According to a press release from the UNDP in Sierra Leone, the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Victor Angelo, met with a host of Sierra Leone’s top musicians today Friday, 20 July, at UNDP’s head office in Freetown.
The meeting, the release said, discussed an initiative of a combination of organisations, namely UNDP, the Government of Sierra Leone’s National Communications Strategy Project, the Center for the Coordination of Youth Activities (CCYA) and a group of artists united, under a project called ‘Artists for Peace’. The artists have volunteered to use their voices to promote non-violence during the forthcoming elections.
‘Artists for Peace’, the release went on, will see over a dozen well-known Sierra Leonean musicians traveling the length and breath of the country, in a series of organised sensitization concerts aimed at promoting political tolerance and non-violence in the run-up to election day on 11 August. Popular musicians such as Wahid, Daddy Ish, Cee Jay, Velma and K-Man will be among the line-up for the forthcoming peace rallies. Peace concerts are scheduled to take place at several locations in Freetown, and in the provinces in Makeni, Bo, Kenema and Kono.
According to Velma, one of the lead female artists, “elections are meant to uplift the lives of all citizens. We want to use our voices to encourage people to exercise their civic rights in a peaceful manner and to remain tolerant of each other.”
The Resident Representative commended the spirit of the artists involved in ‘Artists for Peace’.
‘Music is one of the most important resources of Sierra Leone. These young people represent what is best about the country, and the UN is proud to support them so that their message of peace reaches all the citizens of their country,’Angelo reportedly said.
Many of the lyrics of the current mostly young and upcoming musicians in Sierra Leone are highly political and emotionally charged. Many upbraid and sometimes insult the present government and are very popular among all segments of the population, but mostly the young who constitute the majority of voters in the country.In recent times there have emerged a set of musicians that are singing the praises of the government while attacking the opposition in their lyrics.
Two of the most popular and influential musicians in the country, Emmerson Bockarie of "Borbor Belleh" fame and Daddy SAJ were not present at today’s meeting with the UN representative.
Photo: Velma, left, and Wahid.
Photo credit: UNDP.
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