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 Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars will return to North America next year to share their story about rising above tragedy.
The
group, which blends West African music with roots reggae, rhythmic
traditional folk and hip-hop, is scheduled to launch the outing Jan. 23
in Decatur, GA, and visit US cities from coast to coast, as well as a
couple in Alberta, Canada. The trek currently stretches through March
7, when the All Stars will play Florida's Langerado Music Festival.
Details are listed below.
In the fall of 2006, Sierra Leone's
Refugee All Stars released their Anti Records debut, "Living Like a
Refugee," which followed the award-winning documentary film "The
Refugee All Stars." The film captures the musicians' journey after
fleeing their native Sierra Leone in West Africa during the country's
brutal 10-year civil war. The band members eventually returned home to
be reunited with family and friends, and realized their dream of
recording in a proper studio.
The songs on the album, recorded
over a three-year period from 2002 to 2005, are the soundtrack of the
refugees' lives. After fleeing Sierra Leone, they met in a refugee camp
in the remote countryside of Guinea. Thanks to a Canadian refugee-aid
organization, the developing band was able to acquire the rusted-out
sound system and beat-up electric guitars that helped the members get
started, according to a bio posted at their website. The group's earliest material was recorded at that camp, and some of it is included on "Living Like a Refugee."
The
Guinea camp is also where American documentary filmmakers Banker White
and Zach Niles, and Canadian singer/songwriter Chris Velan, discovered
the band and followed its members for three years as they moved from
camp to camp, according to the All Stars' bio. Following the war, the
United Nations sponsored a trip for the refugees to return home and the
organization also offered the band the opportunity to make its first
studio recordings.
The documentary has been shown at film
festivals all over the world, as well as on PBS-TV, and is available on
DVD. It has been backed by the likes of Keith Richards, Paul McCartney,
Ice Cube and Angelina Jolie, according to a press release.
Meanwhile,
Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars have been touring internationally,
headlining shows and playing high-profile festivals including Bonnaroo,
Montreal Jazz Fest, New York's Summerstage, and Japan's Fuji Rock.
The
group boasts a diverse lineup of players, from 42-year-old group leader
Reuben Koroma to orphaned teenage rapper Black Nature. Koroma united
the core group of musicians from the refugee camp with his former band,
The Emperors, to create the current touring lineup.
The All
Stars' music can also be heard in the film "Blood Diamond" starring
Leonardo DiCaprio, and their version of John Lennon's "Give Peace a
Chance" with Aerosmith is featured on the benefit CD "Instant Karma:
The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur."
The group
has also made it a priority to help others in need through its work
with a bevy of organizations, including Amnesty International, the
United Nations ninemillion.org campaign, and the ONE campaign.
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