“BCUC come with a unique noise and force, singing ritual songs infused with rap and a rock ‘n roll attitude, channelling both the spirit of their ancestors and visions of the future.” So says South African spoken word poet Thabiso Mohare in his introduction to a recent feature on Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness on the highly regarded UK radio show, BBC Sounds.
Out of Soweto: BCUC is a nearly 30-minute journey through the “expectation-defying” band who played the iconic Glastonbury festival, among a jam-packed calendar of South African and international shows, in 2019. BBC Sounds describes BCUV as “bringing together polyrhythms, prison songs, chanting, electronics and heavy bass”.
“They remember the end of apartheid, and they feel the weight of their inheritance as South African musicians, living and working in an iconic site in the political struggle: Soweto, outside Johannesburg. But they constantly defy expectation and have found success well beyond Soweto – after a few years of touring globally, last year they achieved their ambition of playing Glastonbury.”
The programme tracks BCUC over the course of three years from Soweto to Glastonbury and is must-listen radio.
Listen to the programme here.
