Musicians pose with senior Sierra Leone police officers
- The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will on Saturday 6 October organise a peace concert under its Election Security Programme, according to press release from the US embassy in Freetown.
The day time free and open concert at the Brima Atuga Mini Stadium in the east end of Freetown aims “to promote peace and raise awareness about the Public Elections Act of 2012” as well as “promote tolerance and respect for persons with disabilities, women’s involvement in the elections, and police/community relations”.
It is an offshoot of a programme in February 2012 when the U.S. Department of Justice’s Senior Law Enforcement Advisor, Bryan Atkins discussed the idea of “a peace CD” with Sierra Leonean musicians Star Z and Mystic. The two
artistes agreed to work on it and promote peaceful elections in Sierra Leone.
Star Z, Mystic and Daddy G were later joined by Prince to form a group known as VOICE OF SALONE and completed the eight-song CD in four months with a performance dubbed "Mix Up Box Up".
The US embassy statement says teh songs are “a fuse of hip-hop, rap, and reggae styling” and are sung in Krio, Temne, Mandinka, and Fula.
The CDs are distributed free and USAID plans to make 2,000 more copies “to make as many copies available to the public as soon as possible”.
(c) Politico 04/10/12
