Konono N°1

DR Congo World Music

Biography :

Konono No. 1 (or All-Powerful Likembé Konono No. 1, its full name) got started in the late 1960s in the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the instigation of Mingiedi Mawangu. A virtuoso on the likembé. That instrument, sometimes called the “thumb piano,” consists of metal strips attached to a wooden sounding board.

The musicians in Konono No. 1 come from a region straddling Congo and Angola. The group’s style borrows heavily from the trance music of the musicians’ Bazombo ethnic group. After leaving their rural region for the capital, Kinshasa, the group’s members had to electrify their instruments to be heard. Tinkering with their original instruments, they adapted their musical style to amplified sounds, entering the category of “tradi-modern” music.

The group currently consists of three electric likembés equipped with microphones made from old car alternators, traditional or thrown-together percussion instruments (made with kitchen utensils or car parts), three singers, three dancers and sound equipment including megaphones dating from the colonial era. The instruments wear out in concerts and rehearsals, and they get cracked and dented, resulting in a continuously evolving sound. Over the years, their sounds have moved closer to the rock and electronic music world while maintaining deeply African roots.

In 1978, they took part in a compilation called Zaïre : Musiques urbaines à Kinshasa, waiting until 2004 to bring out their first album, Lubuaku. Three years later, Live at Couleur Café came out and was nominated for a Grammy Award. The same year, they began a tour in the United States, and Björk invited them to sing on his Earth Intruders album in the title song. In 2010, Konono No. 1 brought out its third album, Assume Crash Position, continuing to move between traditional sounds, rock and electronic music, a fabulous blend that delights a growing army of music lovers around the world.