published: 27 /
5 /
2009
Label:
Crammed Discs
Format: CD
Exciting and breezy-sounding debut album from Congo-based band of paraplegic street musicians, Staff Benda Bilili
Review
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 Moindo
2
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-B
http://www.staffbendabilili.com/
Label Links:-
http://www.crammed.be/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crammed
https://twitter.com/CrammedDiscs
https://www.youtube.com/user/CrammedDi
https://plus.google.com/+CrammedDiscs
https://crammed.greedbag.com/