"World Music”. Is there a lazier, more meaningless musical term in use today? Not only does this “genre” actually describe the vast majority of music in existence, but the use of such a label gives the impression that any music coming from a non-Western culture can simply be discarded as irrelevant. But since its inception in the early ‘00s, Crammed Discs’ Congotronics series has transcended its “world music” label to be embraced by Western listeners and musicians alike. The series of recordings, which began in 2004 with the album of the same name by Konono No. 1, documents the unique style of electrified traditional (or tradi-modern) music being developed today in the Congo. I spoke to Crammed founder Marc Hollander about the series, and its latest instalment.
The story of Congotronics begins in the late ‘70s when French ethnomusicologist Bernard Treton recorded a compilation of music from Kinshasa, the Congolese capital city, entitled ‘Zaire: Musiques Urbaines à Kinshasa’. Among the four artists featured on the compilation was Orchestre Tout Puissant Likembé Konono No. 1 (now known as simply Konono No. 1), who contributed the blistering half hour suite Mungua-Muanga. On hearing this recording, Crammed Discs’ Vincent Kenis - now curator and producer of the Congotronics series - began a search for the band that lasted over 20 years. I asked Marc about this incredible story: “Vincent has regularly been travelling to the Congo. He’s made extensive stays with Pygmies and recorded their music, done research work for compiling the ‘Congo Classics’ albums, recorded street bands etc.. But he kept looking for Konono No. 1, asking around and trying to track them down. Vincent’s encounter with them around 2000, and the recording and release of the ‘Congotronics’ album in 2004, certainly were turning points in their story.”
The second band to release a full length as part of the Congotronics series was Kasai Allstars, a collective of 25 Congolese musicians. Where Konono No. 1’s members are from the same region in Lower Congo, Kasai Allstars includes musicians from five different bands originating from five separate ethnic groups. Unlike the other Congotronics bands, whose music is traditionally performed at social gatherings (weddings, funeral parties etc.), Kasai Allstars were conceived by Vincent Kenis as a sort of supergroup, with the sole intention of performing shows for external audiences.
The marriage of the five disparate, seemingly incompatible musical traditions of Kasai Allstars’ founding members, is one of the more remarkable successes of the Congotronics series: “They’ve done a lot of work adapting their respective repertoires to perform it together; there was a real process of musical fusion at work. They had to learn each other’s languages, musical scales, rhythms etc. and the guitar, balafon [a wooden instrument related to the xylophone], and thumb piano players had to come up with parts - and retune their instruments - in order to play in songs which normally don’t incorporate their respective instruments.”
The unprecedented success of Congotronics in the West, particularly within alternative music scenes, can largely be put down to a musical accident. In order to be heard over the urban din of Kinshasa, bands such as Konono No. 1 fashioned microphones and amplifiers from salvaged car parts. The introduction of this homemade amplification brought in unwanted levels of distortion to their music, as Marc explained: “This originally purely technical change brought a mutation in their sound. Being used - as many African musicians - to playing with natural distortions (many instruments have devices that create buzzes and noises, a bit like a snare on a snare drum), they soon integrated the distortions generated by their makeshift amplification systems, and these noises became part of their music.”
The Congotronics bands already shared much DNA with Western alternative and dance music, with its clattering, polyrhythmic percussion and interlocking thumb piano motifs, and the introduction of this noise gave the music a lo-fi sound that immediately identified with indie music circles in the West. I asked Marc whether he thought the series would have been as successful without the noise: “There’s definitely been a ‘hipness factor’, just like with any music which becomes popular in a given segment of the public. Now, when we’re listening to, say, Konono’s music, we’re hearing it with our ears, our cultural mindset. We’re not perceiving it like someone from Konono’s original ethnic group.We’re projecting, fantasizing and imagining things... but the same can be said, to varying degrees, about any music.”
