When the electrifying, trancelike street music spearheaded by veteran Congolese band Konono No. 1 reached Western ears in the early 2000s, it sounded like something beamed in from Mars. Konono’s music was based around traditional instruments like the likembe thumb piano, but the need to use hand-built, jury-rigged amplifiers to be heard on busy Kinshasa streets brought …

The Congotronics series first highlighted the amazing vitality of modern Congolese music with the 2005 debut disc from Konono No. 1, which created something utterly mesmerizing by adding modern amplification and electronic distortion to traditional instruments like the likembe thumb piano. The third Congotronics installment broadens the scope. Central Africa’s Democratic Republic Of The Congo is so huge it …