The Road Is Never Easy: Vinyl LP

Pre-Order Item. Release Date Subject to Change.
Label: Out Here
Release Date: 3rd April

Indigenous Soweto psychedelic funk delivered with the conscious intensity of hip hop and funk. The bass guitar and percussion on this band are some of the most irresistible grooves I've ever heard.

BCUC - Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness (2023 WOMEX Artist Award
Winners) - have been channeling the spirit of Soweto for over twenty years
Indigenous funk, hip-hop consciousness, and punk rock energy fused into something
utterly original and deeply rooted - Their mantra: Music for the people, by the people,
with the people.From humble beginnings rehearsing in a shipping container, a stone's
throw from the church where Desmond Tutu organized the escape of the most
wanted anti- Apartheid activists, they kept believing in their dream of self-
empowerment. Today they command festival stages worldwide:
Glastonbury West Holts, Roskilde, Afropunk Brooklyn, WOMAD, Fusion, Sziget, FMM
Sines, Beaches Brew, Boomtown, Colours of Ostrava, Couleur Cafe
- to name just a few.
In 2023, BCUC were honoured with the prestigious WOMEX Artist Award, an accolade
usually reserved for more established artists, in recognition of their fearless work and
transcendent live performances.
The Road Is Never Easy is BCUC's fifth album and their debut on Outhere Records. On
this new offering, BCUC take listeners on another Afro- psychedelic journey into the
soul of Soweto. It feels like a gospel sermon colliding with a punk concert,
"guaranteed to touch untapped corners of your soul" (OkayAfrica). BCUC's music is
deeply rooted in history and echoes the voices of the ones who came before. The
road was never easy for the people of Soweto who originally came to work in the
mines of Egoli, the City of Gold, Johannesburg. When apartheid finally ended after a
long struggle, it was hoped that life would improve. But more than 30 years later,
many of those initial hopes and dreams are still waiting to be fulfilled. This album is
about that struggle.
The album contains 10 brand new songs - a record for BCUC, whose previous albums
featured an average of 3 songs. It represents the culmination of more than two
decades of performing together and building a reputation as a powerful live act.
These ten songs encapsulate that same live energy, each one building gradually and
drawing you into BCUC's Afro- psychedelic stream of consciousness. It's a seismic
tour de force through life in Soweto today