« Inferno di Novembre | Main | Black Taj »
November 19, 2005
Konono N°1
Exactly one week ago, some friends and I got to watch the incredible Congolese group Konono N°1 at Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago. Konono N°1 dish out these epic thumb-piano-and-percussion jams that reach a completely new level through the addition of otherworldly (over)amplification, melodic singing, energetic chanting, and a charismatic leader armed with a traffic whistle and a cool hat.
We had to leave during the 5th song or so, but up to that point it was a pretty amazing hour-and-a-half performance. I'll leave the formal concert review to the Chicago Tribune, but here are a few pictures that I took:
|
|||||
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
And here's my full album of (mostly blurry) Konono N°1 snapshots.
To hear an approximation of what this live Konono N°1 show sounded like, check out this 1978 Konono N°1 recording that Christopher Porter kindly posted on his blog The Suburbs Are Killing Us. Then go cop yourself a copy of Congotronics (out on Crammed Discs), which Ryko is now distributing domestically to retail outlets big (Amazon) and small (CD Alley).
And look, now we even have a Congotronics 2 CD/DVD comp to look forward to...
Posted by Tim at November 19, 2005 12:36 AM