Konono No. 1 - Konono No. 1 Meets Batida

  by Maarten Schiethart

published: 10 / 4 / 2016

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Konono N° 1 hail from the region where Congo borders Angola but moved to the capital Kinshasa to become one of the world's most innovative bands. Their record label is based in Brussels, though they recorded this album in Lisbon with Pedro Coquenão, who is originally from Luanda, and label man Vincent Kenisa as well as Angolan artist and producer Batida. Apart from the African influences, the album has a fine tarnish of Brazilian styles, which add to its addictive and innovative dance music. Thumb piano, barrel percussion, slide and electric guitars, whistles, bass, drum and assorted percussion instruments merge and become one steaming event. Very live and direct, 'Konono N° 1 meets Batida' feels like it is a live concert. Guest performances from slam poet AF Diaphra amongst others find them breaking even more new ground. It is Konono N° 1's most accessible album to date, even though Portuguese and Lingala aren't exactly languages you'll hear on 1Xtra for instance. The biggest step forward probably is the closing track 'Um Nzonzing' which has a touch of psychedelia à la braziliana. Every four or five years the same band tops my list of favourite LPs and this year it is rather obvious who'll that be.

Track Listing:-

1 Nlele Kalusimbiko
2 Yambadi Mama
3 Tokolanda
4 Bom Dia
5 Kinsumba
6 Nzonzing Família
7 Kuna America
8 Um Nzonzing

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/Konono-n1-20973319567/

Label Links:-

http://www.crammed.be/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crammed-Discs/70419524682
https://twitter.com/CrammedDiscs
https://www.youtube.com/user/CrammedDiscs
https://plus.google.com/+CrammedDiscs
https://crammed.greedbag.com/

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