Against All Odds

Making it big in CongoÕs city of dreams

Benda Bilili!
directed by Florent de la Tullaye and Renaud Barret

On a visit to Kinchasa, Congo, in 2004, French film directors Florent de la Tullaye and Renaud Barret happened upon a most unusual band: Staff Benda Bilili, who played their music on homemade instruments in and around the Kinchasa Zoo and sang songs about the hellacious trials and tribulations of life in that impoverished city. The band was perhaps most striking because they were composed mainly of paraplegics.

ÒWe were attracted to them by the sound,Ó says Barret. ÒWe heard this crazy blues coming from nowhere and we started to walk and we came across them just like that. They sat in the street and they were playing, rehearsing on the curbs with a bunch of street kids around them dancing, and it was like midnight. We switched the cameras off, and we stayed with them till the early morning. And in the morning we were just completely smashed, and it was more like a joke in the beginning, but we said, ÔLetÕs do an album with these guys.ÕÓ

Which they did, although it took several attempts.

ÒThe first time,Ó he says, Òwe forgot that they were living in the streets, because they are so strong, so powerful when you are with them that you say, ÔOh, those guys are tough, and they can make it any way.Õ So we rented a studio, but the fact was that they were not sleeping, they were not eating, they had all their street life problems. And it took three times to get it right.Ó

The filmmakers along the way had been documenting the bandÕs heroic efforts to make it to the top in Kinchasa, a place of the wildest dreams.

ÒOf dreams, yeah ÐÐ and of nightmares,Ó says Barret. ÒLike all big cities, youÕve got all these people from all around the country coming to the city to get their chance, but most of the time they end up on the curb. There is no work, there is extreme corruption on every level of society, plus there are wars going on in the Eastern part of the country. Most of the people are like beggars.Ó

Barret and de la TullayeÕs film, Benda Bilili!, received standing ovations when it opened the Directors Fortnight at Cannes in 2010 and was nominated for a CŽsar Award for Best Documentary. It follows the bandÕs rise from the streets of Kinchasa to their smashing debut at European music festivals, with a big socko finale on the 2009 release of their highly praised album Trés Trés Fort.

You might think that after the bandÕs success on their European tours, theyÕd be superstars in their native country. Not the case, according to Barret. The band seems determined to keep things real, and they havenÕt exactly been given a lot of government support ÐÐ as disabled former beggars, theyÕre not considered desirable cultural ambassadors.

ÒThey donÕt give a good image,Ó says Barret. ÒThe movie is not a political movie, but it says a lot: If the Benda band are forced to beg to make a living, it means that the countryÕs fucked up, and so the powers of Congo donÕt like them much. And the fact that they are disabled also is something evil in Congo; disability is a big issue, because itÕs related to witchcraft ÐÐ if youÕve got no legs means that your father did something wrong, or maybe you have eaten the soul of somebody else, this old way of thinking.Ó

But Staff Benda Bilili donÕt wish to be big stars. What they want is to feed their families, to get off and stay off the streets of Kinchasa. Barret says they remain quiet, humble and generous.

ÒFor three years theyÕve been touring the world, and it was their dream,Ó he says. ÒBut when theyÕre on tour, itÕs no big deal for them, because being so much in the streets for the past 10 to 15 years, just being on a world stage is a bonus.

ÒIn Kinchasa or in Europe, theyÕve kept the same spirit. And what they want to do is help their country, help their families. They donÕt even dream about Europe, to them itÕs not a paradise. They love Congo, itÕs the basis of their inspiration and they donÕt want to feel disconnected.Ó