An off-beat – but very on beat – way to start the party
OK, bear with me, because things are going to start off a little strange this Friday afternoon and evening, but I think you’re going to like it. The group we’re going to feature to get this weekend started is called Staff Benda Bilili.
Here’s how Wikipedia tells their story:
Staff Benda Bilili are a group of street musicians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They used to live around the grounds of the zoo in the country’s capital city, Kinshasa, and play music which is rooted in rumba, with elements of old-school rhythm ‘n’ blues and reggae. The core of the band consists of four senior singers/guitarists, who are paraplegic (they had poliomyelitis when they were young) and move around in spectacularly customized tricycles. They are backed by a younger rhythm section consisting of abandoned street children who were taken under the protection of the older members of the band. The soloist is an 18 year-old boy (2009) who plays guitar-like solos on an electrified one-stringed lute he designed and built himself out of a tin can. The group’s name translates roughly from Lingala as “look beyond appearances.”
And this is what they sound like:
Sometimes you look around the world and you think that as a species, we can be pretty screwed up. And at other times, you see something like these guys and you think we might be OK after all.
– Jay Bookman
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619 comments Add your comment
Fred ™
October 12th, 2012
7:54 pm
Now ya’ll hush while I try to come up with another dying swan drama queen farewell…….. (any help would be appreciated)……
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDQHjYIojTs
Camel Spiders Found in Florida Everglades
October 12th, 2012
7:56 pm
Just booked my ski trip to Colorado in January… Can’t Wait !!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwWLnaME0CI
Ric Flair
October 12th, 2012
7:58 pm
mitt Romney is stylin and profilin! He is putting in the blood sweat and paying the price to be the man! Woooooooooo!
godless heathen
October 12th, 2012
7:59 pm
This is old Uncle Joe’s song:
http://youtu.be/GPiUuGLOSkU
JamVet
October 12th, 2012
7:59 pm
Fred, funny you bring up that topic.
I’ve been drifting back in time a lot today.
Forty years ago tonight I got off of a bus at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas; shortly thereafter my head was shaved and my whole world was turned upside down.
Four decades gone, boys and girls. Sometimes its hard to believe.
But I’m still a big kid at heart. (There are advantages to being immature!)
This was one helluva big song in October of 1972…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM4RtUo5s0g
Fred ™
October 12th, 2012
7:59 pm
Don’t get me wrong getalife. I WANT you to beat S. Carolina and then have Florida beat them and us beat Florida so we can back into the SEC championship, but i just don’t see it happening………
And now I leave. I’ll be back when and if I can figure this stuff out…….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNs3nK31DKc
JamVet
October 12th, 2012
8:00 pm
Yankees win!!!
josef
October 12th, 2012
8:00 pm
Is Indigo Carlos in mufti? And has anybody heard from the ever miserable one… ?
JamVet
October 12th, 2012
8:04 pm
Damn, Camel, I sure do miss being up in those high mountains, With powder up to my ass!
Another one from 1972 that made those cheap speakers sing like angels.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXq81-cGJr4&feature=related
godless heathen
October 12th, 2012
8:15 pm
Fred:
http://youtu.be/UtREgyrxlVQ
Jack N. Oliver
October 12th, 2012
8:15 pm
I think the world is going to be okay like when I go o chik til a in cumming and they have somehow taught teenagers to be worried about customer service and then I go to a downtown govment building a realize that we r all doomed!
getalife
October 12th, 2012
8:15 pm
Thanks Fred.
It is just blogging.
Don’t mean nothing except writing your opinion.
LSU better crank it up.
This band will be at City Park New Orleans That place in haunted
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WElvEZj0Ltw&feature=related
JamVet
October 12th, 2012
8:44 pm
There’s a light in the heart of your darkness
Let it shine, oh let it shine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srNvp7w341I&feature=related
G Mare
October 12th, 2012
8:54 pm
Welcome back, Fred, I think. You & I will probably never agree on much of anything, but I do appreciate that you say what you think. So please dry your tears & get past your poutrage.
josef
October 12th, 2012
8:59 pm
GMARE
How’s it going?
Jay
October 12th, 2012
9:01 pm
Lowndes 3, Valdosta 0 at half.
godless heathen
October 12th, 2012
9:23 pm
Damn. I got Valdosta against the spread. I need a new bookie.
janet
October 12th, 2012
9:26 pm
Tom Middleton – thanks for the link to Youssou N Dour. I have seen him twice in person. Once at an old grocery store converted to a club on Buford Hwy and once at a private part in Dakar. Both were electrifying evenings. I love PRI and Afro Pop. Senegal and Mali have some of the best music coming from Africa. But it’s all great music from Mother Africa.
barking frog
October 12th, 2012
9:27 pm
Jay
just curious. if you and the
ajc don’t mind, approximately how many
hits does your blog get per
day?
godless heathen
October 12th, 2012
9:27 pm
One of my friends has taken her in and given her codeine.
http://youtu.be/lDsOxBNIVrE
Jay
October 12th, 2012
9:30 pm
Frog, send me an email on that one.
