"We wrote this song... for the National Electricity Board and electricity in general..." "We've had no power and it's tough." "So we're praying for the electricity to come back on." "We're sure that once we've finished singing this song for the return of the electricity it'll be back on in a few minutes." "Of that we're certain!" "We've called upon our ancestors and they'll do their best to make it happen." "JUPITER'S DANCE" "One, two..." "Congo, Congo..." "Congo, a country where we endlessly suffer..." "The children of the Congo want to believe" "In the power of God..." "The children of the Congo are waiting" "For God to look upon them at last..." "My name is Jupiter Bokondji." "I'm a musician... in Kinshasa." "And I've got my own band, Okwess International." "For the past 20 years," "I've been struggling to get my music out of the ghetto." "Being a musician... isn't easy... here in Kinshasa." "But hey, we do the best we can." "I got that kid a job... and he ripped me off." "This is Radio Liberté Kinshasa..." "The Congolese people are asking:" "Where is the country's money going?" "Who benefits?" "Nothing gets built here." "The money should be used here, yet it goes elsewhere..." "Kinshasa is my hometown... and it's bursting with life." "Here, you can find the whole diversity of the DRC's ethnic tribes." "Kinshasa is the driving force, the lung, the mirror of the DRC." "This is the Congo!" "We're the children of the Congo." "We used to call it:" ""Kinshasa the beautiful"" "Today we call it:" ""Kinshasa the dump!"" "I wonder why?" "Perhaps due to the many wars and rebellions." "But who cares!" "Sooner or later, things will improve." "That's always been the way." "Even the children of Israel and Palestine are fighting." "Find Jesus, he is true life!" "He is the beginning and the end!" "The Alpha and the Omega." "... Operation "Youth Destruction"" "The elders have ruined it The kids are in the streets" "I'm the kid to free all kids..." "Unbeatable, undisputed, tireless..." "He's the boss!" "When people paint such things on the walls, it means it's my home turf." "It shows I'm on my home turf." "Soon we'll see Okwess all over the world... with the rebel general, Jupiter." "We call them the Kikongolo kids." "The kerosene kids!" " The Kikongolo kids!" " Kerosene kids!" "'Cos they go kikongolo, kikongolo..." "These youngsters sell kerosene in the streets." "Because here, we often have power cuts." "And as soon as there's a blackout, that's what you hear." "They play that rhythm all night long, selling kerosene." "There you have it." "The realities of Kinshasa... with its amazing, never-ending melodies." "Let's head over there." "It's all about sound and music." "Kinshasa is percussion, you have to listen to it." "You don't see Kinshasa, you hear it." "Because, in every house... there is a musician." "A legend of guitar making in Kinshasa, is Mr Socklo." "If you gave guys like him the means and materials and a good guitar-making workshop he'd make better guitars than Fender." "That's sure and certain." "I have always... worked with guitars." "That's how they start out." "My name is Socklo, I'm a guitar-maker here in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo." "I make very good guitars, which sound really well." "Jupiter and his band, Okwess International, love them." "We're giving up on our own culture and embracing European culture." "But I don't give a damn about all that." "What is there for me in the US, Europe or Asia?" "No..." "Our true wealth lies here." "I like to stroll around in search of melodies, songs." "It's all out there in the bush, in the forests." "To raise their child" "Parents suffer" "But one day the child" "Takes the wheel of life" "He grows up and suddenly" "Problems rain down" "So glance in life's rear-view mirror..." "Here, we really lack equipment..." "Like studios, for example." "There are a lot of talented people here, but they can't get anywhere, as we have no studios, no managers, no producers." "We're looking for a better life... a genuinely better life." "I didn't want to become a whore." "So I chose music instead." "We rap to give ourselves some kind of future." "For me, it's a job, not a game." "I write about my own experiences." "About life and suffering... here in Kin." "About how folks live their lives." "Even if you've got what it takes..." "Even if you die trying..." "If you don't have the heart for it..." "You'll go nowhere." "It takes courage and determination." "Maybe you can rap, but if you're not determined, you stagnate, you go nowhere." "Yet you have a gift." "A gift you can't develop because you lack the guts, the will-power." "A will has a way." "Here in mother Africa" "Women have to be extra smart to make it" "The reason is maybe historical" "We came from slavery but what now?" "As a woman, I mustn't give in" "Or sink into the depths" "The women I stand for" "Live on high with angels" "And development gets ever tougher" "Yet this "dead-end" country is changing" "Everyone's sick of