Konono and Björk, during the recording sessions for her new album.
Get Konono's brand-new "LIVE AT COULEUR CAFE" CD
8 tracks / 56 minutes of steaming performance recorded at the Couleur Café Festival
Here's a link to the "Lufuala Ndonga" music video (off the Congotronics album):
To get Konono's "Congotronics" album:
buy the CD:
or download it from
..
Influences
A dialogue with Konono N°1 founder Mawangu Mingiedi: When did you start Konono N°1? 1965/1966 in Kinshasa. When did you move to Kinshasa? I was born in Angola in 1933 and moved to Kinshasa in 1949. Have you always been a musician or did you have another job when you first moved to Kinshasa? I was a taxi driver before i became a full time musician. Are you married? Do you have children? How many? I have about 20 children, and all the women left me when i did not have any money anymore (big laugh). How long have you been playing the likembe? I've always played the likembe, ever since i was a child in the 30s. At the time, they were made from the stems of palm leaves. Why did you decide to build amplifiers for your instruments? It's god the creator who inspired me to amplify the likembes. What are the amplifiers made from? I started with low frequency radios (6 volts) and i moved on to low frequency radios from cars (12 volts).
Sounds Like
According to the Western press ? "Somewhere between the motorik Kraut-rock repetition of prime Can, a Brazilian carnival and pre-historic acid house (The Word, UK).
"A blend of traditional Bazombo folk with gritty sound distortions that would make Jimi Hendrix proud..." (Newsweek, USA).
"Sounds like no other type of African music... The sophisticated brutality of Konono N°1 leaves permanent traces in the conscience of the listener (Les Inrockuptibles, France).
"Simultaneously evocative of avant-garde rock and electro-acoustic experimentation... areas which are of course totally alien to the members of Konono" (Libération, France).
"They have as much connection with Einstürzende Neubauten as with Tabu Ley... (...) the frenzy and locomotion of prime '70s Miles or a Krautrock jam " (Village Voice).
According to Mingiedi ? "I didn't know there was such a thing as electronic music. I don't borrow from anyone"
Konono N°1 also appear on Congotronics 2, an album (CD+DVD) featuring 6 other bands playing electro-traditional music:
also available from ..
The spectacular Congolese thumb-piano wizards and their overpowering, distorsion-fuelled traditional trance music. The bands home-made sound system, built from old car parts, megaphones and discarded amps creates an absolutely hypnotic sound, an uneasy marriage of tradition and technology, African rhythms with the texture of punk rock and relentless drive of electronic dance music.
Hey what's up just passing by to show some love on your page have a good week n keep in touch.Peace!!! P.S No Payne No Gain!!! myspace.com/philpaynemusic
Hi! Konono N°1,
NORIENT.COM has uploaded NEW ARTICLES!
MUSIKETHNOLOGISCHE HÖHENFLÜGE IN EINER POSTKOLONIALEN WELT
Ein Plädoyer für die Musikethnologie in der Schweiz / Thomas Burkhalter
GLOBAL GHETTOTECH Fresh Musics from a post-colonial World / Camilo Rocha
"GLOBALISTS“ SEEK PERIPHERAL SOUNDS
The New US-Ghettotech-Generation / Camilo Rocha
HIDDEN TRUTHS Music, Politics and Censorship in Lukashenko’s Belarus' (Lemez Lovaz and Maya Medich
GET STARTED, ROMANIA! Rumäniens neue Generation elektronischer Musiker / Norbert Lang
..