Jay
October 12th, 2012
9:32 pm
7-6 Valdosta, Heathen.
JamVet
October 12th, 2012
9:34 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjWebKavfuI
barking frog
October 12th, 2012
9:34 pm
Jay
O.K. thanks. I have seen a lot
on other sites that i’m
fairly sure originated here.
Jay
October 12th, 2012
9:34 pm
streaming http://www.useducationtv.com/default.aspx?sid=11705&pid=11706
Biff Wellington
October 12th, 2012
9:38 pm
Its important to look beyond appearances for sure. For instance a man in a Chevy volt hit my Saab and I was sure he was uninsured driving that govt issued abomination but it turns out he had insurance and they fixed my Saab and also paid out since settlement!
godless heathen
October 12th, 2012
9:39 pm
Wow. High school FB streaming on the www.
Jay has read the entire Internets, and all that was left to do was watch HS football.
Ira D. Idher
October 12th, 2012
9:41 pm
I agree Jay. I like their name as well. From the looks of all the wheel chairs and crutches I was positive that music was no longer an option but they proved me wrong
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
October 12th, 2012
9:50 pm
Flying Without a Photo ID – NOT GOOD !
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/flying-without-photo-id-170404264.html
But voting is o.k. !
G Mare
October 12th, 2012
9:50 pm
Still hangin’ in & hangin’ on, Josef. Surgery in the next couple of weeks, probably. As I have not been in a hospital since the early ’70s – as I may have mentioned here, it is amazing to me how many hoops must be cleared first. Am still waiting for the delivery of your book as I intend to take it there with me.
Back to topic, thanks for that Jim Nabor video. Wow! Also thanks to whoever put up the Susan Boyle; I had not heard/seen that – awesome!
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
October 12th, 2012
9:51 pm
Biden/Ryan Debate:
“If a wise man has an argument with a fool,
the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet.”
Proverbs 29:9
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
October 12th, 2012
9:56 pm
Westminster — 0
GAC —————20
3rd quarter live on GPB
getalife
October 12th, 2012
10:04 pm
Washington 6.
St. Louis 1.
barking frog
October 12th, 2012
10:04 pm
frog music
m.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&hl=en&client=mv-google&v=vDASOTI8SYA
getalife
October 12th, 2012
10:05 pm
Scout is full of it.
barking frog
October 12th, 2012
10:06 pm
damn cellphone.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
October 12th, 2012
10:07 pm
Frogs have smartphones?
getalife
October 12th, 2012
10:09 pm
Was it this frog?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDASOTI8SYA
barking frog
October 12th, 2012
10:12 pm
getalife
yep. cellphone or google
made it mobile.
barking frog
October 12th, 2012
10:14 pm
Kamchak
yep. this little huawei m835
can do almost anything a
pc can, if you can figure out
how to do it.
Jm
October 12th, 2012
10:15 pm
I can testify that the ATL doldrums don’t extend to west Midtown bars
Jm
October 12th, 2012
10:17 pm
Getalife 10:04
Hard to pull for DC
Harder to pull for STL
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
October 12th, 2012
10:18 pm
Frog
Just got my first smartphone, Nokia Lumia 900 and I got no clue on what to do.
barking frog
October 12th, 2012
10:18 pm
Jm
were you around 10th st.
1969ish ?
Jm
October 12th, 2012
10:19 pm
Godless
One of the best baseball games I went to was a high school game
The Napa v Sonoma teams
And yes napa was in red I believe and Sonoma was in white
I forget who won tho
I think napa
Jm
October 12th, 2012
10:21 pm
Frog
I was. A little later. But I was in a crib.
Please Relocate The Deer Crossing Signs
October 12th, 2012
10:21 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI8UPHMzZm8&feature=player_embedded
Jm
October 12th, 2012
10:24 pm
Frogs have smartphones?
Of course
They use the fly locator app for dinner
The pond app for socializing
And the Fried Frog Legs Restaurants app is their version of the child molester app
barking frog
October 12th, 2012
10:30 pm
Kam
should be a windows phone.
hit the internet explorer
button and you’re on the
internet just like a pc.
Lily
October 12th, 2012
10:33 pm
Jay -
I don’t know about the electrified one-string lute (LOL) – but I have always been partial to the sound that the kalimba makes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_F6gE_v3kE&feature=related
barking frog
October 12th, 2012
10:33 pm
Jm
also a fly swatter app so be
careful…
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
October 12th, 2012
10:35 pm
“When wireless amphibians are outlawed, only outlaws will have wireless amphibians.”
