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) |
|
| Exhilarating second album from ten-piece group of paraplegic Congo street musicians, Staff Benda Bilili |
| Tres Tres Fort (2009) |
most viewed articles
current edition
Peter Doherty - Blackheath Halls, Blackheath and Palace Halls, Watford, 18/3/2025 and 21/3/2025Yardbirds - Interview with Jim McCarty
Johnny Cash - Video Vault
Max Bianco and the BlueHearts - Troubadour, London, 29/3/2025
John Philip Shenale - Interview
Deb Googe and Cara Tivey - Interview
Armory Show - Interview with Richard Jobson
Man From Delmonte - Interview
Loft - Interview
Vapors - Interview
most viewed reviews
current edition
Bryan Ferry and Amelia Barrett - Loose TalkIvor Game - When Will You Fall Into My Loving Arms?
Gabriel Moreno - Nights in the Belly of Bohemia
Doris Brendel and Lee Dunham - Big Blue Sky
Brooke Combe - Dancing at the Edge of the World
Shaw's Trailer Park - I Thought I Saw You
Bryan Adams - Live at the Royal Albert Hall 2024
Ringo Starr - Look Up
FKA twigs - Eusexua
Leon Bridges - Leon
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart