Très très fort

Album Review

It's safe to say there's never been a group quite like Staff Benda Bilili. Most of the bandmembers are polio victims confined to customized tricycles, except for the youngest, 17-year-old Roger Landu, who plays a one-string lute he made himself. Recorded in the Kinshasa zoo, where the members spend most of their time, using electricity stolen from another building, this is a disc filled with ambient noise — and some wonderful music. Much of it, unsurprisingly, is Congolese rhumba, as on "Moto Moindo." The four singer/guitarists harmonize liltingly, but the real instrumental star is Landu, who flicks out riffs and solos on his instrument like a virtuoso. The band does mix up the sound, offering some light funk on the track named after themselves and on "Je T'Aime," and some reggae inflections on "Sala Mosala." There's a very positive attitude throughout the songs: these guys might be handicapped, but it's not going to stop them. The musicians are remarkable, the guerrilla recording just about perfect. But the real gift here is the music.