Customer Reviews

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

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You'd have to have been living under a rock for the last year to not know about Konono No. 1, but for those of you who have been, let's recap shall we? Konono No. 1 formed over 20 years ago in Kinshasa (the capital of Zaire) and have been performing their own version of Bazombo trance music, incoporating into their sound, more out of necessity than any avant garde aspirations, home built amps and microphones, hand made instruments, all assembled from old car parts and batteries, pieces of wood and various found bits of scrap material. Performing in the city and thus forced to compete with the din of cars and people and city sound, they built their own PA and speaker system, making their sound much louder but also lending it a buzzing distorted sound that became as much a part of the music as the insturments themselves.

The main instrument though, and the one which defines their sound, is an amplified likembe, a sort of thumb piano, which when run through the homemade pickups and ramshackle PA speakers buzz and distort and the melodies end up sounding like some strange sixties psych fuzz guitar. So those distorted melodies atop a wild festive bed of tribal percussion, hand drums, whistles, call and response vocals, it's like African highlife music but infused with all manner of, well like the title suggests BUZZ and RUMBLE.
But it would be naive to think a band like Konono No.1 developed in a complete vacuum. And one would assume that the music scene in Kinshasa would at least in some ways be like any place else, with loads of bands, all playing together, swapping members, that sort of thing, and this record demonstrates that for sure. While Konono No.1 ended up being the worldwide ambassadors for the Kinshasa sound, they are most definitely just one of many groups creating an amazingly vibrant scene. In fact some of the groups on Congotronics 2 take some of my favorite parts of Konono's sound and take them even further!

All of the bands on Congotronics 2 sound at least similar, employing the same basic song structure and same basic instrumentation. Cyclical repetitive rhythms, bells and hand drums locked in dense pulsing frameworks, loose but definitely the backbone of the music, the vocals are festive and wild, a single voice joined by a chorus. Each track is typically one part, maybe two, repeated and repeated with subtle variations, being as that it is an offspring of trance music, this hypnotic quality definitely defining all of these bands, a buzzing looped joyful noise, the sort of music that makes people want to dance and sway and move, eyes closed, getting lost in the mesmerizing repetition.

All of the bands also seem to employ the electric likembe as well to different effect. Sobanza Mimanisia up the distortion, their thumb pianos practically growl, super percussive and blown-out, definitely the heaviest band of the bunch. Whereas the Kasai Allstars employ their likembes as a swirling delicate percussive background, not at all distorted, gentle, lilting and pretty, sounding the most like traditional high life music. The one way in which many of the bands differ from Konono is their use of guitars, the interplay between a distorted thumb piano and a distorted guitar can be beautifully dizzying.

While all the bands are different, those differences are subtle enough that this could very well be a record by a single, albeit quite varied band, almost as if Konono No.1 decided to expand and explore a little for record number two. If you loved Congotronics, then this will for sure hit the spot, and actually the more I listen the more I think this might be even better than the first one.

Konono No.1 have a SOUND, and that sound is amazing and beautiful and practically perfect, but they truly traffic in trance music, every song a subtle variation of the song before, almost like they have ONE hour long song that just happens to be split into parts, which I love, like most droning repetitive music, if there was a way to have each track last for six hours I would, but by the same token, one has to be in the right frame of mind to bliss out and trance out. So while this collection is still most definitely trancey, it's a bit more varied, with more instrumentation (one group even incorporates accordion!) and thus ends up being a bit more engaging, especially to the casual listener.

And as if another disc of buzzing rumbling joyful trance music wasn't enough, there is also a DVD featuring live footage of 6 of the bands, including Konono (so for those of you who missed their recent visit to the US, here's your chance to see what you missed). Each band performs live, surrounded by throngs of families and children, often performing in houses, on street corners, people dancing, smiling, embracing, this is truly happy joyful music. And the footage is amazing, allowing us a glimpse not only of these amazing bands, their individually customized instrumentation, sardine cans, milk crates, springs, lengths of PVC pipe, hubcaps, film canisters, wooden boards, tin cans, thier costumed and face painted dancers, their dramatic introductions to performances, but also a look at the people, and the city, and the houses, and the streets of Kinshasa, and the culture that inspired such an amazing music.

Great CD. Traditional sounds with an edge of basic electronic processing. Like the thumb piano that sounds like an electric guitar. The DVD takes this package over the top. Have a look at the African communities, performers and dancers. Don't hesitate to get this one Siamak, and everyone else.

I heard T.P Konono No. 1 for the first time a few days ago, immediately ordered everything they've done. This was the first to arrive, and it's mostly not even them, which is even BETTER, because it reveals Kinshasa as the epicentre of inventive music in the world today, and gives me a list of other bands to research and find.

Why does it sound so raw? Because these are people with no money, who want to make music, so they make their instruments out of junkyard car parts (Hubcap? Cymbal!), their amplifiers out of ... gawdknowswhat, and their microphones out of wood and car alternator magnets. Don't worry if your sound equipment is not Hi-Fi; the only thing this music cares about is that your AMPLIFIER GOES TO 11.

I ordered the original Congotronics album from my local record store (being loyal). When they call to tell me it arrived, I'll tell them to take it out and put it ON, guaranteeing that every techno/trance fan in earshot will be all over them like a cheap suit, wanting copies.

Words rarely fail me, but it's pointless trying to describe this music. If I convinced you to just listen to these guys, I did my job. Most people will probably recoil in horror, their loss. Give the samples a listen, and if they don't electrify you, go back to Eminem, or whatever.

I honestly think of this stuff as the birth-pangs of 21st Century music. Give it a hundred years to evolve like American Jazz had, and nobody alive today would have a clue as to what was going on. It is altogether fitting and proper that it should be so.

love this cd!!! very unique, puts a smile on face every time i hear it... so urban, so intense...give a listen!

If you liked Congotronics No. 1, then you will definitely enjoy this effort as well. More of the same: traditional African rhythms with heavy fuzz and distortion from home-made amplification equipment. This CD also includes a bonus DVD with even more great music performed.