Difference between revisions of "Giving Voice to Hope: Music of Liberian Refugees"
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[[Image:Buduburam_in_Ghana.png|thumb|150px|left|border|Ghana, West Africa, showing location of Buduburam camp, 44 km west of Ghana's capital, Accra]] | [[Image:Buduburam_in_Ghana.png|thumb|150px|left|border|Ghana, West Africa, showing location of Buduburam camp, 44 km west of Ghana's capital, Accra]] | ||
| − | Buduburam is a Liberian refugee camp located west of Ghana's capital, Accra. With the first refugees arriving in 1990, the UN High Commission for Refugees has helped provide shelter for thousands of people fleeing Liberian civil wars. Once home to over 40,000 inhabitants, Buduburam is currently undergoing transition as residents attempt to re-establish their lives in Liberia. | + | Buduburam is a Liberian refugee camp located 44 km west of Ghana's capital, Accra. With the first refugees arriving in 1990, the UN High Commission for Refugees has helped provide shelter for thousands of people fleeing Liberian civil wars. Once home to over 40,000 inhabitants, Buduburam is currently undergoing transition as residents attempt to re-establish their lives in Liberia. |
The University of Alberta is walking with this community on their voyage of return to Liberian society. | The University of Alberta is walking with this community on their voyage of return to Liberian society. | ||
Revision as of 06:44, 28 May 2009
Short URL for this page: http://tinyurl.com/ott3w3
Contents
Background
Canada's University of Alberta has a long and rich history of partnerships in Africa. Recently, a number of faculties along with University of Alberta International have been supporting initiatives in Ghana that involve the University of Ghana, rural Ghanaian villages, and the Buduburam Refugee Settlement near Accra.
Buduburam is a Liberian refugee camp located 44 km west of Ghana's capital, Accra. With the first refugees arriving in 1990, the UN High Commission for Refugees has helped provide shelter for thousands of people fleeing Liberian civil wars. Once home to over 40,000 inhabitants, Buduburam is currently undergoing transition as residents attempt to re-establish their lives in Liberia.
The University of Alberta is walking with this community on their voyage of return to Liberian society.
The Project
Popular music has emerged within Buduburam Refugee Settlement, responding to musical inclinations of residents and the need to express individual and collective experiences of displacement, loss, reconciliation, and hope.
The University of Alberta, in a cooperative multi-faculty initiative involving faculty, staff, and students, is engaged in the production and distribution of a music CD, entitled Giving Voice to Hope: Music of Liberian Refugees, featuring 16 Liberian musical groups who have resided as refugees in Buduburam. The music CD is a creative initiative to further explore the social impact and realities of civil war and refugees. Musical recordings will represent life in Buduburam through several genres: traditional, gospel, hip hop, rap, R&B, and reggae.
The music represents musicians hailing from many regions of Liberia (see map).
The project is being implemented in partnership with the Centre for Youth Empowerment (CYE), a Liberian NGO founded by war-stricken Liberian youth who sought refuge in Buduburam. CYE is committed to the pursuit of peace, development, education, good health, and sanitation, and has been an instrumental leader in the ongoing rehabilitation of Liberian refugees.
Read more about the project as reported by Geoff McMaster in the UofA's ExpressNews
Project Goals
In addition to introducing talented musicians to a North American audience, the project has several goals:
- Post Conflict Healing - encourage musicality among youth as a form of community building
- Global Education - engage U of A students in a participatory way in raising awareness about civil society and refugee-related issues, support education about Africa at the U of A, and support a successful African-based NGO (CYE) focused on developing youth leaders of tomorrow
- Fund-raising - establish a U of A endowment which will support U of A student-focused learning initiatives in Africa, and generate revenue for the Liberian musicians and CYE
- Research - document musical life of refugee camps and understand how and why music can be used as a tool to overcome realities of conflict and dislocation
Upcoming Events
Exhibition
Design Celebrating Hope: An Exhibition of Student Design Work for the Buduburam CD Project
Exhibition Dates: May 19 - July 4, 2009 and September 1 - 24, 2009
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 21, 2009, 7:00pm - 10:00pm
Fine Arts Building Gallery, 1-1 Fine Arts Building, University of Alberta Campus
Curators: Bonnie Sadler Takach and Aidan Rowe
This exhibition visually documents how Visual Communication Design students in the Department of Art and Design worked collaboratively with members of University of Alberta International and the Department of Music to create dozens of visual concepts for the Buduburam CD Project, Giving Voice to Hope: Music of Liberian Refugees.
