Reuben and Ashade at the Cedar Cultural Center.
From the moment I walked into the Cedar Cultural Center the other night, I sensed that something special was going on. People were having a good time socializing on the patio, underneath beautiful, post-thunderstorm clouds. The American Refugee Committee, which teamed up with the Cedar Cultural Center for the concert, had information about their work on display. I have never liked concerts—probably the result of some strange genetic mutation causing a musical appreciation deficiency—yet I was excited for this one. On the eve of World Refugee Day, June 20, Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars stopped at Minneapolis to play a concert as exceptional as the circumstances that brought them together.
In 1991, a brutal civil war in Sierra Leone caused people to flee their homes, only to find themselves in refugee camps in Guinea, displaced and traumatized. Two men, Reuben Koroma and Francis “Franco” Lamgba, started playing music together in one such camp to pass the time and escape from their pain. More musicians joined them when they relocated to another camp.
