Hot Congotronics at Grace Jones’ Meltdown

A composite image from Hot Congotronics performance at Grace Jones Meltdown that feature four members of the band, including Hot Chip's keyboardist a white man who wears a white baseball hat, a vocalist from Kasai Allstars, a black man who wears a long sleeve Dashiki, and in the background two male guitarists, each white men wearing wide brimmed hats are just visible but out of focus
Hot Congotronics at Grace Jones' Meltdown festival, by Burak Cingi

In June 2022, the Southbank Centre hosted a unique collaboration as part of Grace Jones’ Meltdown festival.

For one night only, our Royal Festival Hall rocked to the sound of Hot Congotronics, a unique collaboration between London’s Hot Chip and Kinshasa’s Kasai Allstars.

Featuring artists from each of the collaborators, this short film tells the remarkable story of how this supergroup came together. Over footage from their rehearsals and the gig, discover how the artists worked together, overcoming differences in language and culture, to produce an incredibly crowd-pleasing collaborative gig that showcased their respective sounds… all inside a couple of days.

Hot Congotronics perform on stage at Grace Jones Meltdown; in the foreground is a vocalist from Kasai AllStars, a black man who wears a long sleeve Dashiki; in the background two guitar playing members of Hot Chip are visible but out of focus; each of them are white men wearing wide-brimmed hats
Hot Congotronics at Grace Jones' Meltdown festival, by Burak Cingi

‘As soon as they start singing together this very magical thing happens, and we were just giving them space to do what they would normally do, and not trying to impose ourselves too much on that experience.’

Al Doyle, Hot Chip, on Kasai Allstars
MHD performing in Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall as part of M.I.A.'s Meltdown
Mike Massaro
Meltdown

Meltdown festival returns to the Southbank Centre with a new curator in the summer of 2023. Be first to find out the latest news.