Are Sons of Kemet the best live band in the UK right now? Fuelled by kinetic energy, fired by righteous fury, the Mercury-nominated quartet deployed their sax, tuba and twin drum arsenal in ways that galvanised, adrenalised and made us think as well as dance.
Politics has long informed the work of reedsman Shabaka Hutchings and Co; their third and latest album Your Queen is a Reptile pays homage to nine black women including Doreen Lawrence.
But Britain’s current chaos has intensified their decolonial message, brought new urgency to a sound that fuses jazz, dub, punk and whatever it pleases with Afro-Caribbean rhythms. Projected on a giant screen were written reminders: Boris Johnson’s offensive description of black children as “piccaninnies”. Exhortations to rise up and fight, to breathe, meditate and never lose hope, and to never forget Grenfell.
Special guests added ballast: a backline of horns included Cuban trumpeter Yelfris Valdés. Rapper Kojey Radical declaimed from the moshpit.
Grime’s D Double E spat rapidfire rhymes. Singer/poet Joshua Idehen raised the chant “I don’t want to take my country back/I want to take it forward” as tension built, beats dropped and fanfarish brass and walloping double drums created shapes on the fly, their momentum — like their mission — unstoppable.