The reception Congotronics has received from electronic musicians in the West renders some form of remix project a logical step forward for the series, but Crammed had reason to be wary of pursuing this direction: “Some electronic artists had been offering to do remixes of Konono No. 1 tracks, but we weren’t keen on the idea for a long time. We felt it might confuse the issues. We wanted to make sure everyone understands that the music of the Congotronics bands is their own creation, and not something which has been produced or remixed in the West.”
With their latest release, however, ‘Tradi-Mods Vs. Rockers: Alternative Takes On Congotronics’ (see my review in the albums section), Crammed have decided to embrace the possibilities of remixing their Congotronics artists. Well, sort of. In fact, ‘Tradi-Mods Vs. Rockers’ is a double-disc compilation which mostly avoids remixes, consisting instead of “covers, reworks and original compositions ” by a wide selection of Western electronic and alternative musicians, all inspired by Congotronics: “For ‘Tradi-Mods Vs. Rockers’, we encouraged all the contributors to let their imagination run free. Apart from the contributions of five or six more strictly electronic producers on the album (who normally work within a ‘remix’ framework), I feel that there are very few tracks there which can be described as ‘remixes’, and that's a great thing.”
Amongst some of the more obscure artists on the credits, a few big names stand out (fan boys’ favourite Animal Collective, Deerhoof, Andrew Bird and producer Shackleton). I wondered if it had been a difficult job generating enough interest from potential contributors: “We started approaching bands that are both exciting and self-professed Congotronics fans. Everyone responded with enthusiasm - most of them have said they were honoured to be asked to tackle a thing like that. The response was so great that we ended up having enough material for a double album, which wasn’t the initial idea.”
Under his old moniker Aksak Maboul, Marc also contributed a track to the compilation, Land Dispute, which takes its inspiration from Kasai Allstars’ Kabuangoyi. I asked him about how he approached making what he describes as a “tribute to one of my all-time favourite singers”: “I chose that piece because it’s one of my favourites. The basic idea was to create a track which is very different, but includes a melodic and harmonic reference to the original, and then bring in Muambuyi’s voice towards the end. I used my vintage equipment (Farfisa organ, drum machine) to build a piece around a guitar melody from the original. I then asked Faustine (my daughter) and her friend Clement Marion (who has a budding project called Joiejoiejoie) to create a pattern with acoustic guitars, incorporating that guitar riff. We then fleshed out the track, overdubbing more keyboards, dub effects, percussion played on various objects (including a ventilator and a lamp), as well as two processed balafon samples taken from the original recording. Finally, we brought in Muambuyi’s voice, which had to be slightly slowed down, and inserted it carefully so that it worked well rhythmically and retained its original, rhythmic flow in this new context.”
In producing their material for ‘Tradi-Mods Vs. Rockers’, each artist worked independently; the Congotronics bands had no creative input in the record. Crammed have so far produced one track that represents a true collaboration between a ‘tradi-mod’ and a ‘rocker’; Coupe-Jarret was recorded by Kasai Allstars and Akron/Family. Surprisingly, Marc sounded optimistic about the possibility of undertaking a similar, but much larger scale, project in the future: “We’re now plotting a more extensive collaboration, which would involve ten musicians from Konono No. 1 and Kasai Allstars, and ten indie musicians, all working together to create a common repertoire. And then performing shows and recording them. It’s an ambitious and challenging project (in terms of organisation, budget etc.), but we’re hoping we’ll be able to make it happen soon.”
Now that really is something to look forward to. But aside from creating a 20-strong indie/Congotronics megaband, what else can we expect from Crammed and Congotronics in the future?: “There’s no master plan. We’ll do what seems right and work with the opportunities which occur. We’ll work with more ‘tradi-modern’ bands - we’ll soon be releasing a DVD + CD presenting the music of four tradi-modern bands from a totally different region of Congo, in the extreme south-east. And we’ll also keep our ears and eyes open for anything else we fall in love with...”