What’s most interesting to me about Crammed’s Congotronics bands, Konomo No. 1 and the Kasai All-Stars, plus their compatriots Staff Benda Bilili, is that they’re for real.

When you read an intro like “a group of Congolese street musicians fronted by four eldery, disabled men in wheelchairs and backed by formerly abandoned street kids” or “an urban electro-traditional Congolese musical phenomenon, lost since the late 70s” the sceptics among us will ask, were they really playing together before they were “discovered” by a European label? Did they sound that way before they were brought into the studio?

The thing is, they did. In fact everything that Crammed producer Vincent Kenis finds is pure gold and 100% authentic. Kasai, Konomo, Staff; these guys stayed true to their musical roots both before and after their brush with fame. Their incredible backgrounds may cause you to pause over their record review for a few moments longer than usual, but it’s their stunning, authentically original music that keeps you on the dance floor.

I first saw Konomo No. 1 live in 2005 at the New Morning in Paris, then again at that epic show at 2007′s Couleur Café, then again last week at the Cabaret Sauvage, this time along with the Kasai All-Stars and Staff Benda Bilili. Amadou and Mariam also played at that 2007 Brussels show, but unlike Konomo they’ve since lost touch with what made them best – Mali. The hype now surrounds their association with Manu Chao and their blind love. Their music may still be entertaining but it’s no longer, well, the fresh Malian style that it once was a few years ago. They’ve gone pop.

Konomo haven’t gone pop. In fact, they’ve sounded pretty much exactly the same since they started recording music in the late 70s. I appreciate that because their sound is unique and it gets me every time.. shakes me into a sweat.

The Kasai All-Stars are newer to “that world music scene” and are still finding their footing on stage, but after a few missteps they, too, grabbed the crowd and got them moving. By any stretch they are a pretty weird group but in a charming, original way that makes you shake your head, smile and start bouncing to the rhythm. It didn’t hurt that the sound was way better this time around.

Staff Benda Bilili’s live show really impressed me. I’d class them as true entertainers – and this is my highest praise for a live show – in the sense that they were there to entertain their audience, not just to play their music to a roomful of pre-convinced fans. They were trying to impress us, sweating, really rocking it, to make sure that we all came away tired from dancing, loving their music.

Classy and full of energy, Staff stole the show.

With its big outdoor terrace including BBQ, beer on tap and a very good pre-show DJ, a beautiful interior venue with good sound, there is nothing not to love about the Cabaret Sauvage. It was there at a private party in 2000 that I changed the course of my life… but that story is for another day. Today let’s just listen to some of the music from last week’s triple-Kinshasa-bill and relax.. just as I’m relaxing in a friend’s garden in Normandy as I write this. Summer is amazing.

ps- if you haven’t already, watch the Staff trailer

Staff Benda Bilili – Tonkara
Kasai All-Stars – Quick As White
Konono No.1 – Mama Liza (live at Couleur Café 2007)
Konono – Mungua (1978)

I was in Brussels last weekend for the 3-day Couleur Café music festival. It was my third Couleur Café – it’s becoming a bit of a tradition.

If you’ve never been you should definitely check it out next year. I think the venue is changing in a couple years, so next year will be your last chance to check-out the festival at Tour et Taxi, a great festival grounds on the edge of Brussels. It’s apparently moving to the Atomium or thereabouts.. we’ll see how that works out. (Is there still that hilariously frightening Charlemagne Palestine exhibit of weird puppets inside the Atomium?)

The music at Couleur Café is always good, the event is well-organized, you eat well, the weather is inevitably sunny – at least every year I’ve been – and Brussels is a very fun place to spend a weekend if you know/meet the right people. A big plus is that Couleur Café, like Solidays in Paris but minus the attitude, is in a city instead of a muddy field somewhere.

The line-up this year was pretty good. You can never see everyone at these festivals, especially if you’re going to survive the million chopes in the uncharacteristically hot, sunny Belgian weather, but I did manage to catch quite a few good shows.

Today we’ll hear some music from some of this year’s highlights including Bibi Tanga, Asian Dub Foundation, Khaled, Alpha Blondy, Patrice, Cesaria Evora and the Kasai All-Stars.

I didn’t know Bibi Tanga before the festival – great show. Asian Dub Foundation put on a good, loud and sweaty set as usual. Patrice really rocked the crowd. Unfortunately for me, the Kasai All-Stars set had some of the worst sound I’ve ever heard. I was really looking forward to seeing them but the show was almost unlistenable due to bad mixing, bad mics.. oh well. Alpha Blondy was, well, an Alpha Blondy show with plenty of smoke in the air and dazed franco-reggae youth in the sun. Cesaria Evora looked like she’d seen a ghost or suffered a stroke, but her music still goes so well with the nice weather. (And no, Hocus Pocus didn’t actually play with her. That’s just a 20syl remix I like.. a nod to the Paris hiphop scene.) And we all know that Khaled is classic.

