I feel a bit silly introducing Konono Nº1, seeing as this space is usually reserved for new acts and such, and these guys have been playing music together for over 30 years. But it just has to be done. Konono hail from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. They combine electric likembe (a traditional instrument sometimes known as a 'thumb piano'), with voices, dancers and percussion instruments made out of items salvaged from junkyards (including a microphone carved out of wood fitted with a magnet from an automobile alternator).
Nowadays, the band can count the likes of Radiohead, Foals and Bjork among their many fans (Bjork even invited the band to play on her last album Volta and to join her on a string of live dates to promote the record). However, a couple of years ago, the band had all but ceased to exist. The only external evidence that a band called Konono Nº1 had ever existed was a solitary 26-minute long track recorded in 1978 by a French radio station and later included on a long forgotten French compilation of music from Kinshasa. That would have presumably been the end of Konono Nº1 had it not been for Vincent Kenis. Kenis is a former Belgian punk-musician turned record producer, who was so impressed by what he heard on the French broadcast (he described it as "kind of African punk music") that he vowed to go to Kinshasa and track the band down. After two fruitless visits in 1989 and 1996, Kenis finally got in touch with the band in early 2000. He persuaded the band to record an album with him, which resulted in the amazing Congotronics, which was released to much critical acclaim on specialist Belgian label Crammed Discs in early 2005. The album caused a global sensation and earned the band the BBC World Music prize for that year (only 27 years into their career).
Since then the band have toured/recorded with Bjork (as afore mentioned), released another superb album on Crammed Discs Live at Couleur Cafe (2007) and built up a very impressive fan base. With Konono's music you can hear oddly familiar sounds of krautrock and electronic music. Their rhythms are as pure as Bo Diddley and the sheer intensity of their sound recalls White Light/White Heat-era Velvet Underground. Needless to say, the members of the band have never heard any of these artists. Lead singer Mawangu Mingiedi (who is 75) once publicly stated "I didn't know there was such thing as electronic music". Konono make authentic, traditional, completely original music, and it is very very special. Listen for yourself:
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