– Thomas “Bufo bufo” Jefferson
Please Relocate The Deer Crossing Signs
October 12th, 2012
10:35 pm
For the cat lovers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeoT66v4EHg
barking frog
October 12th, 2012
10:38 pm
a wireless amphibian is not
as fun as a wired amphibian.
-Kermite the frog
Please Relocate The Deer Crossing Signs
October 12th, 2012
10:39 pm
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=we+don%27t+need+no+more+trouble+playing+for+change&oq=we+don%27t+need+no+more&gs_l=youtube-reduced.1.0.35i39j0l3.237576.244474.0.247317.21.20.0.1.1.0.146.1278.17j3.20.0…0.0…1ac.1.2s4UUjy23sk
Please Relocate The Deer Crossing Signs
October 12th, 2012
10:40 pm
Wrong link a second ago. Try this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgWFxFg7-GU
Doggone/GA
October 12th, 2012
10:54 pm
Looks like someone was REALLY unhappy about the debate last night
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/12/no-injuries-after-shot-fired-at-obama-campaign-office-in-denver/?hpt=hp_t2
Please Relocate The Deer Crossing Signs
October 12th, 2012
10:55 pm
And this one is for the lovely client this morning who was a wannabe “Devil with Prada” and rancid booze breath:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2a8TRSgzZY&list=FL01Q_BKgIhwBmUNEZOgj2AQ&index=1&feature=plpp_video
JamVet
October 12th, 2012
10:58 pm
Jm and digit boy, please go ____ yourselves.
At least until tomorrow morning.
Thank you.
Relocate has the right idea…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw3pWWQaHTo
janet
October 12th, 2012
11:04 pm
April 6 , 2013 Hugh Masekela at The Rialto Center for the Arts at GSU.
G Mare
October 12th, 2012
11:19 pm
Relocate, thank you for that no more trouble video! I saved it a few years ago, but lost it somehow. Thanks to you I have saved it again!
Thomas
October 12th, 2012
11:38 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6QwwvTtS_8
Chris Matthews had his uncontrollable tingle- Jay finally got his. How about a little Pat Benatar the Warrior to make the day complete for you Bookman
G Mare
October 12th, 2012
11:46 pm
Jay & Matthews are okay with me. You, Thomas, not so much. Oh, and please do not even attempt to mess with me. Nobody likes those who beat up on old women.
godless heathen
October 13th, 2012
7:41 am
Cards 9 Nats 7
Playoffs are hard, huh Nats?
stands for decibels
October 13th, 2012
7:44 am
Missed the frivolity of last night’s FNM, but I did read this:
you see something like these guys and you think we might be OK after all
Yep. Thanks for the reminder, Jay.
Jm
October 13th, 2012
8:48 am
Frog
Do you use the iHop app for your workouts?
Normal Free, Human Rights Thug...and liking it!
October 13th, 2012
9:01 am
Good, good Saturday morning all y’all. Yesterday was the first anniversary of my Mom’s passing. We had a little get together, my Sister and I, and today we are going to the cemetery for flowers. Hard to believe it’s been a year. Wow. Moms’ favorite song…God, Mom and Dad looked so good dancing to it…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57tK6aQS_H0
barking frog
October 13th, 2012
9:03 am
Jm
Yep. I’ve crepe’d up to 225.
Normal Free, Human Rights Thug...and liking it!
October 13th, 2012
9:04 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29uNvGHsRlc&feature=related
Mick
October 13th, 2012
9:10 am
Funny thing about music, sometimes it works and other times it doesn’t…I don’t think that I could watch a whole concert of that type of music…if I like, I like it..there are no other rules-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-BdGchS0yk
JamVet
October 13th, 2012
9:14 am
To one of my very favorite people on this forum; for you, my friend Normal…
Joy at the start
Fear in the journey
Joy in the coming home
A part of the heart gets lost in the learning
Somewhere along the road
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywx6CIw3RIA
barking frog
October 13th, 2012
9:27 am
and a world away..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&hl=en&client=mv-google&v=VpnQsOJpzb4
Mick
October 13th, 2012
9:27 am
A little musical humor?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhkKIxw_1fw
Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...
October 13th, 2012
9:34 am
You gotta admit…this guy is cool!
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=tom+jones+its+not+unusual+video&mid=392D879D9AF4F6534807392D879D9AF4F6534807&view=detail&FORM=VIRE5
JamVet
October 13th, 2012
9:40 am
Take a few of these
The sweeter memories
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-ctHzyVDFc&feature=relmfu
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
October 13th, 2012
9:42 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_li_hMbk0sE
Mick
October 13th, 2012
9:44 am
stevie ray
Check out this nugget-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sV4TZ5c5Lc
Mick
October 13th, 2012
9:53 am
Actually, this one is way better…hats off to tom-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kg0v0Er8Ak&feature=fvwrel
JamVet
October 13th, 2012
10:01 am
Wow. What a comeback by the Cardinals.
