Youth Musical Performance Center: a project of Search for Common Ground and Steady Bongo
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- Background on Steady Bongo
- Awards
- Albums
- Promoted Albums and Partnerships
- The Culture Heroes
- Search for Common Ground’s Experience
- Country Context
- Community Peacebuilding Unit
Youth Musical Performance Center:A Project of Search for Common Ground and Steady BongoSteady Bongo and Search for Common Ground are designing a project that is geared to develop and encourage the talents and skills of young musicians. This project builds on experience that SFCG and Steady Bongo gained during solidarity events—peace carnivals and musical peace tours—where Steady Bongo was the master of ceremonies. During these solidarity events Steady Bongo auditioned young talent from the regional headquarters to play with his band during these four-day events. Building on these activities, SFCG and Steady Bongo are pursuing a longer term strategy to encourage young talent and to nurture this talent. The plan is to establish a recording studio and club in Bo as a place where young people can perform and record their music. Steady Bongo and his group will organise and coordinate the affairs of this dedicated youth structure and use the revenue to support and develop other, formal opportunities in music in Sierra Leone. Background on Steady BongoLansana Sherriff was born on the 24th day of July 1968, in Daru, Jawi Chiefdom, Kailahun district, in eastern Sierra Leone. He went to primary school in Fairo in the south along the Liberian border and Daru in the east. He then entered secondary school in Kenema at the Luke’s Commercial Secondary School, and later proceeded to the Freetown Ahmadiyya Secondary School where he obtained his Ordinary Level (O’Level) Certificate in 1990. Getting his musical inspiration while in school he admired the songs of big stars like Alpha Blondie, Big Fayia and many others and vowed to follow their footsteps one day. When his dream was becoming reality, his school recommended him to compose a song on HIV/AIDS suitable for a competition that took place at the British Council Hall in March 1989. He represented the Ahmadiyya School with other top local musicians by then. At the end of it all, he was rated first among the lot. The following day, he took the award to school, and his principal, Mr. M.P. Bayoh commended him in front of the entire school for a job to continue paying his school fees. In early 1990, he started visiting nightclubs with his recorded demos, which he used to mime. Fortunately, a Nigerian businessman, Fatai Lasisie met him one night at a club and listened to his demos. He noted that Lansana’s demos were good and promised to sponsor him to produce an album. He kept to his promise and Steady Bongo’s first recorded album ‘Ready Before You Married’ at the MDC Recording Studio, which was released in April, 1991. Since then several other albums have been produced to his credit including the most popular album ‘Kormot Bien Me’. 
Generally, Steady produces songs in Sierra Leone’s official language (English) and other major local languages (Mende, Temne and Krio). Since 1991, he has won several awards of first position and best musician of the year from different organizations and institutions. Awards
AlbumsSince 1991, the following albums have been produced:
One is currently on the way, to be released this year. During the years of the war (1991 – 2002), Steady also produced songs and albums for NGOs, which were used for their own sensitisation programmes for lasting peace and reconciliation. Promoted Albums and PartnershipsIn an effort to promote music in Sierra Leone, Steady sponsored the production of the following albums.
The Culture HeroesLansana formed a musical group called The Whispers in 1992 to facilitate his musical career. Two years later, the group’s name was changed to ‘Steady Bongo and the Culture Heroes’. As a musical group, it became official on the 5th of March, 1995 when it was formally registered with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Membership of the group is mainly drawn from young and talented people, both male and female, who have diverse knowledge, skills and talents in the art of music. The group boasts of twenty-two members comprising vocalists, instrumentalists, administrators, dancers, engineers and drivers. The group stages musical concerts in and outside Sierra Leone. Steady Bongo and the Culture Heroes have exhibited musical talent in Sierra Leone and also in Guinea (1992 and 1997), London (1998), the US (New Jersey, New York, Washington D.C., Ohio, and Wisconsin) (2000), and Banjul, The Gambia (2001). The group is renowned in Sierra Leone. They have captured national news headlines many times over the years. In the last three years, they have performed for the Sierra Leone National Government as well as performed for several refugee and displaced benefits. In collaboration with the NGOs Talking Drum Studio/Search for Common Ground and World Vision (SL), the group embarked on a nation wide sensitisation and confidence building tour in rebel-held towns in 2001. Giving live concerts, this peace tour visited 10 towns over the course of one month as part of a strategy to generate buy-in to the DDR process to facilitate speedy disarmament, and contributed greatly in bringing peace to Sierra Leone. Search for Common Ground’s ExperienceSearch for Common Ground has been engaged in Sierra Leone since mid-2000 with two projects: Talking Drum Studio-Sierra Leone (TDS-SL) and the Community Peacebuilding Unit (CPU). The overall goal of Search for Common Ground-Sierra Leone (SFCG-SL) is to reduce violence and promote collaborative peacebuilding among all groups in Sierra Leone. Integrated, Multi-faceted Approach Conflicts and societies are multi-faceted and operate on many levels – personal, familial, ethnic, political, and social. To effectively respond to this, SFCG-SL uses a multi-faceted approach to