The Healing

BCUC (Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness) return with an album of ‘music for the people, by the people, with the people.’ The Healing is a set of three tracks of epic proportions, both in length and sheer density. In ‘The Journey with Mr Van Der Merwe’, bass drums, congas, various hand percussions and bass guitar underpin the visceral James Brown-esque performance of frontman Zithulele ‘Jovi’ Zabani Nkosi. Backing vocalists respond to his calls, locked into a hypnotic groove that ebbs and flows, teasing listeners with an ever-approaching euphoric fever pitch.

The ritualistic nature of the music, which BCUC say is drawn from indigenous South African music, is a key element to the intensity they achieve here. Guest vocalist Saul Williams' performance on ‘Isivunguvungu’ recalls recordings of African American preachers. Paired with the ethereal, swooping backing vocals of Kgomotso Neo Mokone and the aforementioned hypnotising grooves, BCUC offer their cosmopolitan audiences a slice of musical salvation, and indeed healing, in a secular age. The formidable Femi Kuti (no stranger to such expansive arrangements) adds his saxophone to ‘Sikhulekile’, imposing inspired harmonic dissonances over Nkosi's shrieks and hollers. A sharp drop leaves Mosebetsi Jan Nzimande's bass line and Mokone's soft melody line exposed, before the track builds again. It's hard to convey the overwhelming dynamism of this release in such few words; you'll have to hear it.