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Performance - 2 July 2011
To say that Staff Benda Bilili's story is an unlikely tale redefines the world 'understatement'. Take several disenfranchised, homeless guitar-pickers who, cast down by polio, live in the grounds of Kinshasa Zoo and get around town on pimped-up motorised tricycles. Team them with a bunch of street kids, one of whom fashions his own instrument - the satonge - using an old milk-powder can and a strand of electrical wire. Not exactly the stuff of The X Factor. But Staff Benda Bilili found their own Simon Cowell - Vincent Kenis, the Belgian record producer behind the European success of Konono No 1 and the Congotronics compilations, who went into delirium when he heard Staff Benda Bilili's joyful sound. The subsequent album - Tres Tres Fort - also sent press and punters into collective rapture, a sensation repeated when the band flew in for their first European tour. For those yet to be touched by this remarkable music and story, the ride starts here.