Sierra Leone‘s Refugee All-Stars, which is composed of musicians who have received accolades from Paul McCartney, Keith Richards and Ice Cube among many others, are to perform at Kennesaw State University on March 21 in a fundraiser to continue the efforts of Medecins Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders) to contain the outbreak of the Ebola virus.
Kennesaw State’s International Student Association is joining the Division of Global Affairs, the Center for African and African Diaspora Studies, the College of the Arts and the School of Music in supporting the concert in an effort to raise $6,000.
Proceeds from the Ebola Relief Concert are to support Medecins Sans Frontiers’ efforts to help rebuild healthcare systems in the affected countries of Guinea and Liberia as well as Sierra Leone.
Members of the band are originally from Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, but fled to neighboring Guinea during the brutal civil war from 1991-2002 that reportedly resulted in the death of at least 50,000 of their countrymen and women.
Once the band played in the refugee camps of Conakry, Guinea’s capital, their reputation grew rapdily.
American filmmakers Zach Niles and Banker White met them in Guinea’s Sembakounya Camp and were so impressed that they began to document their lives and music over the course of three years resulting in an acclaimed documentary film.
Their music first captured in a debut album, Living Like a Refugee, which was mostly recorded under the tin-roofed shacks of Freetown’s ghettos, launched performances that have taken them around the world including concerts at an Amnesty International human rights conference in Chicago, at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York and a private appearance at the United Nations.
Their fourth album, Libation, was released in 2013 featuring a collection of songs inspired by Sierra Leonean folklore and based on a variety of musical styles including highlife, maringa, baskeda and gumbe.
Catherine Odera, the university’s assistant director of international student retention, said in a news release that this concert was in keeping with the university’s tradition of supporting humanitarian responses to crises such as the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
It also demonstrated the university’s support of a crisis, she added, “that hits close to home for many international students with families in the affected countries.”
The concert is to begin at 8 p.m. on March 21 in the Dr. Bobbie Bailey & Family Performance Center.
To learn more about the performers and to order tickets, click here.
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