It happens 41 seconds into the opening number. A idyll array of likembes (the chiming thumb pianos that helped to make Konono No 1's first volume in this series peerless of the landmark releases of the decade so far) ar meshing softly together in a syncopated swirl when, suddenly, a giant erupt of amplified distortion comes clumping into the picture.
Just as the listener is deciding whether to wrawl in dissent or puncher the air with delight, a sinuate guitar pipeline ushers in a richly layered call-and-response vocal. The elegance with which these apparently militant elements are resolved over the future six transactions is a moving testament to the human capacity for extemporisation and cooperation that in some way persists amid the turbulent circumstances of the Congo.
Bringing together 25 musicians (including no fewer than captain Hicks lead vocalists) from six different bands to put a 21st-century twist on to the folk heritages of five separate - and sometimes mutually antagonistic - pagan groups ought to get been a recipe for chaos. After all, the Gallagher brothers are always arguing, even though thither are just two of them and they both grew up in the same house. But from the deceptively restful implemental workout of 'Beyond the 7th Moon' to the euphoric last of 'Drowning Goat (Mbuji-Mayi)', this astonishing album unfolds with a sensuous logic that cannot be strained.
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