Staff Benda Bilili

Staff Benda Bilili consists of homeless and disabled Congolese who live around the zoo in Kinshasa. They survived on the streets by making music and collecting money. The band was discovered by Western ears and a CD was released. The CD "Très Très Fort" became a minor sensation in the world- and popcircles, with beautiful African ballads, Congolese rumba, reggae and funk, but also with the story behind their music, the polio, their survival in Kinshasa. Bandleader Ricky Likabu in his fifties with his wheelchair-colleagues Coco and Theo accompanied by the teenager Roger Landu, not disabled but a homeless streetboy once adopted by the group. Landu plays a homemade one-string harp, an arc of wood in an empty milk container and beats the tempo up to great heights. The moving dance acts make the show of Staff Benda Bilili a "Très Très Fort" experience. Smartvideo is a team of non commercial enthusiasts videofilmers