Sierra Leone: Celebration, War, and Healing

Sierra Leone has deep reserves of resilience, and an ability to come together and overcome great obstacles embedded in its culture. To provide the kind of history that is all too often overlooked when reporting on current events on the African continent, we are encoring this Hip Deep episode, which explores the nation’s past. When Sierra Leone gained independence in 1961, Freetown swayed to the beguiling, breezy lilt of palm wine guitar and danced to the funky pop of Geraldo Pino and the Heartbeats. Once a center of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Sierra Leone became an improbable amalgamation of indigenous peoples and repatriated Africans freed from slavery. Thirty years of political and economic disintegration led to a horrific civil war that claimed tens of thousands of victims and created a generation of maimed bodies and ruined lives between 1991 and 2002. A significant portion of the violence was internal, with community members and sometimes children taking up arms against each other. Following the conflict, efforts to restore peace included truth and reconciliation programs aimed at strengthening social ties. This episode profiles the inspiring story of Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, a band formed in war-era refugee camps in Guinea. The band played a key role in giving citizens the courage to return home, and now, along with other young musicians in Freetown, attempt to pick up where others left off before the war. Produced by Simon Rentner with Wills Glasspiegel. APWW PGM Originally broadcast in 2008

You can listen to Sierra Leone: Celebration, War, and Healing online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Sierra Leone: Celebration, War, and Healing is an episode from Afropop Worldwide by Afropop Worldwide.

This episode is 00:59:04 long.

This episode was published on Jan 29, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Afropop Worldwide when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.