This exhibition is supported in part by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. The student design research project was supported in part by the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund from the Office of the Provost.
Launch
An offical CD launch and reception will be held in September 2009 (date TBD).
Track samples (0:30)
The following links provide only 30 second samples; the duration of each track, together with language, is given in parentheses.
1. No More War Morris Haynes (5:50, English, Bassa) Genre: Traditional/Reggae
I can express myself best in life through music…Liberians, we are very lively people—we love being together, entertaining our elders, we need to let the world go away. It helps us to keep the memory of war away and music can teach us good behavior.
Morris Haynes came from a musical family and began to develop his talents at a young age. As a skilled guitarist strongly influenced by Nigerian Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, Morris incorporates highlife, jazz, and disco lines into his music. He has recorded an album in Liberia, performed educational songs about HIV/AIDS and polio, and written jingles for African radio stations. He hopes to one day have his own studio and radio station in Liberia.
Contact: mrhaynes101@yahoo.com
2. Power
S-Man (Samuel Taylor)
(6:00, English, Vai)
Genre: Traditional/Highlife
This is a song about politicians in Africa, manipulating people’s minds for their own selfish gain. This creates war in the end. The song is a warning that we shouldn’t be fooled. I sing part of the song in Vai so that my countrymen, in rural areas, can understand.
S-Man, a former dancer in the traveling Liberian National Troupe, became a refugee at the age of 12 when he fled conflict in Liberia and Ivory Coast. S-Man used his musical talents to work with the international humanitarian organization, War Child, teaching Liberian refugee children traditional dance to give them a sense of direction and connect them to their culture. S-Man has trained in video editing and soap making, and hopes that when he returns to Liberia, he can help rebuild his country, empowering people by teaching them how to make soap.
Contact: samueltaylor2024@yahoo.com
3. A Zaa Me:Rpo Wedeh Samuel Johnson (4:10, Bassa) Genre: Traditional/Gospel
Even in the pits of hell, music can help, especially the youth whose future is going down the drain. Whatever situation we find ourselves in, we must believe there is always tomorrow.
Currently the director of his church’s choir, Samuel Johnson’s earliest musical memories include listening to his dad’s recordings of Reverend Al Green, Mahalia Jackson, and Aretha Franklin. With a musician brother, he soon began to experiment with instruments and compose. Even as a child he felt that music was inside of him and that he had a responsibility to bring it out, believing his music could help console people’s hearts and minds. Samuel hopes to return to nursing school and contribute to the development of his country.
Contact: golfsam32@yahoo.com
4. Stop the Violence
Big Seen
(Wesley Toh, Alvin L. Page)
(4:10, English)
Genre: Hip-Hop
This song is about all forms of violence. We ask God why does the world turn upside down, especially during the war, when we see brothers killing brothers. Speaking out against tribalism and respecting people’s differences is important.
Childhood friends Wesley and Alvin knew each other in Liberia, where they grew up listening to James Brown and Michael Jackson, and remember breakdancing at birthday parties. Despite many challenges, they remain passionate about music and dream of performing around the world, as well as managing up-and-coming Liberian hip-hop artists.
Contact: wesleytoh@yahoo.com
5. Take Away Soul Whisperers (Gardiah G. Henry, Hilary L. Browne, John Goah, George Charles) Take Away (4:36, English) Genre: Gospel
Music is a binding force here connecting us all - if a song is playing and someone outside my window is dancing, or I am singing while washing, it cheers our hearts. In Africa, every child is born with music. Every child on his momma’s back hears music, feels beats when she dances.
