Staff Benda Bilili

Melodic masters of survival, an astonishing mixture of gentle wisdom and rawhide toughness, the sweet sound of the Congolese ghetto

Staff Benda Bilili translated means something like "look beyond appearances...", and towering proud and tall over prejudice, corruption, and the grimy veneer of daily life their first album, Très Très Fort, “The explosive debut album… perhaps an example of African street music at its finest” BBC Music,  was released to the world in March this year. Spreading the message of communal resilience the album is enabling the band to realise the dreams that shine through their sunny, sub-Saharan smiles.

Disabled by polio, Staff Benda Bilili are a group of homeless buskers from Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo who are attracting Western film-makers, musicians and internet fans with their sweet and funky music. Subtle and precise, Staff Benda Bilili’s intoxicating tunes mix 70’s funk, old Cuban son and mambo with the mellifluous flow of classic Congolese rumba.

 “Rooted in the Congolese tradition of rumba rock and the influence of Rumble in the Jungle-era James Brown, there's a wonderful warmth and an often ramshackle jollity to proceedings.”

The Observer

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