Backstories are important in World Music, in contextualising the often alien sounds for western ears, and at the very least offering another handle for the listener to grab onto. The general rule is the more exotic better, the freedom fighter past on Tinariwen, Tartit’s formation in a Mauritanian refugee camp, Konono No 1’s ingenuity. But all of this pales into comparison when confronted with Staff Benda Bilili, who are a group of paraplegic street musicians who live around the zoological gardens of Kinchasa (Democratic Republic of Congo). They’ve made these wheelchair/ tricycles that they cruise around in and their instruments aside from their guitars are handmade in Congo, including I guess the plastic chair that one of the percussionists uses in lieu of drums. The album was recorded outdoors in the zoo gardens, though overdubs were done indoors in someone’s lounge-room, with one Vincent Kenis (Tartit/ Konono No 1) at the helm.
So does the music even matter after all of this?
Well yes, their sounds are drawn from the rhumba, which has been so prevalent in the Congo over the years, though they also take on other influences such as a scattered kind of funk, and there’s that Congo sound that we’ve heard recently with Konono No 1, a kind of skewed half distorted sound of electronics pushed a little too far the wrong way. This time it seems to come from the homemade Santonge, a guitar string tensed between a tin can and a bow, which produces some of the illest sounding wrong guitar solos you’ve ever heard. They’re exponents of that Afro Rhumba sound, with vocal call and response melodies, African percussion and the Latin melodies played out over these long pieces that could just go on forever. Curiously considering their social circumstances, often sleeping rough, their songs are about hope about African pride and unity, a plea to parents to vaccinate their children for polio – a song from someone who understands the consequences of not having it done, and also of hope no mater your social circumstances. They’re firmly entrenched within the homeless community and you can hear the hope and melancholy in their music. For Western ears, it’s easy to become captivated and entranced in the gorgeous upbeat rhythms, yet you get the sense for many homeless and disenfranchised from Kinshasa’s media and government messages, Staff Benda Bilili provide a vital social function where it matters most – on the street.
Bob Baker Fish
