• Listen to this segment

GUESTS: Ruben Koroma, Ashade Pearce, Black Nature, Idrissa “Malam” Bangora, four of the nine band members of Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars

The Sierra Leone Civil war which started in the early 1990s, resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and more than 2 million refugees. It was a brutal 11 year long conflict that involved the recruitment of child soldiers, amputations and decapitations. The war ended by 2002 but for the millions of Sierra Leonian refugees in neighboring countries, there was still too much fear to return. The refugees in neighboring Guinea are the subject of a recent acclaimed multi-award winning documentary called Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars. That’s also the name of a music band comprised of refugees that the film focuses on. The film is directed by Zach Niles and Banker White and traces the band’s foundation and battle to stay together amidst their country’s brutal decade-long civil war. The members of Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars have a repertoire that heavily draws on their first hand experiences as refugees of war. They have now returned to their homeland where they recorded their first album, Living Like a Refugee. The documentary recently aired on PBS and is available to order on Netflix. It will be available for purchase through Netflix/Red Envelope on DVD on August 14th. For every DVD purchased, Red Envelope will donate $1 to the United Nations’ ninemillion.org — an initiative aimed strictly at refugee youth worldwide.

Four of the nine band members joined me in studio last week during their US/Europe tour and shared their music and words.

For more information, visit www.SierraLeonesRefugeeAllStars.com.

Special Thanks to KPFK’s Mark Maxwell for engineering and editing this interview.