1st annual Global BASH
Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars

Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars are a group of musicians who escaped the horrific violence of Sierra Leone’s civil war, landed in a refugee camp, and formed a band that has grown into an international sensation. Near the turn of the 21st Century, when Sierra Leone’s war-ravaged capital was burning, thousands fled to neighboring countries. Among them were Reuben Koroma and Francis Lamgba, who began making music for fellow refugees in a camp in Guinea with a rusted-out PA and beat-up guitars. They moved from camp to camp playing uplifting, highly danceable live shows. Along the way they picked up Black Nature, a teenage orphan with a gift for rap, as well as Abdulrahim Kamara and Mohamed Bangura, both of whom had had limbs amputated by the rebels. The United Nations was instrumental in financing the band’s first studio recordings and the rest, as they say, is history. Join us for an uplifting evening of African dance music, deeply infused with island reggae, by one of the greatest outfits ever to emerge from West Africa. An unbelievable testament to the human spirit, the journey of Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars exemplifies the universal healing power of music. Cumbancha has just release the band’s latest disc, Libation.