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 Stars of the groundbreaking Congotronics album, Kinshasha-based band Konono No. 1 are making a welcome return visit to The Cedar after a knockout performance in 2006. Thumb pianos hooked up to vintage and home-made amplifiers, megaphones, makeshift percussion (pans, pots and old car parts), three singers and incredible energy combine for a truly unique melange of tribal rhythms, trance, and distortion-laden electronica. Congotronics catapulted Konono No. 1 to international stardom, a trajectory that is only likely to continue with their feature appearances on Björk's upcoming release Volta (including the first single Earth Intruders).
KONONO N°1 was founded over 40 years ago by 73-year old Mawangu Mingiedi, a virtuoso of the likembé (a traditional instrument sometimes called "sanza" or "thumb piano", consisting of metal rods attached to a resonator). The band's line-up includes three electric likembés (bass, medium and treble), equipped with hand-made microphones built from magnets salvaged from old car parts, and plugged into amplifiers. There's also a rhythm section which uses traditional as well as makeshift percussion (pans, pots and car parts), three singers, three dancers and a sound system featuring these famous megaphones.
The musicians come from an area which sits right across the border between Congo and Angola. Their repertoire draws largely on Bazombo trance music, but they've had to incorporate the originally-unwanted distortions of their sound system. This has made them develop a unique style which, from a sonic viewpoint, has accidentally connected them with the aesthetics of the most experimental forms of rock and electronic music, as much through their sounds as through their sheer volume (they play in front of a wall of speakers) and their merciless grooves.
"Seeing Konono No 1 play live, you wonder how an audience could
withstand such an onslaught. The show is relentless, hypnotic and
deafening, funky, exuberant and awesome: when the bass likembe kicks
in, you fear for the <<venue's>> foundations. If you believe that
rock'n'roll is about raw visceral power and overturning preconceptions,
there seems every chance that the greatest rock'n'roll band in the
world might currently consist of eight Congolese who have no idea what
rock'n'roll is." (Alexis Petridis, The Guardian) "Every
so often there comes a record of such unlikeliness, of such
overpowering rhythmic intensity and such majestic indifference
to global musical trends that you're knocked sideways. This
is one of them." (Mark Hudson, London Telegraph (UK)) "Konono N°1 are the kind of band that remind us that music
still possesses vast wells of untapped potential, and that
there's virtually no limit to what can be developed and explored."
(Joe Tangari, Pitchforkmedia.com)
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