Heal Our Nation

The idea behind this blog is to give current fans and potential fans a unique insight into my music, my experiences, my thoughts and the stories behind them. This is something that you may have never experienced before from a singer/songwriter. I will take one of my songs and walk you through the lyrics and the stories behind the songs. I will also discuss my perspective on ideas relevant to the song in question. In the process you will get to know more about me and my music. I hope you will enjoy these postings and share them with family and friends.

As we go on this journey together we will go beyond Sierra Leone and explore other issues and themes but I think it fitting to start off with my home, Sierra Leone  and branch out from here. My first blog was about The Black Loyalists, refugees from the American Revolutionary War who became the founders of Freetown. This blog post will be about a song I wrote called "Heal Our Nation" and my visit to Sierra Leone this year. This particular song is dedicated to Sierra Leoneans and friends of Sierra Leone. "Heal Our Nation" was recorded live in September 2010 at the Montgomery College Performing Arts Theatre in Silver Spring Maryland.

In the summer of 2010 I got a call from Dr. Fuambai Ahmadu, an anthropologist, and also the owner of the Miss Sierra Leone USA Pageant. She is a big fan of my music and asked me to perform at her Miss Sierra Leone USA pageant in September. She wanted to bring a different vibe to this years event, and had previously interviewed me for her magazine SIA. I agreed to perform.

SIA




As I was putting together my set list for the concert I dusted off one of my old songs and decided to rework it. This song became "Heal Our Nation" and is being officially released with this blog. The pageant was quite successful and a new Miss Sierra Leone USA was crowned, her name is Marie Mansaray. In April of this year I got another call from Fuambai, inviting me to join the Miss Sierra Leone USA delegation in a homecoming visit to introduce Marie Mansaray to Sierra Leone as part of Sierra Leone’s 50^th Independence Annivesary celebrations and to launch some local community initiatives. Her organization MSLUSA (Miss Sierra Leone USA) was trying to promote a corporate/community/diaspora collaboration with the diamond company Koidu Holdings that underwrote the trip.
Sierra Leone is celebrating or commemorating, depending on your perspective, its 50^th year of independence from Britain and throughout 2011 there are many events that have been scheduled. The theme of this homecoming visit was called "Heal Our Nation" which was quite appropriate considering what our country has been through over the years. This is definitely a time when all different factions and segments of our society need to come together to focus on our future, and the development of our nation.

April 19th 2011
I left the United States on April 17th and spent a day in Ghana. When I was in Ghana I spent the night at a friends house. His name is Kwame and he lived near the airport which was very convenient. Kwame was introduced to me by a mutual friend Irvine King, and while I was there I gave Kwame a copy of my Black Loyalist CD. There is a reason I mention this. Anyway, I left Ghana on the 19th and travelled on the same flight carrying Marie Mansaray, and when we arrived at Sierra Leone's Lungi airport we had a pleasant suprise. We were met by native bondo dancers who traveled all the way from Kono to welcome us. They gave us a lovely and enthusiastic welcome. We then squeezed into a local water taxi (which was a very adventurous trip) with a Chinese delegation and Mahen Bonetti, the director of the African Film Festival in New York. She was also in town to take part in the official 50th celebrations. The water taxi took us to Freetown.



Freddy Shabaka and Dr. Fuambai Ahmadu

 We stayed at one of the local hotels called Barmoi where we were well recieved by the staff. Our stay at the hotel was very interesting as we met a lot of fascinating people including hollywood actor Isaiah Washington formerly of Grey's Anatomy. Isaiah Washington had done DNA testing that showed that he was a Sierra Leonean and he was in Freetown to take part in the 50th celebrations and also to promote his new book called "A Man from Another Land".



Freddy Shabaka and Isaiah Washngton

April 20th
We spent the day resting and at some point I decided to get some swimming lessons at the hotel's pool (yes I can't swim...I had a traumatic experience when I was 11 and stayed away from the water). A young man who was also staying at the hotel saw me struggling and offered to give me some free lessons. I readily agreed and for the next hour I became his student. After our lesson I asked him what he was doing in Freetown as he had a British accent. He told me he was a film maker and his name was Adrian Cline-Bailey. He was a Sierra Leonean who left as a young child and this was his first time back. He was in town to film a documentary about Sierra Leone and the 50th celebrations. I told him that I made music and gave him a copy of my CD's. Later in the day he sought me out and told me that he really enjoyed my music and wanted to interview me that evening as he was leaving for London in a couple of days. We did the interview and he decided to text his father who lives in Europe. He told his father that he had met this musician in Freetown and was doing an interview. The next day he literally ran up to me to tell me that his father knew me from the Freetown music scene in the 1980's. I then found out that his father was the drummer for our band in college. Some friends and I had formed a band called "Fusion" at Fourah Bay College in Freetown and we had a drummer called Melody. My swimming teacher was Melody's son....this blew our minds. What a strange coincidence.



