Live At The Couleur Cafe [Digipak] (CD - 2007)

Recording information: The Couleur Cafe Festival, Brussels, Belgium.

Photographer: Vincent Kenis.

One wouldn't think that a handful of thumb pianos and some assorted percussion could raise a ruckus similar to a gritty, grungy rock band, but Konono No. 1 is adept at toppling assumptions. This Congolese ensemble, known for making drums from pots and pans, building amps from machine parts, and playing kalimbas through heavy distortion, create a sound that's as rowdy as it is hypnotic, as cacophonous as it is intricate and sophisticated.

LIVE AT THE COULEUR CAFÉ captures Konono No. 1 performing at a small venue in Belgium. Like the group's first album, CONGOTRONICS, LIVE is raw, propulsive, and full of energy. In fact, the album hums with even more vitality given the energy created by the audience, the chanting, and the dancing that was almost certainly taking place (Konono No. 1's music is a summons for the body to gyrate and thrash). Unmistakably African, yet unlike any "world" music out there, this group should be seen or at least heard on LIVE to be believed. minimize