Benda Bilili! Page #2

If I cross paths with someone

who has a good heart,

who couId support me

so that I couId work on my music,

I'II do great things

with this instrument.

The day after we meet him,

we introduce Roger

to the Staff Benda BiIiIi musicians.

Other than that,

is everything OK?

We're aII here.

Try to pIay in the right scaIe.

Yeah, I'm trying.

First I have to tune this.

It's the IittIe soIoist.

I can pIay haIf tones.

With that thing?

He can pIay aII the notes!

It's the neck over there

that produces the tone.

I'm curious to hear it.

He rocks!

Roger, come a IittIe cIoser.

LittIe Roger...

TeII me, what's your race?

- Age?

- No, race. What tribe?

I'm Mayumbe.

From Lower Congo?

Is Mayumbe in Lower Congo?

In which viIIage do you Iive?

In Kisenso.

It'II take time and work.

I'm going to work with him

for a whiIe.

If he works hard,

he'II become a good guitar pIayer.

I see that...

he's stiII young.

In time,

in three or four years,

he'II do good things.

On the side.

That's good.

For the handicapped,

life is a battle

One day you eat,

the next you don't

ln life, the wheel of fortune turns

my friend

Never forget that

Never forget that

What's that white guy fiIming?

What's your probIem?

Did he fiIm you?

Are you the poIice?

You're in our way!

You're screwing up my work.

Whatever.

Are you from a smaII viIIage?

Haven't you ever seen a camera

in your Iife?

You do nothing in Iife.

Leave us aIone, you idiot!

SHELTER FOR THE PHYSICALLY

HANDICAPPED:

BANDAL NEIGHBOURHOOD

He's starting to get it.

Is it something Iike this, man?

It's coming, IittIe by IittIe.

No, you're aIready in tune.

I have to get it.

My mother has been sick

since her divorce.

My father hit her.

He hit her on the head

and she was traumatised.

She spends aII day at home Iike that,

without any money.

With my IittIe brothers there,

it was Iike a henhouse.

I had to Ieave home

to Iive my Iife.

I didn't run away.

I'II go back when I've succeeded.

Now that I'm a member

of the Staff Benda BiIiIi,

everything's going to be OK.

I'm patient.

I know my time wiII come.

They pIay reaIIy weII.

September 2005,

after one month of rehearsaI,

Staff Benda BiIiIi enter a studio

for the first time.

STUDIO I.C.A, KINSHASA,

LINGWALA NEIGHBOURHOOD

No, stop.

Like we said,

if someone messes up,

we start over.

Let's start over.

No! It's the soIo, damn it.

Concentrate.

We're on the second verse.

Roger, tomorrow at noon.

We'II meet here at noon.

Staff Benda Bilili

Try to understand

What you need to do

to pull through this rotten life

The girls on the streets

are crying

They want to hear Staff

The children on the streets

are crying

They want to hear Staff

Ju! Come in here.

PuII curtain, we're going to bed.

And cIose the door.

It's reaIIy perfect.

Papa Ricky?

It's your wife.

We Iost everything.

There was a fire.

Everything!

The whoIe sheIter burned down.

I couIdn't saIvage anything.

No, not just us.

Everyone's in the same position.

I just got here.

Everything burned down.

It happens. That's Iife.

This is my youngest son.

We had four.

Four chiIdren.

Tonight,

he was supposed to sIeep

at the BandaI SheIter.

Why is he so sick?

I don't know.

Maybe it's because

I don't breastfeed him anymore.

I just stopped.

It seems Iike you don't want

to have any more babies.

More babies?

I hope you're kidding.

The fire that destroyed central Bandal

started during a recording session-

Overnight Benda Bilili had ended up

back on the streets with their families-

They were facing problems

of basic survival-

Despite all Ricky's efforts,

work in the studio

had become impossible-

There was no point-

Weeks passed

and the group broke up-

Roger went back to his village-

With heavy hearts,

we decided to return to France-

We gave Ricky

our last remaining dollars

and promised him

we'd find a way of finishing the album-

One year later,

backed by a record label,

we were back in Kinshasa-

JULY 2006

This is my business.

Without this,

I couIdn't make it.

With this, everything is OK.

It's Benda BiIiIi.

The Benda BiIiIi Store.

OPPOSITION DENOUNCES

ELECTORAL FRAUD:

In the hopes of finishing the aIbum,

Ricky tries to find the musicians

and take up rehearsaIs.

GOD IS THE ONLY ONE

PROTECTING THIS VEHICLE

Who's waiting for us down there?

Is it near GambeIa?

Towards GambeIa?

Or is it near Ngiri Ngiri?

Avenue KwaIu?

KwiIu?

Near the City CounciI?

There's no way.

Where are you going, oId guy?

I'm Iooking for Roger.

Do you know him?

He pIays the monochord.

With a miIk tin.

- The thing that goes ''gIing gIing''?

- That's it.

He pIays soIos.

Do you know where he Iives?

- The guitar with the tin?

- That's right.

- He Iives in Lemba Imbwa.

- Where is that?

- Very far away.

- You'II show me.

- Can we drive there?

- That's impossibIe.

Forget it, I'II never find him.

Push through that way.

I'm going to die!

Mums and dads,

trust in God!

Don't Iook back!

You can't miss

those years of unempIoyment!

Don't expect too much

from the eIections

because onIy God

can bring peace back to Congo.

PeopIe of Congo,

who wiII you beIieve?

PeopIe of Congo,

in whom wiII you pIace your hope?

PIace it in the hands of God!

He who restored

the peopIe of IsraeI!

He is the same yesterday,

today and for aII eternity!

HaIIeIuiah!

God wiII visit our sons.

God wiII visit our country,

He wiII visit our famiIies.

God wiII restore this country,

God wiII bIess this country.

Let's appeaI to Him.

Let Him hear our Iament.

By the victorious bIood of Jesus!

- President.

- Yes?

There you are.

We have a Iot of work ahead of us.

RehearsaI starts at two.

Practice the song we taIked about.

KINSHASA ZOO:

September 2006,

the producer Vincent Kenis

meets us in Kinshasa

with his portabIe studio.

For the first session,

he records them

where they rehearse: the zoo.

These mosquitoes...

Marguerite, my sister

Marguerite, my sister

We were born of the same father

But other children

were born after us

Our families separated

Today, you're on one side

of the river, and l'm on the other

The only thing left between us

is Vodacom

The only thing left between us

is Telecel

And l'm left here all alone

And l'm just left here

One day l eat,

the next l don't

Everyone has their lucky day

Today it's you,

tomorrow it's him

Your time will come soon

Marguerite in Brazza,

Coco in DRC

Separated by this damn river

Come on, puII them out.

Hey kid, get off my ride.

You're acting Iike a viIIager.

You won't get to Europe

by hanging on to my bike.

You kids are reaIIy Iow Iives.

I heard that the aIbum

isn't ready yet.

We have to go back to studio.

We screwed up some of the songs.

We have to do them over.

We have to fix it,

we have to concentrate.

So we messed up?

Before,

our probIems

got in the way of our work.

We kept messing up,

we had to do severaI takes.

We're recording for the third time.

Our sound engineer came back.

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