Tuesday, October 11, 2005  

Congotronics 2: Buzz 'n' Rumble From the Urb 'n' Jungle

I think this is a Suburbs exclusive right now, so spread the word that more Congolese hottttttttness is on the way.

From Marc Hollander at Crammed Discs:

"The Konono No. 1 album Congotronics 1 is finally coming out officially in the U.S., through our new distribution arrangement with Ryko. Congotronics 2 CD/DVD will be released in America around January 2006 and in Europe on October 31, 2005."

Congotronics 2 features six more bands (seven on the DVD), plus Konono No. 1, doing the electro-Afro-folk burn that's sweeping the nation (or music nerds, anyway).

Here are three clips from the DVD -- there's some very nice ass-shakin' on the Sobanza jam. All in Real Audio/Video format:
=> Basokin
=> Sobanza Mimanisa
=> Masanka Sankayi

Press release follows:

After the explosive Konono No. 1, the Congotronics series presents six other astounding bands from the suburbs of Kinshasa, including Kasai All Stars, Masanka Sankayi, and Basokin.

More heavily-distorted sounds, more DIY amplification but also a whole array of different rhythms, buzzing drums, swirling guitars and hypnotic balafons. A DVD will be included to show it all.

Congotronics 2: Buzz 'n' Rumble from the Urban Jungle

The Konono No. 1 album (Congotronics 1) has started giving worldwide exposure to the strange and spectacular electro-traditional mixtures which are being concocted in the suburbs of Kinshasa, Congo. World music, electronica and avant-rock aficionados have been equally amazed by this otherworldly music, which has driven the international press to come up with extremely surprising comparisons, from Can and Krautrock to Jimi Hendrix, Lee Perry and proto-techno!

Hot on the footsteps of Congotronics 1, here comes a fresh selection of even more amazing sounds, courtesy of no less than seven electro-traditional bands from Kinshasa, which have all been especially recorded and produced by Crammed's Vincent Kenis:

Sobanza Mimanisa
Kasai Allstars
Kisanzi Congo
Masanka Sankayi
Bolia We Ndenge
Basokin
Konono No. 1
Tulu (only on the DVD)

These bands all draw on traditional trance music, to which they've incorporated heavily distorted sounds generated by DIY amplification of their instruments... just like Konono No. 1, except that as the musicians come from various geographical and cultural backgrounds (Kasai, Lake Mai Ndombe, Bacongo province), they use very diverse rhythms, timbres and instrumentation: the trademark electrified thumb pianos and megaphones are joined by an array of buzzing drums, swirling guitars and hypnotic balafons.

The Congotronics 2 album also includes a 41-minute DVD based on material filmed by producer Vincent Kenis while he recorded these bands in Kinshasa, and edited by Elsa Dahmani.

The subtitle of this album hints to the legendary Ali-Foreman boxing fight which took place in Kinshasa in 1974, and was nicknamed "Rumble in the Jungle." James Brown, BB King, Fania All Stars and Miriam Makeba performed there around that event, which had a deep impact on a whole generation of young Congolese musicians and fans.

More about the bands:

Kasai Allstars: A province the size of France situated in the center of Congo, Kasai is well known for its diamond fields and vivid musical traditions. This collective of artists incorporates members from four different Kasaian bands, including Basokin and Masanka Sankayi, who also appear separately on this album, and personalities as diverse as singer Muambuyi (from West Kasai), and singer/dancer/slit drum player Tandjolo (from the Tetela region, which links Kasai to the Equator province).

Masanka Sankayi: These dancers, singers and storytellers Muyamba Nyunyi and Kabongo from East Kasai have been together since the '70s. Muyamba the preacher is also an excellent bass likembe player. Unlike Konono's, his instrument is a 20-inch square box featuring half a likembe on each side and on which he sits in a foetus-like position. Both pieces were recorded at Porte Rouge, in the Matonge district. The song in French is Kabongo's very own rendition of a XVIIe century fable by Jean de la Fontaine.

Sobanza Mimanisa (Orchestra of Light) are the resident band in Nganda Boboto, in the Selembao district where we recorded this piece. There are only five instruments here: a bell, a whistle, a spray can being hit against a plastic beer case, a guitar -- whose 'power chord' style is very unusual in Kinshasa -- and a likembe which manages to play the bass and solo parts at the same time. Sobanza Mimanisa comes from the Bacongo province.

Kisanzi Congo's line-up is similar to Konono's, and they also come from the Bacongo province (specifically the Mbeko region). But whereas Konono's electric likembes use raw power to carry their message, Kisanzi Congo rely more on virtuosity and adopt a freer form. We recorded this piece in a deserted shopping mall in the center of Kinshasa, formerly called Galerie des Trois Z ("Zaire -- our country, our river, our currency").

