Congotronics International: Where’s the One? — magnificent chaos

It was a folie de grandeur, very much of its time. In 2011, two Congolese groups (the noisy “tradi-modern” Konono No. 1 and the more traditional Kasai Allstars) toured Europe and Japan with several western indie bands: Deerhoof and Skeletons from the US, Juana Molina from Argentina, the Swedish duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums. All 19 musicians were on stage at the same time, playing a mixture of songs from the individual acts’ repertoires and new material developed in rehearsals in Brussels.

That it has taken a decade for these recordings — some made in concert, some on that road trip — to emerge may be explained partly by the musicians’ mixed memories of the tour. In the sleeve notes Deerhoof’s John Dieterich recalls it as being “baffling and inspiring and maddening all at once”. There was a malaria outbreak and a diabetic coma; instruments broke; Molina, as the only musician who could speak both English and French, found herself acting as translator and mediator.

There were endless disputes about the rhythmic structure of the songs: the album’s title stems from Skeletons guitarist Matt Mehlan’s pointed observation about never being able to agree on the downbeat. Kasai Allstars guitarist Mopero Mupemba recalls frowning so hard whilst working out how the music fitted together that the westerners thought he was constantly angry. By the time the tour rolled through London that July, the music was in a state of magnificent, barely controlled chaos. It was an unforgettable evening, but also felt unrepeatable; the effort being made by Molina, in particular, to hold things together was palpable.

These recordings, remixed by Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier to bring out the detail lurking underneath the live “volume war”, capture most of the exhilaration of the concerts. Mupemba’s guitar is more clearly audible while the distortions of the amplified likembes are dialled back to a level tolerable.

Highlights include the math-rock guitars on Molina’s “Resila” dissolving into a scrapheap of percussive noise, the full-on circling buzz and thump of Konono No. 1’s “Kule Kule Redux”, and the call-and-response on “The Chief Enters Again”, a showcase for Kasai Allstars. Deerhoof’s “Super Duper Rescue Heads!” gets a makeover as “Super Duper Rescue Allstars”, with Satomi Matsuzaki chanting “me to the rescue, me to the rescue” as the Congolese musicians chorus behind her. “Bombo & Sifflets” offers a tantalising glimpse of how future collaborations might have turned out, rainforest whistles giving way to metallic apocalypse.

★★★★★

‘Where’s the One?’ is released by Crammed