Roman Edirisinghe

Electronica from the Congo

I was reading Music Thing today when I stumbled across a great article on a Congolese group called Konono N°1. For the past 25 years, these musical innovators have been using low-tech ingenuity on traditional and found instruments to create a irresistable grooves. Using hand-carved wooden microphones and electrified likembé (thumb piano) plugged into amplifiers and custom-built mixers, Konono N°1 finds it’s roots in Bazombo trance music. The resulting sonic mélange has inadvertently linked them to experimental music and electronic music.

I’m really excited to pick up their CD, ‘Congotronics’, from Amazon.

via Music thing
via Inaudible Cities | more
via The Suburbs Are Killing Us

Check out this Konono N°1 page in French, featuring a great video clip of them in action.

I tried to find out more about the Bazombo and their music, and the only reference I could find is on zyama.com, an African art museum.