INTERVIEW: Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars bring African sounds to U.S. audiences

Reuben Koroma, band leader of Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, promises that their upcoming concerts in the United States will have plenty of African styles to get the audience dancing and moving around. The band will begin the tour April 15 in Indiana and make a visit to the New York City area April 18 when they play the Emelin Theatre in Mamaroneck, N.Y.

The collective of musicians known as the Refugee All Stars bring a message of hope and faith to music lovers around the world. Although their message is positive and toe-tapping, their beginnings are quite tragic. During a recent interview, Koroma recounted his time in a refugee camp, when everybody around him was “trouble-minded because of being separated from their country.”

Sierra Leone, located in West Africa, had to deal with a “blood, horrifying war that forced millions to flee their homes,” according to press notes for the band. The musicians who make up the band were living in Freetown, the capital city; however, rebel attacks didn’t make life easy. Koroma and his wife Grace left in 1997, finding themselves in the Kalia refugee camp, according to the band’s website.

“People were really trouble-minded, and I was trouble-minded, too,” Koroma said during a phone interview. “You know, I talked to myself. I should start … to reform my life to just like dis-occupy my mind from thinking about the horrible things that I’ve been through and appease my mind to the tunes of music, the beautiful tunes of music.”

In the refugee camp, Koroma turned to music to entertain the people, offering them a sense of pleasantness during dire circumstances. He wanted them to “forget most of the bad things that have happened here.”

This music that began in the refugee camp has now blossomed and spread around the world. Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars are now a top touring act, and they have recorded several albums, including their most recent, Libation.

“I feel that it’s a story worth sharing to the world,” Koroma said. “It has to do [with] like being able to overcome obstacles through the love of music, and I think it’s a good thing for people to be very strong. The fact that there’s so many problems in the world today, you would not let the problems of the world take away your happiness. [You should] be happy whatever happens; that’s the kind of philosophy.”

Except for Koroma’s wife, who is Ghanian, the original members are all from Sierra Leone. Today, a Liberian musician plays the bass guitar in the collective. The players have been back to Sierra Leone now that the conditions that drove them away have been improved. They actually went back in 2003-2004 to launch their first recording, Living Like a Refugee.

Today, Sierra Leone and West Africa often make the news in the U.S. for the deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus. Koroma is concerned for his country’s situation, and the band has started selling $30 awareness T-shirts to help the effort.

“We all have families back home,” he said. “I have four daughters and my wife and my younger sister. They all depend on me. I am so troubled thinking about them all the time. …. I always talk to them about it.”

A concert of Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars will introduce audiences to many songs that emanate from West Africa but are not restricted by any boundaries. Komora, whose parents were traditional musicians, will bring sounds — sometimes reggae-flavored, sometimes dance-inducing — that offer a story about where these musicians have been, what they’re hoping for in today’s world and what the future holds.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars will play the Emelin Theatre in New York April 18, among other dates in the U.S. Click here for more information.