this rack and ruin" "Everyone wonders where it's going" "Our spirits, our force, our will, our belief" "The color of our flag, our ideology" "Let's unite to save this underground world" "All joined in destiny" "Raga FM..." "We've got the music." "For now, there are no producers here." "How could a producer release a CD that costs £20 when £20 is what people earn in a month." "What two people earn, even." "So it's tough for these kids making new music, to break through and get produced." "Today Africa... is totally unaware of its cultural wealth." "Yet Africa has amazing potential." "But all those who are aware of this huge potential are ignored as fools and dreamers." "Yet it's the truth." "It's the truth, it's a reality." "Here in the Congo we have 446 dialects... and each dialect has its own rhythm." "The wealth of our music lies in these many rhythms." "I've already combined some of them and came up with some extraordinary melodies." "Because our souls need these rhythms to touch the souls of the authorities so that they change and Africa can move ahead." "Because we're sick of the ghetto." "We're sick of starving to death." "Take me to your homeland, Bandundu province..." " To Bandundu..." " Yeah." "Listen up, DRC is really wicked." "It's the very cradle... of the world's music." "As yet untapped." "All people see is gold, copper and diamonds, yet we have a cultural wealth too... which is totally untapped, it's wicked!" "The DRC has 450 ethnic groups." "450 different types of music, and each group has about..." " Naomi, okay baby?" " Very well..." "This is my little girl..." "You okay?" "Each ethnic group has at least ten rhythms." "We want to use these rhythms to heal the people of Kinshasa who are so damn stubborn... they have forgotten their roots." "The revolution has just begun, with a new kind of music." "Next up, the Staff Benda Bilili orchestra." "The young cry Children of Staff Benda Bilili" "The women suffer Children of Staff Benda Bilili" "We are all Children of Staff Benda Bilili" "United in suffering Children of Staff Benda Bilili" "Staff doesn't forget its roots, the nation's children, the "Shegés" of the avenue." "We don't forget that we represent the street kids." "It's impossible here to get a decent job." "But we have the courage and the strength to get by." "My goal in life is music." "It's my bread winner." "I eat thanks to music." "We play in the evenings in front of restaurants where Whites come to eat and they give us food... or a little money so I can do my business, send my kids to school..." "All thanks to music." "I play every evening." "Every night." "To be a band leader here in Kinshasa, in this country, you gotta have nerves of steel." "Or you go crazy." "There are tons of artists in Kinshasa, loads of musicians." "But as there's no funding, you get by as you can." "Me, for example," "I've been making and exploring music for 21 years but I still can't live off it." "I have to do all kinds of stuff to survive." "People often ask me:" ""Why are you so into music?"" "But it just comes naturally... music runs in my veins." "A Congolese drum kit, in the studio." "It's gonna groove!" "For the whole world to see." "My own home-made drum kit." "Let them listen... hear it swing." "I crossed Africa, I came to Morocco" "I crossed Africa, I came to Tunisia" "I crossed Africa, I came to Libya" "I crossed Africa, I came to Guinea" "I crossed Africa" "I walked and I walked..." "We went to the depths of the rain forest, all over the Congo, in search of new melodies." "Good songs." "Into the rain forest." "Where the fiercest lions live..." "He often goes there." "Big tam-tams and big crocodiles." "It's darkest night there now." "Beware of the melodies, melodies of angels." "Know any bird songs from the forest?" "Want to hear a bird song?" "What bird is that?" "It coos..." "There are so many!" "Family will love you" "Once you have money" "He laughs best" "He who laughs last" "Pretend to die And you will see who'll cry" "When the wounds dry The flies no longer light" "After joy comes hardship" "Yet life is precious" "Man does not cry..." "Okay?" "Come on, get cracking." "I've things to do." "Get a move on, let's go." "I want you to buy me some bread with margarine..." " How much is it?" " 500." "I'll give you 300." " Okay?" " Thanks." "What's it for?" "How come everyone asks me for money?" "I'm your little sister, I can ask you." "Then he's my little brother!" "Here in Kinshasa back when we were kids, ours mamas used to say:" ""Osa politique mabé!"" "Meaning: "Child you're a big liar!"" "Here "politician" means "liar"." "Many people are now waking up to that fact." "It might take another five years..." " ten years maximum - and then things are gonna change in this country." "We've emerged from the era of dictatorships." "I mean, it's still there, but things have changed." "The culture of fear is still there." "Fear that if you speak out the police might come and get you." "That's still kind of true, but it's time to