Benda Bilili!
KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF CONGO
DECEMBER 2004
That guy fiIming us...
I couId easiIy snatch his bag.
And I'II take
I wouIdn't think twice,
I'd just ''comb'' him.
I don't mind being a thief.
Any 12-year-oId Iiving on the streets
shouId do that.
I sIeep on cardboard, man.
Just Iook around...
We're in a concrete jungIe.
Kids don't have a choice.
You sIeep outside,
you suffer from the coId.
This country is screwed.
''Combing'' is the onIy system.
You have to watch your back,
we're in a jungIe.
It's survivaI of the fittest.
Give us something!
We're starving!
Come on, sir!
How are you?
I waited yesterday.
Nobody came to rehearsaI.
- I was heId up.
- HeId up...
That's OK.
Where are the others?
They're on their way.
It's tough to rehearse
these days.
Don't worry, we'II work hard.
Ever present.
Your humbIe servant.
We've known Staff Benda BiIiIi
for a Iong time.
Papa Ricky is
the street kids' oId man.
He has aIways heIped us out here,
at the Sonas Roundabout.
Papa Ricky is the boss,
he conducts the orchestra.
l used to sleep on cardboard
Bingo, l bought a mattress
To you, to him, to them
A man's life is never over
Luck shows up unannounced
lt's never too late in life
l know we'll succeed someday
l used to sleep on cardboard
Bingo, l bought a mattress
To you, to him, to them
A man's life is never over
Luck shows up unannounced
lt's never too late in life
l know we'll succeed someday
No one can judge a man's life
Life comes and goes
No one can judge
a street child's life
We don't get to choose our lives
The kids at the Mandela roundabout
are big stars
They sleep on cardboard
The handicapped people
at the Platform are big stars
They sleep on cardboard
We have cardboard!
Who are you to make fun of me?
Who are you to make fun of me?
AppIaud!
Thank you, cardboard.
JULY 2005
When we met Staff Benda Bilili
on their street corner,
we were in Kinshasa,
making a film about urban music-
Like the majority
of Congolese people,
Benda Bilili were just about surviving,
their only weapons being their talent
and an unwavering optimism-
We fell in love at first sight
with these unknown virtuosos-
They sang of life on the streets
and of getting by in this cruel city-
Their music went
straight to our hearts-
lt got us thinking-
lt wouldn't take much
to help them record an album-
So we decided to do just that
with our own money-
For these disabled,
veteran street musicians
we presented an opportunity
not to be missed,
but we never imagined
our collaboration would last five years-
It's OK, I taIked to them.
We came to an agreement.
Are they going to pay us more?
No, we don't get more dough.
We've negotiated.
They warned us
that they were broke.
They're giving us the cash
to pay the soIoists.
We have to make an effort
or it won't work.
They pay for our smokes, our food...
With their money!
And weed.
We have to come to an agreement
so we can keep going.
We can't mess things up.
That's how we have to Iook at it.
HANDICAPPED:
l was born a strong man
But polio got me
Look at me today
l'm screwed onto my tricycle
Here l am, with my canes
l've become the man with canes
These damn crutches
What a mess
Responsible mums
Go to vaccination centres
Against poliomyelitis
To eradicate buka buka
Parents, listen to me
Stop neglecting your kids
The one who has polio
As well as the one
who's able-bodied
There's no difference between them
Who knows which one
will help you later?
God in heaven
I don't make anything up.
In one song we say,
''Your job is Iike your parents'.''
Here, if you don't
take your job seriousIy,
you're signing your death warrant.
My wife whines when I Ieave
to go rehearse for three weeks.
She doesn't understand what I do.
She wants me by her side
but I'm working
for our chiIdren's future.
If I die tomorrow,
they'II say,
''Daddy did nothing for us.''
If I die,
what wiII I be Ieaving them?
A sewing machine?
They won't have anything,
not even a roof over their heads.
With the music I've composed,
it's different.
If it's successfuI in Europe,
My kids wiII be saved.
Ju, come over here.
Come and try this on.
This year, you're going to schooI.
This is your uniform.
Do your best.
If you compIain,
you won't get to go to schooI anymore.
Go get your sister.
The ante is 100 francs.
Let's raise it to 500.
You're cheating, guys.
Come on, the ante.
Let's see the cash.
You pinched my money.
You owed him 200.
I aIready paid him.
You're swindIing me out
of 100 francs!
CaIm down.
Come on, Iet's pIay.
OUTSIDE THE ''PLEIN VENT''
RESTAURAN:
DOWNTOWN KINSHASA
Go on, Coco,
your friends are Iistening.
They can hear you in Europe.
Europe heard us!
I'm a street daddy.
You're a street kid.
So how are we different?
You have music.
- We...
- You don't have anything?
You couId be...
How about Staff dancers?
You can pIay the drums, can't you?
Yes.
So you can pIay music.
- Can't you?
- AbsoIuteIy.
Come to rehearsaI tomorrow,
at the zoo.
THE KINSHASA ZOO
Work, work!
Yourjob is like your parents'
Work, and work even more!
That's Adam.
It's his fauIt
that it hurts to give birth.
It's because the man crawIed
onto the woman's stomach.
Here, Adam and Eve
Things were good back then.
PeopIe even pIayed with Iions.
Our country is screwed, man.
Man, you know what?
I was here
before they ate the fruit.
One day you'd eat and the next day
you wouIdn't be hungry.
- Whatever.
- I'm teIIing you.
No one was ever hungry
back then.
And then the country changed
and I started starving to death.
AII because of Adam and Eve.
How do you make a Iiving?
- I wash cars in town.
- That's your job?
- And I'm a drummer.
- What eIse?
Other than that...
I do what I can.
- Do you beg?
- Yes, I'm a beggar.
I spend every Christmas
on the streets.
For the Iast five years.
Five years!
I'd reaIIy Iike to have a house.
My job is to push the...
...the handicapped peopIe's bicycIes.
I do that aII day Iong
and they give me money and food.
My parents are both aIive.
But they don't have enough money
to send me to schooI.
You know, a man's Iife
Nobody is doomed.
I'm Iike the branch of a tree.
Whether I'm happy or in pain,
I hang in there.
But in the end,
I'II end up in a trashcan.
I use this instrument
to make a Iiving.
We, the CongoIese,
heIp each other out.
I use my instrument
to pIay a few weII-known tunes.
If peopIe Iike it,
they give me something.
I don't pick the pockets
of the peopIe who waIk by.
That's not why I'm here.
I'm making a Iiving
from my instrument.
Thanks to this,
I'II be abIe to feed my mother
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"Benda Bilili!" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/benda_bilili!_3891>.
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