In honor of World Refugee Day on Thursday, June 21st, this week's Songs of the Day were chosen by DJ Darek Mazzone, host of Wo'Pop, our modern global radio show on the air Tuesday nights from 6:00 to 9:00 PM.
Like their band name expresses, Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars is a band from Sierra Leone formed by a group of refugees who were displaced to Guinea during the Sierra Leone Civil War. When they realized they weren’t going home anytime soon, bandleader Ruben Koroma recruited fellow refugees guitarist Francis John Langba (aka Franco) and bassist Idrissa Bangura (aka Mallam) to join his group, making music to entertain others stuck in the refugee camp. Their debut full-length, Living Like a Refugee, was recorded by the light of an oil lamp. A documentary film titled Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars follows the band over three years as they write, record, and eventually tour this release.
"Living like a refugee, it's not easy,” said Koroma in the liner notes for the album. "I just take all the problems, the suffering of the people and make a song of it."
