Friday, October 15, 2004

Konono

Yesterday I stumbled on a magic piece of sound and vision set upon the web (via The Wire magazine). A group of musicians from Kinshasa in Congo called Konono:

"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 which uses traditional as well as makeshift percussion (pans, pots and car parts), three singers, three dancers and a sound system featuring these famous megaphones."

The Likembé is a thumb piano often made from bicycle spokes beaten flat, arranged in tonal progression and placed over a sound board and bar. The sound of Konono is AMAZING!!! On the website they have a short vidoe stream and a Mp3 for download. They have a full lenagth CD coming out soon.

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