HKW ROYAL: Staff Benda Bilili
Concert: Sun 15.08.2010 | 20:00 h | Admission: 18 € / conc. 15 €
“Handmade futuristic funk.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
Congolese rumba fusions with a Cuban nonchalance. Until – that is – they suddenly explode into action and celebrate the “rhythm of a third world metropolis that is collapsing and simultaneously urging people to dance.” (SZ). Staff Benda Bilili come from Kinshasa: from the street, as refugees of a seemingly never-ending Congolese civil war. Most of them have been crippled by polio. Some travel, sing and even dance in self-made wheelchairs. When a documentary on the band was premiered at the latest Cannes Film Festival, the audience went wild at this “dazzling whirlwind of archaic rhythm monsters and sparkling melodies.”
Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
