"Konono N°1 are the kind of band that remind us that music still possesses vast wells of untapped potential, and that there's virtually no limit to what can be developed and explored.” – Joe Tangari, Pitchforkmedia.com

 

Konono N°1 was founded over 25 years ago by Mingiedi, a virtuoso of the likembé (a traditional instrument sometimes called ‘sanza’ or ‘thumb piano’, consisting of metal rods attached to a resonator). The band's line-up includes three electric likembés (bass, medium and treble), equipped with hand-made microphones built from magnets salvaged from old car parts, and plugged into amplifiers. There's also a rhythm section that uses traditional as well as makeshift percussion (pans, pots and car parts), three singers, three dancers and a sound system featuring Konono N°1’s  famous megaphones.

 

The musicians come from an area that sits right across the border between Congo and Angola. Their repertoire draws largely on Bazombo trance music, but they've also incorporated the originally-unwanted distortions of their sound system. This makes for a unique style that has serendipitously connected them with the most experimental forms of rock and electronic music (as much through their sound as through the sheer volume—they play in front of a wall of speakers).  

 

Congotronics, the first studio album by Konono N°1, garnered phenomenal reviews from such diverse and influential media as the New York Times, Mojo Magazine, the BBC, and The Wire. "Every so often there comes a record of such overpowering rhythmic intensity and such majestic indifference to global musical trends that you're knocked sideways. This is one of them." ~ Mark Hudson, London Telegraph (UK)

 

The album Assume Crash Position is the fourth volume in the Congotronics series from Crammed Discs, released in May 2010. Once again recorded in their home domain of Kinshasa, the long-anticipated follow-up to Konono's 2005 debut sees their trademark junkyard sonics and relentlessly hypnotic percussive grooves further elevated with electric guitars and bass. The band's sound is and will always be a very precise mixture of traditional bazombo trance music with the distortion of their modern home-made equipment. Yet their on Assume Crash Position the music is somehow deeper, more layered and ethereal, without losing any of that signature raw power and driving energy. If you've never heard or seen the band in full flight, well, strap yourself in—they will dazzle you when they return for a repeat performance at this year's Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest.