Palestinian, Lebanese & British DJ Kamar (pronounced Ah-Mar) presents Tealeaves, dedicated to exploring sound through migration.
In each show, Kamar highlights music made by migrant artists, both new and old, from a plethora of time and places, inviting migrant artists, zoning in on their culture and community, exploring how the movement of people has intersected with music.
This month, Kamar welcomed Cymande, the legendary group of Black British musicians, who all came to the UK from the Caribbean as children, released three brilliant albums in quick succession in the early 70s and were embraced in the USA, and toured with Al Green. In the UK, however, they faced a music business beset by prejudice against home grown black talent and were largely ignored.
They split in 1975. But their music lived on, as successive generations of artists and fans found and embraced their songs. Hip Hop, House, Drum and Bass, R&B, Rare Groove and crate digging communities all saw something in the songs of Cymande that inspired them. Norman Jay MBE has said that without Cymande, we wouldn't have these genres in the same way we know and love. 40 years later, and now the band are back. Touring the world and being embraced by yet another breed of fan - the internet generation who weren’t even born when their original albums came out.
