Various - Kinshasa 1978: Originals and Reconstructions 1978

  by Dave Goodwin

published: 28 / 1 / 2020

---

Review

If you like African music of any genre and you are also a fan of house/dance music then look no further than this slab of sonic naughtiness. Welcome to Congotronics! Way back in 1978, Bernard Treton recorded the music of four bands in Kinshasa, which went on to spawn the 'Zaïre: Musiques Urbaines à Kinshasa' album which was eventually released almost a decade later in 1986 on the Ocora label, a record which, for the first time, presented to Western audiences the electrifying music which was later to be known as 'Congotronics'. During the sessions he also recorded some music which has since never seen the light of day until now. This new double album comprises eighty minutes worth of those previously-unreleased original recordings, as well as brand-new reconstructions of the original tracks made by highly-respected French producer Martin Meissonnier, who worked with the likes of the great Fela Kuti and Yasuaki Shimizu. If you are into this kind of music, then Konono N°1 and their now-legendary electric likembes (thumb pianos) will be no strangers to you. The band and their instruments have been celebrated worldwide since the release of their album, which was also called 'Congotronics', back in 2004. The raw ingredients that made them who they are were already there back in 1978 but the addition this time round includes distortion generated by Mingiedi Mawangu's DIY amplification alongside their driving rhythms and percussion instruments built from scrap material taken from various junkyards and scrapheaps. To give you some idea of the actual sound created by these bands, you need to understand the history which began with musicians who left the bush to settle in the capital, and had to resort to makeshift electrification of their instruments in order to make themselves heard in the urban din. This electrification, in turn created a radical mutation of their sound, of their technique and their repertoire. They all draw on traditional music, which they've modified and amplified. Sankayi were led by the great Mbuyamba Nyuni, a singer, dancer, story-teller, and player of the giant, sled-like amplified bass, the likembe. Mbuyamba too went on to be one of the founding members of the Kasai Allstars and sadly passed away in 2011. This recording sports Sankayi using several likembes together with percussion, and a bottle for playing the clave-like pattern which is emblematic of Kasaian music. Originally founded in 1967 in Mbuji Mayi, Orchestre Bana Luya were Luba people from the Eastern Kasai region. The band used an array of electric likembes and founder member Kabongo Tshisense was also a member of the band Masanka, a band that would later merge with Sankayi and join the Kasai Allstars collective. Finally, Orchestre Bambala was made up of musicians from the Mbala ethnic group, originating from the Bandundu province. Their typical, joyful accordion-led songs were played at social events : baptisms, weddings, and also funerals. When you think of accordion, you think of Captain Pugwash, and make no mistake this is like that - an African Captain Pugwash house track. Absolutely marvellous!

Track Listing:-

1 Il Ne Faut Pas Intervenir
2 Roots Of K
3 Animation Kifuti
4 Animation
5 Kin 78 One
6 Kin 78 Two
7 Kin 78 Three
8 Kin 78 Four

Label Links:-

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