Nyah Rock

Cymande: Mighty Heavy Load & Dove
taken from: The Message (Castle, 1999)

I figure I might as well get it over with and include my blog's namesake in my first official audio post. Cymande (pronouced Sah-mahn-day) was a 70s funk band based out of London. They are often compared to the likes of Mandrill, Slave, Malo, and War but definitely had a sound all their own. The founding members were from the Caribbean, which resulted in more of a reggae/tropical feel to their music rather than a Latin one. Over their career they released four albums total, all of which are worth having in my opinion.

In 1999, Castle released The Message which compiled Cymande's first three albums along with 3 unreleased tracks. One of these unreleased tracks is "Mighty Heavy Load". I thought it was the perfect name for this blog. There were other names I considered, but that's a whole 'nother post.

The second track, "Dove", is a 10 minute instrumental groove from their selftitled first album probably best known as the track sampled by the Fugees for their song "The Score".

Enjoy. This is only the beginning!