Staff Benda Bilili - Tres Tres Fort
by Adrian Huggins
published: 27 / 5 / 2009

Label:
Crammed Discs
Format: CD
intro
Exciting and breezy-sounding debut album from Congo-based band of paraplegic street musicians, Staff Benda Bilili
Probably the first Kinshasa band to draw inspiration from the Mali-Cuba Connection, 'Très Très Fort' showcases the breezy looseness you'd sooner expect to come from a coastal region. The Staff's particularly epic snare play leads to a bunch of itchy jigs. Unlike the blasting trance rhythms of that other treasured Kinshasa sound, the Congotronic style, the percussion is only modestly felt though. Positioned in the heart of the continent, Staff Benda Bilili borrow from township jive of South Africa on'Sala Mosala'. Add to that the vague notion of a ska music backbeat and you get a rough picture of how pan-african 'Très, Très Fort' actually is. If I had been told Staff Benda Bilili came from the Cameroon, I would have believed it. Staff Benda Bilili for example seem to share a sense of phlegmatic humour with one of that nation's 'famous' bands, Les Têtes Brulées. Excellent harmony singing and vocals, són with a flavour of French irony, not set aside, 'Très Très Fort' never ceases to excite.
Track Listing:-
1 Moto Moindo2 Poliomyelite
3 Je t'aime
4 Sala Keba
5 Moziki
6 Sala Mosala
7 Avramandole
8 Tonkara
9 Marguerite
10 Staff Benda Bilili
11 Mwana
Band Links:-
https://www.facebook.com/Staff-Benda-Bilili-50607978553/http://www.staffbendabilili.com/
Label Links:-
http://www.crammed.be/https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crammed-Discs/70419524682
https://twitter.com/CrammedDiscs
https://www.youtube.com/user/CrammedDiscs
https://plus.google.com/+CrammedDiscs
https://crammed.greedbag.com/
reviews |
Bouger Le Monde (2012) |
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Exhilarating second album from ten-piece group of paraplegic Congo street musicians, Staff Benda Bilili |
Tres Tres Fort (2009) |
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