From Tom Bouchier Hayes, CNN
July 12, 2011 -- Updated 0824 GMT (1624 HKT)
Staff Benda Bilili's story
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Staff Benda Bilili are a Congolese band consisting of mainly disabled performers
They have toured internationally and played in major festivals
They say their success helps change views of disabled people
Every week CNN International's African Voices highlights Africa's most engaging personalities, exploring the lives and passions of people who rarely open themselves up to the camera.
(CNN) -- From the streets of Kinshasa to sell-out tours across Europe, a group of disabled performers are bringing their punchy tunes and uplifting message to music fans far beyond the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Disabled by polio since childhood, the main members of Staff Benda Bilili strum guitars from their wheelchairs to create memorable tunes that mix classic Congolese grooves with funky reggae beats.
After spending years eking out a living in the streets, the musicians' talents were finally discovered in 2004 by a pair of French filmmakers, Florent de La Tullaye and Renaud Barret. The duo were mesmerized by the band's electrifying sound and decided to help them record their first album as well as capture in film their daily struggles in the slums of the DRC's capital.
Staff Benda Bilili, which translates as "look beyond appearances," completed their first album "Tres Tres Fort" in 2009 to critical acclaim, while Barret and de La Tullaye's movie, "Benda Bilili," was one of the hits at last year's Cannes Film Festival.
The winning mix of mesmerizing live performances, an internationally-acclaimed album and a fascinating film documenting their remarkable story has struck a chord with global audiences, changing the lives of the Congolese musicians forever.
Entertaining crowds in Cannes
Singing from the heart
"Life for our family is good," says band leader Ricky Likabu. "The kids go to school, we have homes, I'm no longer on the street. I've left the street -- I've got a plot of land, a house, a car to get around, a wheelchair. What else do you need?"
Likabu says that initially he was unaware that life as a professional musician was a possibility.
He says: "Each time I looked for music from my friends and for work, but the response was, 'You are disabled how can you become a musician? If you are disabled, what will you do? You can't dance.'
"I was very surprised by this, I was very disappointed."
But Likabu refused to let his dream die. Prompted by his deep-felt love of music, he brought together like-minded musicians he'd grown up with and together they started playing outside Kinshasa's fancy restaurants.
The band's sound has often been compared to the likes of Buena Vista Social Club and Fela Kuti. But Likabu's inspiration to succeed and make a proper living is traced back to a night in Kinshasa more than 30 years ago.
"From 1974, the time when (Muhammad) Ali and (George) Foreman boxed in our country, I also saw a musician called James Brown who had come to play," he recalls.
"I was really moved by him. So since then I started making music ... I saw him and I thought, 'Ah, that's great. I'm going to make music too.'"
Since then, Staff Benda Bilili have toured internationally and entertained audiences at major festivals like Womad and Glastonbury.
The energy remains because we see that we're doing well and everything is going to be fine.
--Ricky Likabu, Staff Benda Bilili
RELATED TOPICS
Polio
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Africa
Music
The core members of the band are joined by an acoustic rhythm section and the extraordinary soloing talents of Roger Landu, a former street child who shoots out electrifying solos on the "satonge," a one-string instrument he designed and built himself from a tin can and a guitar string.
"Music is my life: With music, everything's been made possible for me," says Likabu.
"The energy came when we discovered that people like us and thought our music was strong so we must continue," he says. "The energy remains because we see that we're doing well and everything is going to be fine."
Staff Benda Bilili sing about subjects close to their heart, including polio, the disease that left many of the band members disabled.
"That's why I am now a messenger to deliver this message to parents that they shouldn't just leave their children as they are," says Likabu.
"They need to catch the disease before it reaches their children. They need to get their children vaccinated, so that's the message -- parents need to bring their children to the doctors to get the vaccination."
Likabu is convinced the message is getting across and that people are slowly but surely changing their views of people with disabilities.
He says: "They understand because the disabled were there begging for food but now they started to work and are making music. So yes, things are changing."
it is very good for this country to have people of this type because with all that problems and they get the spirit to do that in their lives they are very good people and very positive because you needto be positivi to make things is good for the congo
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