banish fear." "It's time to move on." "We have to speak out, otherwise, what's the point?" "Here, we don't live, we survive." "We've no other choice." "The degree of inequality is so great that those who head the State earn million dollar salaries, while on the ground people are struggling for less than a dollar a day." "So you see, corruption is second nature, it's rife." "We're angry!" "There's no money, people don't have enough to eat." "Let the politicians come, we'll teach them a lesson." "They have to change their mentality." "We're at war and the bodies of our soldiers are not even buried." "The State must look after the war refugees." "Here, the widows suffer." "We're sick of war!" "The State must take care of the displaced people." "They are the children of the land." "People are totally fed up!" "Kin folk with X" "We come from Kin" "Music while we ride" "Turbo on, we ride" "With the king of heat" "Everyone in the square goes "boom, boom"" "We're the kings of ragamuffin" "This year may be proclaimed:" ""Blank year"." "Which means that the kids won't go to school." "Why not?" "Because the teachers haven't been paid for years." "All the teachers are on strike, that's the reality." "You know what this imbalance will produce, what these kids will become?" "Street kids." "They'll want to work, as they're not in school." "But there is no work!" "So they try to improvise..." "They collect garbage, and try to resell it." "It's no wonder they catch diseases!" "I like this saying of an elder I heard:" ""Old age is no longer a synonym of wisdom."" "Because if our elders had been wise the country wouldn't be in this state." "So we must take the reins." "This is a call to forgotten promises" "Young African seeks promised land" "Let us rise to it, we believe" "Like Israel in Moses, truth promised" "Young African seeks equality promised" "Let's rise to it, we believe" "Like Israel in Moses, truth promised" "All these people you see around us, it is they... who give us the inspiration for our songs." "Their suffering, all they endure, their everyday problems." "That's what we rap about, not in a brutal or aggressive way, but with humor." "That way, we get the truth across while making people laugh." ""So hard to build"..." " "So easy to destroy!"" " That's right." "In our songs, we speak of the realities of our country." "We want to show people that though life is tough we must never give up, but continue the struggle." "That's why we say:" ""So hard to build"." "It took 80 years to build, yet we've destroyed it in no time." "This is Kato, this is our hood!" "Here he is, Mister President!" "That's how it goes, with Kinshasa folk." "You've seen the whole city, but I can show you more!" "This is Rocky B, alias Moby Dick." "Master of rhythm, king of rhyme!" "He was the first to rap in Lingala." "We wanted our moms and grandmothers to understand the message." "Here, people speak so little French and English that we had to do it in Lingala." "That's what makes Bawutakin's rap special." ""So hard to build, so easy to destroy. "" ""Every day there are problems Even love is a problem"" "Today, if you haven't worked You've nothing to feed your family" "Listen up kids And get rapping" "Otherwise you'll go off the rails" "Bawutakin is the brotherhood of peace" "From Kinshasa to Brazza, we'll never give up..." "So hard to build, So easy to destroy..." " So hard to build" " So easy to destroy" "Hard to live together But easy to split apart" "The old take everything Leave nothing to the little" "We gotta help the little ones!" ""Mogai" is a nice word, it means "hungry"." ""Mogai"..." "It's the best known word in Kinshasa after "liwa", meaning "death"." "Here, people die every day." "Every day, they bury container loads of people." "So, you have..." ""mogai" and "liwa", death and hunger..." "We're angry, we've things to say." "And if we stop saying them... the old guys just croon:" ""Darling I love you"." ""Darling I love you" and AIDS is rife." "The medicine is up north, while we have lousy generics which are maybe 50% effective." "And you can only get the generics... if you go and have an AIDS test." "And then your family treat you as an outcast." "See?" "So we die while the old guys croon:" ""Darling, I love you..."" "Full of shit." "What I want is a change of landscape." "I don't like landscapes that I'm forced to look at." "To be where there is nothing to do, nothing to see and then you see." "I like the landscape to look at me." "What do you see?" "Now the rain time has come" "The rainy season has come..." "Seen from up north, from Paris or Belgium, people wonder how we can live." "Maybe they think we're on the road to extinction." "But given that here there's nothing to do, people just keep having children." "There's nothing to eat, but there are hordes of kids." "And it just keeps going!" "That's Kinshasa for you." "I'm Congolese..." "So am I." "You too?" "Rain, you've ruined the road" "We can no longer pass" "Today, rain, What have you brought