Gig review: Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness at The Crescent, York

“Music by the people, for the people, with the people” is the mantra of South African seven-piece Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness – and by the end of their set those fortunate people tempted out on a Monday night by word of their spectacular live shows are all moving as one with BCUC’s mesmerising energy.

BCUC are here tonight thanks to promoters Ouroboros, who specialise in bringing genre-defying and global sounds to York – upcoming shows include sometime Fela Kuti sideman Dele Sosimi on April 27.

The Crescent may be a long way from the rehearsal room in a Soweto shipping container where BCUC honed their sound, but a very decent-sized crowd are soon entirely in their hands and the temperature fast rising as charismatic frontman Nkosi ‘Jovi’ Zithulele sets the pace, drenched in sweat from the intensity of his performance.

BCUC are a true musical collective – the whirlwind rhythmic trance they create is built almost entirely from the rawest ingredients of percussion and voices. Their backline is simply two bass drums on stands, a set of congas and one amp, for masterful bass player Mosebetsi Ntsimande, whose hypnotic lines underpin the whole show.

And there’s a touch of secret sauce from their sound engineer, adding just the right amount of dub-style echo and reverb to help the band achieve lift-off into the musical territory that they call Afropsychedelic.

Their irresistible groove wanders across a continent and beyond, shifting and blurring boundaries between languages, genres and tempos as they trade vocals, raps and call and response chants while battering seven bells out of their instruments in perfect synchronisation.

These are songs that look the realities of life in contemporary South Africa unsparingly in the face but find a universal message of solidarity and strength. There are soulful moments sweetened by singer Kgomotso Mokone, and plenty of furious percussive barrages that approach the raging intensity of hardcore punk, with Zithulele wrenching guttural howls from his larynx.

BCUC will undoubtedly be blowing minds on many a festival stage around the world this summer – but those who got to see them up close on a quiet Monday in York had a truly memorable night.