From the Town Hall Seattle web site, "Global Rhythms kicks off with a high-profile concert that sets the tone for the rest of the 2012-13 season: Staff Benda Bilili, a band whose mesmerizing music and extraordinary story have been making a strong impression worldwide. A group of paraplegic street musicians, founded by polio victims, who once lived in and around the zoo in Kinshasa, DR Congo, Staff Benda Bilili makes music that mixes the pulse of Congolese rumba with voices that conjure the crooners of Havana, the toasters of Kingston, and American bluesmen. The principal soloist plays an electrified one-stringed lute he designed and built out of a tin can. Presented by Town Hall. Part of the 2012 Earshot Jazz Festival. Series media sponsorship provided by KBCS 91.3 FM and KEXP."