There was much, much more – some that I saw, much that I didn’t – but that’s enough for a big weekend. I’m still tired but Couleur Café is well worth the trip every year.

Big love to the whole Belgium crew – always a pleasure to see you guys.

PS Happy Canada Day!

Bibi Tanga – It’s The Earth That Moves
Asian Dub Foundation – Flyover
Alpha Blondy – Brigadier Sabary
Cesaria Evora – Petit Pays (20syl remix)
Kasai Allstars – Quick As White
Patrice – Fear Rules
Khaled – Raba Raba

A belated dewenati / happy new year to everyone.

After a month-long break Benn loxo is back. I hope you all had a nice holiday season.

Lately I’ve been reading a great book by Gary Stewart, Rumba on the River. It covers the history of 20th century Congolese popular music on both sides of the river, mainly in what are today known as Brazzaville and Kinshasa. Even if you have only a passing interest in Congolese music I really recommend this book. It’s an entertaining read that packs in a lot of information while still managing to tell an engaging story.

Aside from now knowing a large chunk of the groups involved, I’m no expert in the cultural and social history of Congolese music. One thing I certainly didn’t know is how much of a role Congo’s Greek community played in the development of popular music. Almost all of Congo’s greatest stars such as Franco, Dr. Nico, Rochereau, Essous, Kalle and others got their start in Kinshasa and Brazzaville’s Greek-run studios, clubs and labels throughout the 40s, 50s and 60s.

Much like with the Lebanese of West Africa and Indians of East Africa, Congo had a wave of immigration from European political trouble spots during the first half of the 20th century. Many young Greeks had fled the post-WWI troubles of the Greco-Turkish and Greco-Italian wars at home in search of adventure, stability and business opportunities. Plenty arrived on the banks of the Congos.

For reasons that are still not entirely clear to me many of these young Greeks took an interest in the local popular music of the time. Skeptics might argue that they were in it for the money, but starting a successful record label in mid-century Congo wasn’t exactly a guaranteed get-rich-quick scheme. You had to like the music to take the risk. Regardless, by the early 50s nearly every record label and studio in Kinshasa and Brazzaville was run by Greeks. Names like Olympia, Ngoma, Opika and Loningisa, all Greek-run, will all be familiar to Congolese music enthusiasts.

I found myself wondering: what kind of music were these young Greeks listening to back home before they arrived in Congo?

Some help from my friends at Calabash Music (which has been down for a few days, what’s up?) plus a little armchair research later, I offer you Rembetika: Songs of the Greek Underground. Rembetika was a style from the early to mid-20th century that would eventually evolve into Greek popular music.

You’ll hear two Greek Rembetika tracks today, the first by the famous 1930s singer, Rosa Eskenazi, the second a 1936 recording by Jorgos Batis.

It’s interesting to hear the contrast of the music that Congo’s Greek community left behind in their native country with the new sounds that they were producing in Congo. With that in mind, we’ll also hear some music from a few of era’s big stars, Kalle, Rochereau, Nico and Franco.

ps- there’s been much buzz lately about Matthew Lavoie’s African music blog on Voice of America. Great tunes from a humbling musical archive and wealth of knowledge.

Rosa Eskenazy – Eimai Prezakias
Jorgos Batis – Zoula se mia varka bika
O.K. Jazz – On entre OK on sort KO
Orchestre African Jazz – Merengue Fafa
Kalle and Rochereau – Afrika Mokili Mobimbi

Another disc that arrived in the Stern’s package the other day was one I’ve been meaning to buy for a few months: Ken Braun’s compilation of Tabu Ley Rochereau’s music, The Voice of Lightness. It’s even better than I anticipated.

Tabu Ley Rochereau was born Pascal Emmanuel Sinamoyi Tabou in Belgian Congo in 1940. The liner notes taught me that Rochereau earned his name as a boy in Catholic school when he successfully named Colonol Pierre Denfert-Rochereau as a French hero in the Franco-Prussian war. His classmates found that hilarious, so the name stuck.

The compilation covers Tabu Ley’s career throughout the 1960s and 70s, including his work with African Jazz, African Fiesta, Afrisa International and Onaza.

I’d never heard Aon Aon, the first track I’ll post today. Amazing.

The second track, Savon OMO, isn’t necessarily my favourite on the compilation but anyone who has lived in Africa will know why I picked it. Ah, the heady scent of OMO on my badly washed clothes. N’daye of the purple brasier, where are you now?

My favourite track on the compilation is probably Karibou ya Bintou, but I’ll leave that for you to discover on your own…

Tabu Ley Rochereau – Aon Aon
Tabu Ley Rochereau – Savon Omo

Ooh.. a big package from Stern’s arrived yesterday.

