LIVE
CROSS THE TRACKS
Brockwell Park, London, May 25
Seun Kuti, Cymande and Ezra Collective lift the spirits at this defiantly multicultural, multi-generational jamboree
Bilal: born superstar
Cymande: on home ground
Seun Kuti: gloriously unruly performance
Ezra Collective: creating a “temple of joy”
GARRY JONES; NEW MOTION VISUALS; KHALI PHOTOGRAPHY
“THIS is our home ground!” exclaims Cymande’ s Patrick Patterson, namechecking the nearby Brixton haunts where his band once cooked up their unique brand of off-kilter diasporic funk, largely overlooked in its own time but now enjoying a richly deserved renaissance. It feels bitterly ironic that a local campaign group tried to deny them this moment by getting the festival shut down. But the sheer joy that ripples through the crowd when the springy guitar line of “Bra” kicks back in after an effusive percussion solo is a feeling that can’t be cancelled.