|
Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars
Rise & Shine
Out now on Cumbancha Records
A review by Mary Couzens for EXTRA! EXTRA!
The word to describe this absolutely compulsory album is JOYOUS! Despite the fact that these musicians initially came together in the aftermath of a civil war in their country (1991-2002), resulting in untold hardships and grief, they have decided that their mission in life is to generate peace and happiness wherever they go. I take my hat off to them, that is, if it doesn’t tumble right off my head while I’m happily dancing to their ever-shifting, conversely, soulfully smile and dance generating grooves! Though I salute them from my heart...
Sierre Leone’s Refugee All Stars are determined, gutsy musicians, worthy of our support. Coming together in a West African refugee camp, the marvellously spirited music on this CD, their third, is yet another result of their dedication. An award-winning documentary about them – Sierre Leone’s Refugee All Star, during the making of which they were followed around refugee camps for three years by American documentary makers Banker White and Zach Niles was released in 2006. However the film is frustratingly, only available in the US! Surely we could all benefit from watching the story of these brave musicians, and hopefully, this documentary will achieve wider distribution soon. Our continuing support of these worthy musicians could be the ingredient that helps boost their future career into the place it belongs in, not just in the US, where they are well known, but worldwide! When I saw them perform at WOMAD Charlton Park recently, they filled everyone with such joy that no one could resist dancing and smiling along to their entire set, from toddler to old folks. We were, as the first song on this album, ‘Muloma’ - ‘Let Us Be United’, sung in Mende language, proposes. They made their own kind of magic in broad daylight, bright sunshine as it happens that day, but magic all the same – spontaneous and joyously freeing! ‘Global Threat’, performed in English, is a reggae track seminal D J Don Letts should make mandatory spinning. ‘Drop your weapons’ the song asks, ‘see to ‘hunger’, it’s a ‘modern revolution.’ There doesn’t seem to be a sound this band is incapable of making, as firm and funky horns and strongly played drums induce us to move into action of sorts, firstly dance-wise, then, through listening to the words, which inspire questions of what active roles we might play in the ‘revolution’ in relation to ending hunger and stemming the other ills being sung of. Number three, ‘Oruwiebe/Magazine Bobo’, sung in Oje Society language and Kria, is all African, with its hypnotic, attention commanding drums and chanting that makes you ache to understand what the musicians are singing of. The splendid booklet that comes with this album reveals that it is a ‘Traditional Medley’ arranged by Mohammed Bangura and Idriss Mallam Bangura (aka Mallam Bongo), reflecting on handling ‘any chance given with care.’ Admiration for words and/or rhythm aside, this track takes you somewhere only these musicians could lead you. Its’ ultimate message, that we should ‘work together as a family instead of fighting each other’ is one none could disagree with. ‘Living Stone’, sung in English with its’ English and African words in the booklet, is an absolute knock out, cross-over reggae hit, which, once heard will be on everyone’s favourite song list. When the band performed this track live at WOMAD, it sent everyone who was already dancing into overdrive, and those who’d been hanging back, perhaps due to shyness, into happy expression, such is its capacity to inspire celebration of life. This song will always bring back happy memories for me. Caribbean rhythms inflect ‘Dununya’ (The World) sung in Mandingo, with its’ breezy, tropical feeling, seems too solid to be carnival – it sounds more like looking back on one with mixed emotions. It’s also intriguing for its suggestions of disappointment, while making the best of things - small wonder, as it’s about the potential power of love. ‘What can you do?’ it seems to ask and does so in a way that is buoyant despite any shadowy allusions as it thanks Jah for life’s mercies, urges men to act right and tells the singer’s loved one that his love for her is God’s will – a beautiful, vital track! ‘Jah Mercy’, in English, is as you might expect, a reggae track, but closer to roots dub reggae than its sunnier predecessors, though just as infectious. The conversational tone of its’ lead singer is very appealing as it seems to place us at the heart of the song, as back-up singers reaffirm the title phrase, lest we forget the song’s intent in our expressions of appreciation for it while its bouncing rhythms inducing dance. By this point, I literally did not know what to expect next from this group, which frankly, is a phenomena I really enjoy! My patient uncertainty was rewarded with the lovely steel drum bottomed highlife tinged number ‘Tamagbondorsu’ (The Rich Mock the Poor), sung in Temne. A wonderfully