Papa Kourand: Roots of Konono No. 1

October 10, 2007 12:33 AM

The full-on, amped-up sanza sounds of Konono No. 1 have been celebrated here at MeFi not once but twice, and they are indeed wonderful. Björk's been working with them a bit lately, too. But let's go back a few decades, and take a listen to the unplugged version of this type of music: mesdames et messiurs, Papa Kourand, the grand old man of the sanza!

By the way, that video clip from the Kourand link: in case it's slow-loading or no-loading, I also found it in one other place, a tacky little website where you'll get a pesky little popup window, but once you've sent the window on its way, click on the WATCH VIDEO button. There you'll find the same clip, a video of his song "Tout Restera Ici Bas".

posted by flapjax at midnite (11 comments total)

I'm really enjoying the Papa Kourand stuff! Reminds me of the rhythms from Paul Simon's "Graceland" album.
posted by amyms at 12:44 AM on October 10, 2007

Translation : "On the day of our death, we won't bring anything with us, everything will stay down here on the ground".

What a bright way to start my day ;-)

thanks flapjax for that Papa Kourand's tune... I've seen Konono N°1 this summer and was a little bit disappointed by their endless grooves... but it's really a sound to dance to and I wasn't dancing. So..
posted by nicolin at 2:31 AM on October 10, 2007

Thanks for the post! I picked up a Congotronics album by Konono No.1 recently entirely at random and I've been digging it thoroughly, was hoping to be able to find more. Excelent news.
posted by Aversion Therapy at 4:55 AM on October 10, 2007

It's discoveries like this that keep me on emusic. It's had a permanent place on my 'pod since at least last November.
posted by bovious at 5:54 AM on October 10, 2007

It's discoveries like this that keep me on emusic.

Of course, that's the rather well-known Konono N°1, there on your emusic link. Hopefully it's also discoveries like the more obscure Papa Kourand that keep you on MetaFilter! :)
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:02 AM on October 10, 2007

Naah, all I need is the occasional random lolcats gag to keep me on MeFi.

(Please, I'm not trying to hijack this thread into lolcats territory. Just talking about my real relationship to MeFi.)
posted by bovious at 6:20 AM on October 10, 2007

Make your own.

Now I'm going to have to go dig mine out of storage. Thanks flapjax, great post!
posted by figment of my conation at 6:37 AM on October 10, 2007

This sounds great Flapjax - any idea where I can pick some Papa Kourand up? I've tried some online stores...
posted by algreer at 7:39 AM on October 10, 2007

algreer, there is a shop in the african website link given by flapjax :

http://www.bassoka.fr/?page_id=7
posted by nicolin at 11:40 AM on October 10, 2007

Yeah, algreer, that Papa disc is scarcer than hen's teeth! Thanks for that link, nicolin, I hadn't yet snooped around the rest of that site too much. I really want the disc too, gonna have to pick that one up!

Thanks also, figment, for the DIY kalimba links. The "korimba" looks interesting, but still, the angle of the handles versus the keys... seems a little curious. I'd like to get ahold of one of those and try it out. Maybe I'll have to try to make one of those in my (yeah, right) spare time.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:42 PM on October 10, 2007

Great post, Konono No. 1 are fantastic.
posted by ageispolis at 5:43 PM on October 10, 2007