Between them and Raul Ibanez, it has been a crazy start to October baseball.
And even though the 79 year drought continues, at least Washington has some baseball pride again. So no more of that “First in war, first in peace, and last in the American League,” legacy! (These ain’t the Senators!)
Go Yankees…
G Mare
October 13th, 2012
10:11 am
Normal, good morning to you and thanks for the WE FIVE. I think I still have the LP.
Mick
October 13th, 2012
10:13 am
jamvet
See you are a baseball fan…if you ever get to miami during the season, you have to check out the new marlins stadium, very fan friendly and high tech…plus with all our fair weathered fans, myself included, you can get great seats from a scalper for under $10! Great nite out…
Stevie Ray..Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right..here I am...
October 13th, 2012
10:30 am
MICK
WICKED!!! Notice how David Crosby was in awe of this guy..Jeff Beck, Plant and Jones….awesome…thanks!
getalife
October 13th, 2012
10:36 am
The Cards did the same thing as last year. Down to the last strike to end the game and they pull it off again. Just incredible.
Mick
October 13th, 2012
10:39 am
stevie
Give mr. bookman credit, this forum can lead you to roots unknown hereto…it’s a gas! That would be helium-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elNmWRXw0-M
Normal Free, Human Rights Thug...and liking it!
October 13th, 2012
10:39 am
Getting ready to head out…
Jam, thanks…the feeling is mutual
—————
Gmare,
We have great taste in music, don’t we…
Mick
October 13th, 2012
10:45 am
….or maybe nitreous-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRlOI3N7Hao
JamVet
October 13th, 2012
11:24 am
Mick, if I ever plan any trips to south Florida during baseball season, we’ll go together!
Yeah, the Welsh crooner with CSN&Y was way cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_8KR-n2fBQ&feature=related
G Mare
October 13th, 2012
12:06 pm
Normal, we do.
indigo
October 13th, 2012
12:28 pm
Normal
I’m sorry for your loss.
To live is to age. Even though we all know this, it doesn’t become meaningful until we start to lose loved ones and realize we’re not getting any younger ourselves.
paulo977
October 13th, 2012
12:49 pm
Jam Vet ……Gibran did articulate what some of us find it so difficult to do about what music is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xjPODksI08
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
October 13th, 2012
1:45 pm
Enter your comments here
G Mare
October 13th, 2012
1:53 pm
Normal, I, too, am sorry for your loss. While the pain eases with the passage of time, for me there is always going to be a time when I think, “oh, I have to tell Mom that, or Dad would love this.”
paulo977
October 13th, 2012
2:13 pm
Am Vet..@9:14 am
This guy taps into the music that goes beyond daily human struggle and achievement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS9EEy4Hxc8
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
October 13th, 2012
2:34 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWiK3yL-ddY
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
October 13th, 2012
2:38 pm
if you ever get to miami during the season, you have to check out the new marlins stadium, very fan friendly and high tech…plus with all our fair weathered fans, myself included, you can get great seats from a scalper for under $10! Great nite out…
My aunt still lives in Miami — I didn’t know the b-ball team got a new stadium — what happened to Joe Robbie Stadium or “Pro Players” (snirt), i guess what it’s called now……
Is the new b-ball stadium downtown where the old Orange Bowl used to be?
I would ask my aunt, but she wouldn’t know what the heck I was talking about…..
Keep Up the Good Fight!
October 13th, 2012
2:41 pm
Lindsay Lohan believes Mitt can turn the nation’s economy around by creating new jobs
I think we have found our winner for some more of those anti-Hollywood slams that the conned are so noted for….
By the way… live feed from Austin. http://www.youtube.com/aclfestival?feature=inp-lt-acl
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
October 13th, 2012
2:45 pm
Lindsay?
Dis me if you want, but I think she’s a talented actress.
However, she’s not known for making wise decisions.
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
October 13th, 2012
2:50 pm
Normal – I know how you feel — Every time i hear that old blues song “I’m a man” — I think of my grand. He loved blues, barbeque and me. Very much. It’s hard, but every day it’ll get a little better — that’s my promise to you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm7gVvUuZkE
Keep Up the Good Fight!
October 13th, 2012
2:59 pm
Kam, naw, I would not dis you. I think she’s been a fine actress. Like Britney a number of other celebs, its her personal decisions that have been questionable. But we all have question decisions in our lives, they just are not spread all over the gossip news. I once saw an episode of SuperTrain.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
October 13th, 2012
3:05 pm
Well, Keep, since it’s confession time — I still have yet to see The Exorcist.
And I thought for a second about seeing Atlas Shrugged, then I fell into a fit of uncontrolled laughter.