The same age as Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records, we rode a wave of joyful magpie-like celebration of music for music’s sake and took our inspiration from wherever we found it. From the 21st-century perspective there is certainly an element of cultural appropriation to be considered, but we surely came from a place of love and respect for the global styles we explored. As an 18-yr-old who grew up on classical music and big band jazz, moving to London was completely mind-blowing. The burgeoning African music scene opened us to new rhythms and sounds – bands like Osibisa, Taxi Pata Pata, evenings at the Africa Centre in Covent Garden. In particular we were influenced by the South African scene, spending much time at the Oval House where we intereacted and played with amazing SA musicians/artists living in exile – Bheki Mseleku, Eugene Skeef, Thebe Lipere (Zubop’s first drummer). Also around were Brian Abrahams, Mervin Africa and Russel Herman of District Six. Julian Bahula’s Jazz Afrika, Dudu Pukwana’s Zila. It was a rich time of exposure to so many different musics from around the world, and found a magpie-like expression in our tunes that ranged from style to style within them – musical journeys as we saw them. We weren’t interested in commercial viability – we simply wanted to give space to excitement and creativity. From the 21st century perspective there is certainly an element of appropriation involved, although it sprang from a joyful and youthful innocence. We also framed our gigs with (earnest) introductions and acknowledgements of our influences, and were constantly playing benefit gigs for South Africa and Nicaragua and other causes.