rhythmic framework for such an age-old topic, though the steel drummer performs his job with added kick! This is matter of fact, been there stuff, played with real vigour and conviction. Paradoxically, the concreteness of this song’s subject matter seems to add liquidity to the way it is being conveyed as it progresses, faster and faster, with more and more kicking drumming as we travel along its percussively agile path. ‘Bute Vance’, another medley of traditional folk songs, sung in Mende and recorded live, yields more surprises with its’ soulful call and response vocals and heartbeat drumming which may make you feel as though you may be privy to a normally private ritual. It’s obvious from the outset that it’s very deep, though perhaps it’s best not to even ponder what it means the first time you hear it, but rather, to allow yourself to get carried along on its streaming sounds, haunting from its opening. Unexpected cheering at the end rounds this soaring medley off nicely. Turns out my initial feelings were apt, as these songs are normally used in initiation ceremonies - a fact which leads me to comment here that these musicians are unsurpassed in getting their meanings across through their music, despite any potential language barriers! ‘Jah Come Down’, sung in English, finds us back in reggae land, with lots of tapping percussion adding emphasis to its’ deep grooves. This track will be irresistible to those into dub and/or reggae and especially roots reggae. But it has greater historical and soul impetus than that, as it reflects on slavery and the way in which it effectively, removed the soul of the slaves’ homelands when it carried them away. ‘My great-grandmother was a slave’ the singer says, and we’re listening and learning once more. There is nothing this group does which is not designed to raise social awareness. Sunshine seems to open ‘Bend Down the Corner’ with its hollowed out sounding drumming, strummed along melody line and harmonic singing, in English, as if to say, as its writer Johson Gbassy Bull says, ‘you got to give love a chance’. There is some very fine harmonica playing rounding off the bends here and there, adding charm to the song, which is one you could definitely picture becoming a sing-a-long favourite. I knew ‘Goat Smoke Pipe’ was popular because I’d seen t-shirts bearing that phrase before I ever saw the Refugee All Stars and wondered where what it meant. From the outset, the singing on this song, in Krio, makes you feel as though you’re in on some favourite story that’s been told and re-told many times, each time a little differently perhaps for greater comic effect. You’d be right to think that in a way, because this song is a political satire referencing the intermittent periods when only the rich can afford to eat meat, and such deprivation of even basic food has, inevitably lead to widespread poverty. Not a funny topic, to be sure, but certainly one up for irony, which we might apply to the impending VAT set to be added to the cost of our food in 2011. The goat of the title smoking pipe indicates that even his usual lowly, every-where food – grass is unavailable. It’s interesting to note that with this group, it’s generally the feeling of the songs I responded to initially, rather than their literal sounds! Rain or shine, these guys can really come up with the grooves, as ‘Gbrr Mani’ (Trouble), sung in Temne, bears out. Again, we’re in a kind of reggae groove, but there are differences here, add-ons if you will, that stamp this track with the mark of originality, Refugee All Stars style. Some ska-like horn playing adds to the song’s exaggeratedly hyper vocal delivery, which collectively adds up to a song that is great fun to listen and dance to. Its’ thinking is that surely the ‘misdeeds of parents’ must be the cause of the ‘irrational’ behaviour of today’s youth. ‘Watching All Your Ways’, the final track in this collection, sung in English, has a live feeling as though the musicians are sitting on a beach together at night getting into a pleasantly heady jam. Imagine how I felt when I looked at the CD booklet after writing that sentence and saw a photo of the musicians sitting before a campfire in Sutton Canada, where this track was recorded live! The skipping beat and laid back singing of ‘Watching All Your Ways’ borders on Calypso but side-steps that label while retaining an ‘island’ feel. In addition, its’ story-telling style is like that of a griot’s, yet possibly, too buoyant and light-hearted for that tradition. In actual fact, the song abounds in irony, being about ‘Christian’ hypocrites, such as those who take up with their ‘brother’s wife’ or ‘pant after other men’ when their husband’s are out. What the happy stew which is Rise and Shine boils down to is that once again, the Sierra Leone All Stars have proved that they are truly, in an inimitable class by themselves by serving up some true soul food for their listeners!
http://www.refugeeallstars.org/
http://www.cumbancha.com/welcome.php
Copyright © EXTRA! EXTRA All rights reserved
|
