For the best part of two decades now, South London Afro-Dub dons Soothsayers have been preaching their politically charged good vibrations to a growing and loyal fan base. Their live shows are legendary and vary from off-the-cuff community friendly gigs in Brixton, to festival headline slots and tours across Europe and beyond.
Having recently filled London's Jazz Café to much acclaim, and in anticipation of their new album, Tradition, out on Wah Wah 45s in June, Soothsayers unleash the second single to be taken from it. It's a double header of sorts that shows the band's knack of reinterpreting a cover version or two for the dance floor.
Sleepwalking is a take on Fela Kuti's 1971 classic Black Man's Cry. It's a chant of frustration aimed at disenfranchisement from the process and features Afrobeat Ambassador Dele Sosimi on guest vocal duties. It questions if we are sleepwalking into the abyss, and is a revolutionary song about taking power back into our own hands!
Although it's challenging to do justice to a Bob Marley cover, on Natural Mystic Soothsayers cradle the spirit of the originator and turn it upside down, transforming the familiar into a journey back to Africa via their trademark groove. Spiritual jazz flutes and percussion combine with the floating vocals of the mighty Cornel Campbell, while the song's main melody is emphatically reproduced by Soothsayers horn section to stunning effect.