May Day Orchestra
Ota Benga
The May Day Orchestra is a collective group from Saint Louis. Songwriter Tim Rakel of The Union Electric and members of the band Tenement Ruth collaborated on the recording Ota Benga. Borrowing as much from the likes of The Pogues and Tom Waits as it does the more mid-western influences of Son Volt and Wilco, The May Day Orchestras defies an exact genre classification. Based on the groups live performance of the record as one musical piece, the individual songs work together to form a larger story. The tracks feature layers of guitars, bass and drums as well as a lead pedal steel. Occasional horns and a string section add to the musical background for the tale of Ota Benga, a pygmy man who was taken from the Belgian Congo and brought to the 1904 Worlds Fair in Saint Louis. The songs tell some history of the Congo and follow the strange journey of Ota Bengas life in the United States.