Our friends over at Strummerville The Joe Strummer Foundation for New Music have a message they want to share regarding their studio in Sierra Leone who have been rocked by the Ebola crisis MESSAGE: Just wanted to update you on how things are going. We remain open and I will be going back to Sierra Leone on Saturday. We now have two Ebola songs which are being broadcast on local radio stations. Links below. The studio equipment is struggling though. The laptop crashed and we lost a lot and are re-recording the things we lost this week. But we are using a video editing mac to record and could really do with another studio dedicated laptop. The keyboards died but I have a replacement to take with me and the mixer (which was quite old) is also dead. I dont know if you can source another? They are expensive to buy new and impossible to find in Sierra Leone. Frustratingly no-one can mend it out there. So far, everyone at the studio is fine. Josta worried us recently when he had a temperature and red urine but he had malaria and the Ebola crisis continues to throw unexpected challenges at us. For example, Shargwan, leader of Black Street Family and a very talented lyricist who has mental health issues but has never had a diagnosis, had another break down. The guys did their best to find someone to help him so he did not end up chained to a bench for six months-which is what happened last time- but although mental health care has improved slightly, everything is closed. We are currently providing food, rice or gari with a basic sauce, to those who have not been able to hustle a meal. We do not normally do this but since gatherings were banned most of our guys have lost their way to make some money. We are starting a project called Who Makes My Image when I get back. This will encourage people (50% women) to tell their own stories through film and music. We are possibly the only youth organisation to keep our doors open. Partner organisations iEARN and Ballanta Music Academy have closed. Schools and colleges are closed. Those working with young children remain open and the footage shot by WAYout- me, Josta and Gibo continues to be used on news channels from BBCs Newsnight, Sky, ARD in Germany to CNN in the US and raises a lot of money for Street Child, Pikin Paddy and other child based organisations. Newsnight https://youtube/watch?v=w9R7r77X_as In the studio, besides re-recording lost tracks- we are doing 5 albums as well as the new street artsist who come in. An ever growing list that we cant keep up with. We have more space in the new building and want to turn a room into a mixing room to free up the main studio for recording. We are piecing together the equipment to do this. Again, if you know anyone who might be giving away their old equipment, please let us know. Ebola songs: https://soundcloud/wayout-1/ebola-song https://soundcloud/wayout-1/hiphop-ebola-black-street-family
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 15:37:40 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015