Cable Street Collective at Devizes Arts Festival

Seven-piece sui generis ensemble The Cable Street Collective were everything I expected them to be last night at The Corn Exchange; another impressive booking for the middle weekend of Devizes Arts Festival…..

Hailing from the Shadwell area of East London as the name suggests, if Cable Street is remembered for violent clashes between fascist Blackshirts and the multicultural populous, now reduced to lobbing milkshakes, multiculturalism also plays a major part of the band’s influences despite them being largely Caucasian.

From the off I’m reminded of the marabi sound of Hugh Masekela, with the upfront brass of trumpet and saxophone. Yet you couldn’t pigeonhole this with a thousand words, it’s wholly unique. Female fronted by an energetic yogi, she somersaults the high stage projecting a mid-tone vocal range with unrivalled passion, encouraging her audience to follow the leader.

In delivery and posture I likened her to Bristol’s Mr Tea and the Minions, a band the guitarist said they knew when I harassed him afterwards, and you may recall from a Street Festival of yore. Although Mr Tea borrows extensively from Balkan ska to create carny-folk, the Cable Street Collective favour African rhythms to dress their overall pop festival soulful sound; such is the interesting melting pot of the contemporary UK festival circuit.

With subtle nods to North African fusion, from Congolese rhumba to soukous, to the more prominent dance music of South Africa ascended from township jive, you cannot go wrong if you desire to get your audience on their feet. And that’s just what happened in the Exchange, they broke a, likely, tougher audience than those at a festival like Boomtown, younger and aching to dance to an alarm clock! An hour before the finale the majority caved into the irresistible urge to dance perpetrated on a Kevin Bacon cuttin’ Footloose level.

This appeased the band no end, as the atmosphere switched, the collective raised the bar, breaking occasionally to lower the tempo for poignancy, it maintained its influences of West African artists like Zeke Manyika and Thomas Mapfumo. By doing as they did, it mellowed into something decidedly transatlantic steppers reggae; up my street and knocking loudly on my door. It was a notification there was a concentrated if light narrative in their original dance rhythms.

They never waived from their ethos of delivering an all original set, by slipping in a cheesy cover or ten. Surprisingly then, they made no attempt to wave merch in our faces. For their resilience in what’s a band’s bread and butter these days, I’ll drop their BandCamp link below, because if you were there or should you otherwise take heed of my words, The Cable Street Collective are uniquely sublime and beguiling, and this was a fantastic night full of energy and passion.

Think, if The Brand New Heavies were inspired by a safari, then asked to compose a theme tune for a Shambala Festival promotional film, you get an impression of how quirky and distinctively original they are. This said, their grand finale felt like their magnum opus, an engaging tune called the Wolf, and it was riddled with the familiar brass riff of Paul Simon’s Call Me Al. The guitarist I managed to catch for a quick word expressed a group devotion to their parents’ copies of Graceland, hence the influence, which in turn made me feel old; parents? I brought that album!

For the record I digress, fact is unlike much of the album, the Call Me Al brass riff is entirely synthesised. In comparison to the Cable Street Collective, where nothing is synthetic save perhaps a spacey moment or two backing track to create ambience, this Collective are cool as cucumbers, bongo bonkers poptastic, and engagingly original. I loved it!

Today Devizes Arts Festival has two free events. Rumour will be at the Three Crowns, from 2pm – 4pm. And the Annie Parker Trio at St John’s Church, from 7pm – 8:30pm. It continues through the week, check out the programme HERE, and treat yourself, it’s been a fantastic year so far.

---