This Is Africa

Konono Nº1 is a Grammy nominated musical group from Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. They combine three electric likembé (a traditional instrument similar to the mbira) with voices, dancers, and percussion instruments that are made out of items gathered from a junkyard. The group's full name is L'orchestre folklorique T.P. Konono Nº1 de Mingiedi. Dates for the group's formation vary. Crammed Discs, which released Konono Nº1's 'Congotronics' album in 2005, places the group's formation in the 1960s.

The first time Konono Nº1 played outside of Africa was in 2003, when they toured the Netherlands with a Dutch band, called The Ex. Since then the group has achieved some renown in North America and Europe, and has toured both places. The group collaborated with international artists including  Björk and Herbie Hancock, amongst others. In 2006 the band won the Newcomer Award from the BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music.

COUNTRY: DR Congo

RECORDLABEL: Crammed
WEBSITE: http://www.konono.net