Hailing from Congo, Staff Bendi Bilili are a group of musicians who live (and play) in the Kinshasa Zoogical Park in the Capital of Congo. All members of the band are homeless and affected by polio, however that does not stop them from making amazing music with hand made instruments, such as a one stringed guitar made from a tin can. In keeping with their rock and roll lifestyle, members of the group cruise around Kinshasa in homemade wheelchair tricycles. Many of these are featured in the stunning photographs inside the CD booklet.
Drawing on many musical styles, their music has its roots in afrobeat with elements of rhythm'n'blues, reggae and rumba. They cite two of their influences as James Brown and Bob Marley.
Released in March 2009 on Crammed Discs, the CD was recorded live by Vincent Kenis in Kinshasa Zoological Park. Initially Kenis recorded and saved the tracks on his MP3 player, however it was stolen a few days later, with all tracks needing to be rerecorded. I highly recommend playing this CD on a mixed program and even though all tracks are performed in French, the lyrics resonate the struggle of polio affected Congolese I was born a strong man, but polio has crippled me
Look at me today, I’m screwed into my tricycle
I have become the man with canes
To hell with those crutches!
Parents, please go to the vaccination centre
Get your babies vaccinated against polio
Please save them from that curse
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