The members of Soul Whisperers were choir directors from different churches who came together out of a love for music and the belief that music can cut across all physical and cultural barriers. This belief inspired them to give hope to their fellow refugees through their songs. “Take Away”, rooted in the experience of living in the camp for over 15 years, is about an individual who has suffered and is asking God for relief.
Contact: tonashandeal@yahoo.com; soulwhisperers@yahoo.com
6.We Are All Liberian Calabash Unite Us All (5:19, English) Genre: Traditional
Having traveled across Africa to share their message of peace and reconciliation, this group takes its name from the village tradition of welcoming people with cold water served in a calabash, symbolizing that all people drink from the same place.
Comprised of over twenty members from different tribes, Calabash performs songs and dances from many counties, reflecting their diverse makeup and the desire for unity among Liberians. They consider themselves a good example of what can be accomplished when people overcome differences to work as a family. Guided by the belief that tradition can strengthen rather than divide people, and that all tribes have something to learn from one another, Calabash hopes to start a cultural centre in Liberia where they can teach disadvantaged children traditional music, dancing, and folklore.
Contact: calibech43@yahoo.com; jsaplah2g10@yahoo.com
7. Je T'adore Representorz (Joseph Teah Jr. Dave Nyema, Milton Farley) (5:13, English/French) Genre: Hip-Hop
Music can bring change—musicians can express the feelings of the people when they are down and depressed, it can revive the soul. For us Liberians, the more we are depressed, the more we want to dance!
Together since 2000, the Representorz have performed with UN programs, at charity functions, and on radio shows in Liberia, Ivory Coast, and Ghana. They create music that makes people want to dance but are also versatile in their vision to explore the musical world and to help liberate Africa from poverty by educating people through music. “Je T’adore” is about being in love with a girl, even though she might leave you for financial reasons.
Contact: jnyan76@yahoo.com
8. Peace Must Prevail Shadow (Samuel Morgan) (4:13) Genre: Hip-Hop/R&B
Before I was in exile, there was conflict, and I didn’t want to be a child soldier. I fled to the Ivory Coast, and I knew I had a [musical] gift, so I began. After everything I saw in the war, I needed to talk sense into people so the world will be safer.
At only 23 years old, Shadow is Buduburam’s one-man recording studio. He has helped produce many of the tracks on this album, mixing and mastering musical elements with a small recording machine and a mic stand that he crafted out of wood. With two albums recorded in Liberia, he was chosen to write a song for the election in 2005, traveling to different counties to teach people about the electoral process and the importance of voting. Shadow, whose name derives from arriving on camp at a young age with only his own shadow for company, hopes to grow and apply his talents to producing other African musicians.
Contact: shadowmrgn@yahoo.com
9. Ah Mama (Africa Let's Sing) Timothy Faya Bomah
(3:59, English, Kissi)
Genre: Gospel
I came from the least of people on camp, I was leading a hard life, so I sometimes felt like I was dreaming after [being on television]. I feel important and respected in society now… No matter what we are going through, music can unite people, making them feel excited!
In 2007, at the age of 23, Timothy Faya Bomah became a celebrity in Buduburam when he was selected as a finalist in the third season of Ghana’s music reality show, Mentor. Faya is a positive role model and source of tremendous pride for the Buduburam community, which raised money for him during the competition. Performing music influenced by Jamaican dancehall songs and local Ghanaian hip-life, he is always eager to explore how culture and history are musically expressed. Orphaned in the war, Faya would like to open an orphanage in Liberia.
Contact: tbomah@yahoo.com
10. About Time
Universal Vision
(Eddie G. Payne, Robert Mlegodgh, Emmanuel Sumo)
(4:18, English, Bassa)
Genre: Hip-Hop
Man by nature is a politician and music is a way to do political science. I was never afraid to put ugly things, political things in to my poems. But then there is music about struggle-- and music for parties! These have different lyrics…
Universal Vision’s front man Eddie Payne has been writing since he was a young boy. Starting as a poet, he eventually began to set his poems to music. Lyrical style and music about real life events have always appealed to Eddie, whose musical mentor is Tupac Shakur. He credits music with helping him overcome shyness and improving his reading and writing skills.