us?" "Today, no one will be able" "To work in the market" "Today, you've brought bad luck" "Today, you've brought bad luck..." "Yet you know, rain" "That people feed their children" "By going to sell in the market..." "These electric cables are hooked up any old way." "As they had no electricity, they connected up." "That shanty over there has run a 100-meter cable." "That's Kinshasa!" "It's really dangerous." "Because if the cable gets cut and falls in the water a kid paddling in it can get electrocuted." "It's like a tip." "Everyone comes and dumps their rubbish by the stream and when it rains the rain washes the rubbish into the river." "So it all flows into the river Congo." "The people of Kinshasa are not afraid of disease." "All they think about is their belly." "They don't consider the consequences of their actions." "Oh, my ancestors!" "It is time you flew unto my aid" "African, whoever you are" "Wherever you hail from" "Rediscover your true identity" "As revealed by Simon Kibangou" "At that time, the Whites" "Imposed their god on us" "Mama Kuntavit prayed" "For the Whites to change But in vain" "The Whites came" "Supposedly to civilize us" "But in truth" "But in truth" "They came to pillage us..." "I know I may not be able to complete my mission because life has its limits." "But after me, there is sure to be other budding Jupiters who will win out and finish... the story." "Here, we are in the very heart of Kinshasa in a forest called Yamaka the forest of the Shegés." "They call us the "Shegés"... but that doesn't mean we're thieves or gangsters." "A Shegé is just someone with no home, no start in life." "There have been wars out East, since our early childhood." "Many kids lost their parents, and having no family here in Kinshasa, they settle here in this forest in order to survive." "In the past... this was a hangout for criminals, but now it's just youngsters trying to get by." "Some grow things, others make buckets and watering cans..." "Whatever it takes to survive." "Shegés are street kids." "Always repressed but never depressed." "The Shegés are the street kids... and street kids make music." "Wake up!" "The children sleep They dream they are eating" "But when they wake They're hungrier still" "My wife has fled" "As there's no more to eat" "Our children lack vitamins" "We sleep all the time" "The children need mandarins" "We sleep all the time" "Me, Green Star, I demand vitamins for the children" "They want vitamins" "We sleep all the time" "Let everyone cut oranges" "We sleep all the time" "The kids want vitamins" "We sleep all the time" "The number of street kids is increasing by the day." "And it's our government who is to blame." "They should think of us, we are the children of the Congo." "We have the right to live." "Kinshasa women are the most beautiful in the world." "Right." "If Jesus were to return, he'd come to Kinshasa." "I mean it!" " This is the capital of the world." " I know." "But for now, it's a pile of shit." "President Jupiter Bokondji!" "Okwess International!" "Jupiter Bokondji, President!" "Okay?" "Let's go!" "Tomorrow... come and see a show for the people." "Jupiter Bokondji and Okwess International!" "I need a good sound system, a proper stage..." "Above all, a good sound system." "Outdoor concerts need big speakers." "Big speakers." "And spotlights all over." "500-meter spotlights." "Multicolor, of course." "Okwess International with Jupiter Bokondji!" "Jupiter in concert!" "A surprise for our listeners," "Okwess in concert..." "Don't forget!" "Don't miss the show!" "Jupiter in free concert, this Saturday!" "I often do concerts here." "I don't want to play fancy hotels... as people just wouldn't come, they couldn't afford it." "You have to play to your home crowd." "You have to play the ghettos." "That's where people really understand." "Come and discover Jupiter and Okwess!" "Come with your friends to enjoy Jupiter and Okwess!" "The Rebel General!" "Okwess in concert." "They play "Bofenia rock"." "Saturday, just over there." "They're really wicked!" "Jupiter and his band!" "Jupiter and his singer Yendé..." "They're really hot!" "Dig this!" "Saturday, be ready for the show!" "Okwess International... 450 different ethnic groups, can you imagine?" "Untapped." "You sleep on a mattress full of dollars, but you don't eat, you're dying of hunger." "That's how it is in this country." "But this time, we're saying no!" "A thousand times, no!" "We had a political revolution, a rebellion, if you like." "Now, like it or not, it's time for a musical revolution." "I know it'll take time." "It'll be a long battle of the people as Laurent Kabila used to say." "But one thing is sure, victory is near." "I'm going to see my buddies, time to get ready." "As usual, an electricity blackout..." " It really makes me laugh." " It's like a disease." "A governmental disease we have to heal." "If I were President, the first thing I'd do would be to fix the electricity." " Lucky they have a generator." " Yeah, they're smart!"