Greetings,
Over the past two years, in collaboration with others at the University
of Alberta, I've been working with Liberian musicians living in
Buduburam, a refugee camp near the Ghanaian capital, Accra, to produce a
benefit CD representing music of camp residents. The CD, entitled Giving
Voice to Hope: Music of Liberian Refugees, is now available via our
websites:
http://tinyurl.com/ott3w3
http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/uai/buducd.cfm
The Buduburam camp was established in 1990 (with support from the UN
High Commission for Refugees) to shelter Liberians fleeing a terrible
civil conflict that continued, on and off, for some 15 years,
devastating their country, and so many lives.
When I first visited Buduburam, I was surprised to find there a
wonderfully vibrant musical scene, despite the squalid conditions of
camp life. Some enterprising musicians had even put together a simple
but effective recording studio. Working in concert with a camp NGO
(Center for Youth Empowerment), we collected 16 tracks composed,
performed and recorded by camp residents, representing a wide variety of
West African popular music styles, and signed the artists for this
compilation CD, which also includes extensive liner notes on the
history of the conflict, the camp, the music, and the musicians themselves.
Our immediate aim is to bring some modest support and -- more
importantly --recognition to these young musicians and the NGO, as well
as to raise public consciousness about problems of conflict, forced
migration, and refugees in West Africa, and globally. Beyond its
great music, the CD is designed to be useful for teaching at the high
school and university levels, in a variety of fields: music of Africa,
ethnomusicology, African history and politics, forced migration studies,
development studies, etc.
Please help support our efforts.
sincerely yours,
Michael Frishkopf
* * *
Dr. Michael Frishkopf
Associate Professor, Department of Music (www.music.ualberta.ca)
Associate Director, Canadian Centre for Ethnomusicology
(www.fwalive.ualberta.ca)
Mailing address: Michael Frishkopf, Department of Music, Faculty of
Arts, University of Alberta, 3-82 Fine Arts Building, Edmonton, AB
CANADA T6G 2C9
Office: 334D Arts, (780) 492-0670; 3-47 Arts, tel: (780) 492-0225, or
Electronic: [log in to unmask]; http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/~michaelf/
Music Department tel: (780) 492-3263; fax: (780) 492-9246
CCE fax (780) 492-0242
Giving Voice to Hope: Music of Liberian Refugees: http://tinyurl.com/ott3w3
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