expand beyond strategies that target only one sector of society or one element of conflict. By promoting reconciliation and peacebuilding in Sierra Leone through a variety of activities including radio programs, community radio outreach, peace carnivals, and coalition building, SFCG-SL has been able to impact some of the most affected and most influential segments of society across the country. SFCG-SL uses its multi-faceted approach in a highly integrated way that links grassroots efforts with national dialogues. TDS-SL creates national dialogues around critical issues and the CPU then complements the radio studio by engaging communities in local peacebuilding activities. In this integrated, multi-faceted approach, the media and non-media projects work in partnership at all levels of Sierra Leonean society to advance enduring peace. Country ContextConditions have vastly improved in Sierra Leone. President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah officially declared the war over in January 2002, and relatively free, fair, and peaceful presidential and parliamentary elections were held in May 2002. Root causes of the war, including corruption, disenfranchisement, and the lack of economic opportunity for the majority of the population, remain to be addressed. Further, peace in Sierra Leone cannot solidify without lasting peace in all three countries of the Mano River Union – Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. SFCG-SL works in close collaboration with SFCG-Liberia to share lessons learned and to coordinate efforts to achieve the greatest impact possible on the sub-regional level. Some of SFCG-SL’s media and non-media programs are highlighted below. Talking Drum Studio-Sierra Leone TDS-SL is a multi-media studio producing 10 radio programming strands for distribution to 11 local and international radio stations across Sierra Leone for a total of 82 hours of airtime per week. With the results of a January 2002 survey conducted by independent researchers rating TDS-SL’s listenership at 85% nation wide (97% in Freetown), SFCG-SL’s media work creates national dialogue around key issues and gives a voice to all sectors of society. The programs include:
This radio program engages networks of children of mixed backgrounds in eight locations who serve as producers, reporters and actors and who identify issues for and about children and advocate on their behalf.
Atunda Ayenda marks the first use of soap opera in Sierra Leone. Originally launched to sensitize listeners, and particularly ex-combatants, on the disarmament process, Atunda Ayenda now addresses a range of social issues of concern, including corruption, HIV/AIDS, and human rights. In addition to numerous Sierra Leone FM stations carrying the program, it is also broadcast by a radio station in Banjul, The Gambia. This increases the impact of SFCG-SL’s sub-regional effort to facilitate discussion and build peace. Community Peacebuilding UnitThe CPU uses a wide array of methods to do its work including community radio outreach, peace carnivals, coalition building, direct mediation, facilitation, live drama performances, soccer tournaments, training, and multi-media peace vehicles. The CPU stimulates grassroots searches for solutions to community problems and, in doing so, engages the government and other organizations in the process. This work feeds back into the media programming as community problem solving is brought to the forefront of national discussion. Activities include:
To increase local radio coverage of public information and national dialogue in Sierra Leone, SFCG-SL’s CPU facilitates communities developing their own radio stations. Project activities include facilitating community meetings, determining what residents are looking for in a radio station, coordinating work plans so that all stakeholders contribute to the founding process, and securing equipment for the station to function. The CPU brings together staff from various stations across the country to train each other and to share valuable experiences, enabling collaboration and new ideas to develop.
An annual event taking place every Easter in Bo, Sierra Leone, the Bo Peace Carnival brings together a variety of activities aimed at promoting community building and sustainable peace. SFCG-SL partners with local groups to host the carnival. Cultural groups and performers from around Sierra Leone participate, as well as drama troupes from secondary schools who perform plays around issues concerning youth. SFCG-SL staff gather the commentary and opinions of chiefs, women’s representatives, cultural artists, and civil society members. These comments and discussions, along with taped programming related to the carnival’s theme (varies annually), are broadcast to the various regions of Sierra Leone over the four-day period of the carnival. Search for Common Ground in Sierra Leone is a program of Search for Common Ground and the European Centre for Common Ground, international NGOs working as partners in the fields of conflict resolution and media production. For additional information, see our website, www.sfcg.org, or contact West Africa Program, 1601 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20009, USA; phone (+1)(202)265-4300; fax (+1)(202 232-6718; e-mail search@sfcg.org. Directory: pfil pfil -> Changing Lives Naandi Foundation’s Centralized Kitchens for Midday Meal Programme pfil -> Mission and History pfil -> Organisation profile for Concerned Children and Youth Association (ccya) pfil -> Don bosco navajeevan pfil -> Organizational background pfil -> Sunil nagar balirampur new nanded india maharashtra pfil -> Immunization Program Mid Year Report 2011-2012 Submitted to Global Giving pfil -> Project Title: Support for Education of the children with Disabilities in Bangladesh By: protibandhi shishu shiekkha o paricharja samity (proships) Project Summary Download 21.34 Kb. Share with your friends:
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