Staff Benda Bilili - Tres Tres Fort

Rating:

* * * *

Let's get to the extraordinary back story of this Congolese group first. Made up of four older disabled members, who suffered from polio as kids and now get around on customised tricycles, and a bunch of younger street kids, the 10-piece band live in the grounds of the zoo in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

There are conventional guitars, drums and bass but he virtuoso of the band is 18-year-old Roger, who plays the single-string satonge, an instrument he made himself out of an old tin can and a piece of wood. Through their music they document the everyday life of people in this volatile city. Beat that, Kings of Leon.

And what passionate, beautifully rustic, and often rump-shaking music it is, bringing together rumba beats (a strong tradition in Congo), skanking reggae, raw folk, old-school rhythm 'n' blues-meets-rock, and James Brown funk (they put

Sex Machine

to cheeky use on

Je T'Aime

).

Songs like

Polio

and

Sala Keba

are delicate and tender;

Sala Mosala

is a Congolese take on roots reggae; and then others, including

Staff Benda Bilili

(which translates to "look beyond appearances") and

Avramandole

, are frantic attention-getters.

You also have to love liner notes which detail gleefully how the album was recorded at the zoo with 12 microphones and a computer powered by a 100m long extension cord plugged into a powerpoint at a deserted neighbouring business premises. And what a result.

Scott Kara