A doco about these guys is showing at Cannes this year

From Wiki;

Staff Benda Bilili are a group of Congolese street musicians. They live around the grounds of the zoo in Kinshasa, and play music which is rooted in rumba, with elements of old-school rhythm'n'bluesr and reggae. The core of the band consists of four senior singers/guitarist, who are all disabled (they suffered from poliomyelitis when they were young) and move around in spectacularly customized tricycles. They are backed by a younger rhythm section consisting of ex-sheges, abandoned street kids who were taken under the protection of the older members of the band. The soloist is an 18 year-old boy who plays guitar-like solos on an electrified one-stringed lute he designed and built himself out of a tin can.

'The future forces of Modernism periodically terrorized the innocent inhabitants of the 19th century'

Eamonn Walker I salute you. Till Death do us Part is hilarious by the way. 

Sakanakero.mp3 (1.94 mb)

This is what it is and this song is pretty damn awesome. Apparently Evoid were the leaders in a white punk rock scene in Africa who were anti-apartheid and liked to paint their faces and use tribal rhythms in their songs.

junk jive.m4a (4.94 mb)

And from this great interview with Pharrell by Nardwuar the Human Serviette we find out that his hero is the astronomer Carl Sagan!

Videos from the Phi Ta Khon "Ghosts of the Dead" festival in Dansai, North-Eastern Thailand June 2009

Sorry about the sound in this one. We think the kid in the swimming cap and tights running around the group is dressed as a penis.

Amazing.

Heat and dust

Leo Sarkisian

Back in 1963 in Conakry, the capital of Guinea, Leo Sarkisian was offered a job by legendary broadcaster Edward R. Murrow. At the time Murrow was the head of the USIA (United States Information Agency) and he had heard enough about Leo’s West African recording trips to want to recruit Leo for the Africa Service of the Voice of America. Leo accepted Murrow’s offer and soon started working for the Voice of America in Monrovia, Liberia. Two years later, in 1965, Leo launched Music Time in Africa a weekly program that features traditional and contemporary music from all of Africa. Almost forty-three years later the program (now the longest running VOA program) is still on the air every weekend, and continues to reach millions of listeners throughout Africa.

http://www.voanews.com/English/Africa/musictime.cfm

84 Be My Friend.mp3 (4.37 mb)

Thanks to awesometapesfromafrica