Contact: uvstars@gmail.com
11. Come Together Africa God's Family (Michael Goodridge, Jerry Myers, Yeady Myers, Ezekiel Hallie) (2:32, English and Bassa) Genre: Gospel
The situation here is a challenge: people are starving and praying for a change, people had their families killed and this is a challenge to our musical soul. We can go days without eating, but music gives us strength, our souls are quenched with song.
The members of God’s Family met in Buduburam, where they were active in their church choirs. Influenced by American gospel traditions as well as African artists, their compositions fuse both styles. “Come Together Africa” calls Liberians, who were divided by the war, to come together as one, as Africans, and to be thankful for life.
Contact: glordymyers@yahoo.com
12. Gbai Kai Yaa Constance Exploit Bowier (4:25, Kpelle) Genre: Traditional
Music is comforting when you are disturbed, you feel you have a friend. It makes your heart relax when you face trouble. It is so important that I can go into tears, feeling closer to God when I hear it.
As a single mother, Constance has struggled in Buduburam over the past 12 years but has also enjoyed the versatility of music and being exposed to new Ghanaian sounds. Indian music has always touched her. She remembers watching Bollywood movies as a young girl and imitating the songs for her friends, though she could not understand the words. “Gbai Kai Yaa”, sung in her native Kpelle, tells people not to get depressed when others are successful, but rather to celebrate with them, for your own time will one day come.
Contact: mammie2005@yahoo.com; minploice@yahoo.com
13. It’s True Interpretors (Peter Myers, Issac Gbaryee) (3:25, English) Genre: Hip-Hop
When I am lonesome, music gives me courage, it teaches me to depend on and believe in myself. -Peter Myers
I want to tell all the other refugees we should be united, so that what led you to be a refugee won’t repeat itself. -Isaac Gbaryee
Teenagers Peter and Isaac were both small children when they left Liberia and became close friends soon after arriving in Buduburam. After singing in a choir together, they discovered they both loved American R&B and hip-hop, and thus the Interpretors were born. They sing about girlfriends, school, dreams, and the day-to-day challenges of refugee life.
Contact: p_myers2GB@yahoo.com
14. Shine for Jesus/Brille Pour Jesus
Helbert Collins
(4:10, English/French)
Genre: Gospel
When I was at the point of death, a voice kept coming to me saying “let your light shine”. This song is about having courage even when family and friends reject [you], and about how my soul was saved from going astray.
With his love for music beginning when he was president of his class choir, Helbert continues to compose and direct a choir today. Despite being orphaned and disabled in the war, and spending years in various refugee camps in West Africa, Helbert has always kept his faith in better days ahead. He credits music with saving him from despair and opening his heart. Herbert hopes to continue singing and would like to work in a home for disabled children, helping to prove to the children and the community that disabled people can be useful and innovative members of society.
Contact: godblesscollins2006@yahoo.com
15. Give a Little Love to the Children Alaric Crump (4:23, English) Genre: Reggae/Gospel
I want to enlighten people about what is happening in Liberia through my music; the children are the future so we have to make a better way for them. Music is guidance – we can sing about what we have passed through and how it is a lesson about overcoming hardship with faith.
A dancer in the 1980s, Alaric later began his musical pursuits working with choirs in Liberia before arriving in Ghana, where he now composes for churches in Accra. Portraying his African heritage in his music is important to Alaric, and he is glad to celebrate his Liberian identity by composing in his native Kpelle as well as in English. His unique brand of contemporary gospel features elements of reggae, pop, and hip-life.
Contact: alariccrump@yahoo.com
16. CYE Theme Song Blessed Brothers
(Iven S. Sackrow, Vamba J. Nyain, Abraham D. Gargar, Francis B. Dennilson, Emmanuel Wesseh) (1:48, English) Genre: Pop
For more information...
For more information about the project, please email the project administrators
See also the Buduburam CD project website at University of Alberta International