Basokin: The Basongye from Kinshasa are from the Songye region, at the Eastern fringe of Kasai. Their frontman Mputu Ebondo 'Mi Amor' is a well-known spokesman for the Songye and Kasaian community. On this particular session, recorded at Porte Noire, in the Matonge district, Basokin's line-up was reduced to its essential components: three singers, three percussion players and two guitarists.

Bolia We Ndenge come from the Lake Mai Ndombe. Only a century ago, the whole region was still Domaine de la Couronne, i.e a giant labor camp for the personal benefit of King Leopold II. At one point, to calm discontent, the force publique gave accordions to local chiefs; the idea might have been suggested by Stanley, an accordion aficionado himself. See the movie for an evocation by Bolia We Ndenge of this important moment in the history of world music; the accordion and force publique uniform are genuine vintage items. The accordion became very popular in Congo until it was supplanted by the guitar in the '50s.

Konono No. 1: The band everyone raves about, from electronica and avant-rock aficionados to world music fans.... The sparks that are bound to fly when a Congotronics band plays through a large PA system in front of a totally fired-up European (American/Asian?) audience are clearly perceptible in "Couleur Cafe," a piece recorded live at the eponymous festival in Brussels during Konono 's summer 2005 tour, and on which founder & solo likembe player Mawangu Mingiedi lent his instrument to his son, Mawangu Makuntima. The tradition is in good hands!

More about Congotronics 2

The bands featured here all include musicians who left the bush to settle in the capital and who, in order to continue to fulfill their social role and make themselves heard by the ancestors (and, more concretely, by their fellow citizens) despite the high level of urban noise, had to resort to a makeshift electrification of their instruments, which provoked a radical mutation of their sound. The much-commented similarities between this music and some forms of avant-rock or electronica is purely fortuitous, since these bands draw exclusively on traditional trance music and have been totally unaware of current Western trends so far.

These bands come from various parts of the country: the ancient Kongo kingdom, situated across the Congo river between Kinshasa and the Atlantic; the Kasai province, occupying the center of Congo; and the lake Maindombe area, situated 300 km north-east of the capital. The original styles vary greatly from region to region but, being based in Kinshasa, the musicians tend to recruit each other on a personal rather than tribal basis, which leads to a lot of cross-cultural pollination. In particular, Kasai Allstars is, as far as we know, the first group to initiate a meeting between luba and lulua musical traditions, which previously were supposed to be incompatible.

Some instruments used by these bands already sound 'distorted' when played acoustically, like the buzzing Kasaian drum featured in many songs; most of them are original creations or re-creations, made by the musicians themselves. We already know the electric likembe, or thumb piano, pioneered by Konono No. 1, with its pickups made of copper telephone wire wound around crushed car alternator magnets. Electric likembes come in different shapes and sizes -- you can even sit on some of them, like the one Masanka Sankayi use for bass; others are designed to play the bass and solo parts at the same time, like Sobanza Mimanisa's. We also have electric guitars reassembled from parts with origins as diverse as Bulgaria, China and Mexico, a hi-hat made from hubcaps and film cans on top of a front axle and wheel held upside down, a rattle made of a steel spring and two sardine cans, a jug made of a drain pipe glued onto a calabash with gaffer tape, etc.

End press release

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Trumpet time:

Read what seems to be an exclusive interview that I did way back when with producer Vincent Kenis about Konono No. 1 and Congotronics 1.

Read about and then download the first Konono No. 1 track ever released in the West -- in 1978.

See Konono No. 1 rock America in November:

11/04 Seattle, Wash. - Earshot Jazz Festival
11/06 San Francisco, Calif. - SFJazz Festival
11/10 Minneapolis, Minn. - Cedar Cultural Centre
11/11 Chicago, Ill. - Logan Square Auditorium
11/12 Colombus, Ohio - Wexner Center for the Arts
11/13 Dayton, Ohio - Boll Theater
11/14 Ann Arbor, Mich. - The Ark
11/15 Pittsburgh, Pa. - The Warhol Museum
11/16 New York City - Joe's Pub
11/17 New York City - S.O.B's
11/18 Somerville, Mass. - Somerville Theater
11/20 Philadelphia, Pa. - World Live Cafe
11/22 Washington, D.C. - Kennedy Center [FREE!]

U.S. readers: Buy Konono No. 1's Congotronics 1 at a domestic price.

Posted by CP | Link |

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