A Benn loxo listener suggested that I have a listen to a new collection of Dar Es Salaam star Maestro King Kiki’s rumba from the 70s and 80s, Maestro of Tanzania.

It’s a great collection. My only gripe is the production quality; so much of what is going on in the background is hard to make-out because the levels and acoustics are all over the place. Still, a fun listen.

King Kiki is actually Congolese but he’s one of Tanzania’s most popular musicians from the older generation. We’ve been sort of working a Congolese music in other countries vibe recently, so King Kiki fits nicely into the mix.

I would tell you more but the lack of liner notes and my general lack of east coast African music knowledge leaves me hanging. Once again, I ask the more-knowledgeable-than-I Benn loxo listeners to fill us in.

And thanks for the tips- they keep my collection growing.

Maestro King Kiki – Salza

Here’s another Orchestra Mode Succès track, this time from the fourth volume of the Innovation series.

Does any have any of the other volumes? From reading the AfricanAmbiance forum it looks like there are nine in total.

I wanted to take a moment this morning to direct you to Likembe if you haven’t found it yet. John B’s African music blog is easily the best out there. His collection and depth of knowledge are impressive, plus the blog makes for a nice read. John has taught me lots and his music is consistently great. He’s helped fill me in numerous times for Benn loxo posts as well, so we can all thank him for that.

ps- thanks, Africaruge

Orchestre Mode Succès – Je peux attraper hypertension

Ok, I lied. A post on Saturday this weekend.

Orchestre Mode Succès is a group put together by Baba Ley Assaka and Bopol Mansiamina, both Congo-Kinshasa natives.

Bopol got his start in the late 1960s with Papa Noel in the Orchestre Bamboula. He’s played with many greats over the years, and more recently did some guitar work with Ricardo Lemvo who you might have heard here before.

I’m unsure if he formed the Orchestre Mode Succès when he was still living in Congo or after he had moved to France in the early 80s. I also don’t know anything about Baba Ley Assaka. Can someone fill us in?

Anyway, today’s track comes off the album Innovation Vol. 3, produced by Lokuelo Samba. I love the guitar work on this one and the production is nice, too.

Thanks to Fabian for the music, and to the excellent African Ambiance forum and African Music Profiles sites for background info.

Orchestre Mode Succes – Diffamation Ya Nini

C’est vrai qu’on est assez loin du Congo.. but you could feel a little closer this Friday if you show up at the Heat Me Party at the Cannibale Café. I’ll be playing some African classics there from about 11:30pm until closing. If you’re in Paris this weekend stop by 93, rue JP Timbaud in the 11th.

If you can’t make it, pour yourself a little Bas Armagnac, get a fire going and throw on today’s Bantous de la Capitale track. It’s a little reminder that there’s much more to life than Lisie.

Bantous de la Capitale – Loin du Congo

Konomo No. 1 are a great band to see live. The driving rhythms, on-stage dancers and general charisma of the group make for a great show.

I first saw them in Paris two and half years ago, then again at the Couleur Café that summer.

If you’re lucky enough to have a good audience around you as I did on both occasions their shows turn into big dance parties.

Konomo made a splash when they first hit the international scene, particularly in the burgeoning audioblog scene circa mid-2005. Since then the hype has died down a bit, but they’re still touring and releasing new stuff. Above all they’re still a great live act.

The generous people at Crammed recently sent me a live recording of their performance at the Couleur Café festival in Brussels, Belgium.

To the left, a shot of Belgium kids in the Couleur café 2006 audience.. sweaty dancing fun.

Konono No.1 – A.E.I.O.U

There’s something really sexy about the word ‘rumba’. It’s also a bit of a misnomer in that over the years it came to represent a variety of Cuban-influenced musical styles popular across Africa, not all of them ‘rumba’ in its original sense.

While the heart of rumba was in the country-formerly-known-as-Zaire, there were many great groups in other countries as well. One reason is the civil war that erupted in Belgium Congo during the 1960s. It forced many Congolese musicians out of the country, a bunch of whom ended up in Tanzania.

Tanzania, located in East Africa just below Kenya, was heavy into the Afro-Congo-Cuban sound during the 1960s. Original Music’s 1983 compilation, The Tanzania Sound, captures this beautifully.

Reading the liner notes this morning I noticed a translation of the lyrics for the Dar Es Salaam Jazz Band’s up-beat track, Fitina Nyingi: “Everyone’s rotten, nothing’s any good, I’m better off alone than with these no-goods.”

Now if that isn’t an upper to get us through a grey Friday, I don’t know what is!

ps- thanks, John.

Nuta Jazz – Janja Yako
Cuban Marimba Band – Beberu
Dar Es Salaam Jazz Band – Fitina Nyingi