V.A.:The Karindula Sessions
Crammed Discs V.A. : The Karindula Sessions -CD+DVD-(CO,2011)*****
When I saw the highly recommended Congotronics videos I didn’t think I would be surprised again with another video compiled in Congo, but I have been. This time the recordings are done in South-east Congo in the province of Katanga in its capital city Lubumbashi. There they have created a new traditional style called Karindula, referring also to their main instrument, a giant banjo made out of an oil barrel, a goat skin, four strings, and an empty bag of powdered milk and some details that make the strings resonate with some tempered distortion. To compensate for its restrained softness, the singers sing heavily and the music is played fast, accompanied by percussion, and surrounded by numerous dance-and-tease-the-watching-public, enjoy-life- expression events. A second mini-version of the instrument is working like the counter-part with higher tones, hit with wooden sticks. The music itself is influenced by traditional music from the Bemba and Luba tribe communities. The lyrics are challenging and teasing. Bands involved on this recording BBK, Bana Simba, Bena Ngoma and Bana Lupemba, recorded during a quickly set up three day street festival, where the band is surrounded by children and adults, sometimes engaging themselves in an improvised front lead dance as well. What is striking again is the enormous life energy, spontaneous developments being filmed with the right visual movements to create the feeling you as a listener are actually there, seeing all the sorts of spontaneous movements and things to see from different, in reality always surprising angles. During its 90+ minutes I was most of the time in a state of constant surprised amazement. The ability of some of the movements of the dancers could bring them as a matter of speaking easily to a presentation of a solicitation at Circe Du Soleil, even though these moments are for real. With the CD that could only list 9 tracks it’s more easy to listen to the inner variations without being distracted by the visual aspects, it gives the opportunity to imagine them as well, as the music adds new surprises in varied rhythmic responses and of course also within the vocal responses to the lead singer. A historically and musically important document.
