Band beats odds to become worldwide sensation

Updated March 09, 2012 17:18:04

A group of disabled artists from one of the world's poorest countries has become a worldwide music sensation.

The band Staff Benda Bilili, or Look Beyond Appearances, was discovered by a French documentary team while they were playing their energetic music on the streets of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The film led to a tour of Europe and now they are in Adelaide to perform at the world music festival - WOMADelaide - this weekend.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is blessed with vast potential wealth, but is one of the poorest countries in the world.

Malnutrition is rife and the musicians in Staff Benda Bilili are testimony to the country's chronic lack of healthcare.

All of the band members are disabled, to varying degrees, from the ravages of polio.

They were living in the grounds of the Kinshasa Zoo until their mesmerising music got them noticed by the French documentary makers.

"It all started when I was looking for work," the group's leader and founder, Ricky Likabu, said.

"I was told that you know, I couldn't dance, I couldn't sing, I wouldn't be able to be moving on stage and stuff and that really touched me quite deeply."

Audio: Congo band to wow Adelaide music festival (The World Today)

"So that is when I realised no, I must work. It is something I need to do. So that's where the group was formed."

The eight singers, guitarists and percussionists of Staff Benda Bilili are now a music sensation touring the world.

They are renowned for their energetic live performances, where they climb and dance on self-fashioned bikes and wheelchairs.

Likabu says they are proud they overcame prejudice to get where they are today.

"I knew that I would be touring Europe. That's why I named the group Look Beyond Appearances - that is what Staff Benda Billili means - and I knew that this is what the band would become," he said.

"I knew that we'd become world famous and we would be touring."

WOMADelaide is celebrating 20 years this festival, and about 80,000 people are expected at the four-day event, which features hundreds of performers.

Director Ian Scobie says the festival has come a long way since it began in 1992.

"I think WOMADelaide reaching 20 is a terrific milestone, both in terms of how its audiences have grown and how the event has grown," he said.

"It's become an annual four-day event. It has half of its visiting audience come from interstate."

Topics: world, adelaide-5000, congo-the-democratic-republic-of-the

First posted March 09, 2012 16:53:44