 2025.

Renascence picks up where the band left off in 1974, as though there’s no multi-decade gap in Cymande’s discography. The basslines envelop. The saxophones wail. The drumbeats echo. The guitars trill. The flutes flutter. Whole new generations get to learn the source code behind hip hop’s modern groove and Cymande finally gets the broader appreciation they’ve always so richly deserved.

- Jason Markusoff