Konono No. 1 @ SOBs, NYC | pics

December 2, 2005

Konono No. 1 played three NYC shows during their first ever tour of America. The first one was at Joe’s Pub. The second one was at SOB’s the next day. The third one was right after the second one. These pictures are from the third one (Nov 17, 2005). I think their almost 2 hour set (with encore) was only four songs. Though instructed to dance even more, a lot of people were dancing, especially when the music started to resemble what we typically consider dance music.

“SOBs was jammed with my ethno-curious peers: the kind of kids that sniff disdainfully at ESPN culture but follow alt-sports like English Premier League. And looking around me I was faced with the confronting question: when did the back-country woodsman beard come back in fashion?” [Moist Works]

“They call it Congolese Bozombo trance music, but when leader Mawangu Mingiedi founded the group 25 years ago he was intent on furthering a tribal ancestral tradition, not filling western dance floors.” [Boston Herald]

“The most astonishing thing about that band is the bass, and although I knew it was made by likembe, I had expected it to be a big likembe, one you had to sit on or something. I spent a full ten minutes of the show trying to figure out where the bass sound could possibly be coming from before finally realizing that yes, it was actually coming out that tiny handheld thumb piano” [Doveman]

“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” [Tuba City]