.

April 21st
We visited SLBC (Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation) where I gave them a copy of my "Heal Our Nation" video and Miss Sierra Leone discussed her homecoming and maternal health campaign called "Yeri we cry" which means "Hear our cry". We also paid an official visit to the Vice President of Sierra Leone and met with the 50th Anniversary Committee organizers. The day had been very busy and quite productive and we got back to the hotel late in the afternoon. When I arrived at the hotel I recieved a very interesting call from Ghana. It was from the King of Aburi, the Ghanian ambassador to Equatorial Guinea and the Vice President of Ghana. Apparently they were at the Kings palace jamming to my Black Loyalist CD (The CD I had given to Kwame) and they called me to tell me how much they loved my music. It was then that I found out that the King of Aburi and the Ghanian ambassador to Equatorial Guinea were Kwame's brothers and he had taken my Black Loyalist CD to the King after I left. This really made my day because thats the reason why I make music in the first place, so I can touch the souls of those who listen.

April 24th/25th
We went to a couple of fashion shows and pageants and we saw some very beautiful Sierra Leonean women. I have to say that the judges in one of the pageants really got it wrong. The young lady who represented Kono district was clearly the smartest and prettiest among them but she didn't win 1st, 2nd or even 3rd place. What a travesty!!! Nearly everyone ended up complaining and questioning the motives and judgement of the panel. This young lady was clearly the winner.

The Sa Lone beauty that should have won

                                                                       

 
April 26th
We went to the official state banquet where Miss Sierra Leone was to play the Sierra Leone national anthem on her cello. I was not scheduled to perform but I did accompany Miss Sierra Leone USA, Miss Kono USA and Dr Ahmadu to the event. When we arrived at the banquet, the MC for the event, Agibu Jalloh,  told me that he was going to put me on the spot. He is a Shabaka fan, and demanded that I perform that night. I ended up singing "Heal Our Nation" for the President of Sierra Leone, the First Lady, the Vice President of Sierra Leone and other distinguished guests including some heads of state and about 1,000 other guests. After the performance many people came up to me and expressed their appreciation for the song and its lyrics acknowledging that our people and our leaders needed to hear this message.

Marie Mansaray (Miss Sierra Leone USA) playing the cello at the state banquet

Freddy Shabaka singing Heal Our Nation at the state banquet



Freddy Shabaka singing at the state banquet





April 28th
We attended the Women of Excellence Awards at the Country lodge in Freetown. It was organized by a childhood friend of mine Isha Johanssen and it was quite a glitzy affair. Marie also played the cello at this event and was joined by another childhood friend of mine and an incredible jazz musician Gwyn Jay Allen as they sang the Sierra Leone national anthem. There were several distinguished guests at the event including the First lady of Sierra Leone, the Vice President of Sierra Leone and Hollywood Star Jeffrey Wright of Casino Royale and Source Code fame. He is now serving as Sierra Leone's "Peace by Piece" ambassador for the 50th Independence Anniversary celebrations.

Sierra Leone's First Lady entering the Women of Excellence Awards

Marie and Gwyn Jay Allen performing at the Women of Excellence Awards in Freetown

We had a lot of fun during our visit to Sierra Leone and when I got back I was asked to sing "Heal Our Nation" for the annual NOSLINA (National Organization of Sierra Leoneans in America) awards banquet. NOSLINA is the pre-eminent Sierra Leone organization in the United States. On May 28th I was also asked to sing "Heal Our Nation" at the official Sierra Leone embassy banquet at Martins Crosswinds in Greenbelt, Maryland where we were graced by the presence of NFL football star Madieu Williams and Hollywood star Idriss Elba, both of whom are Sierra Leoneans.

Freddy Shabaka singing at the Sierra Leone Embassy banquet for the 50th anniversary celebrations

My little "Heal Our Nation" tour ended a few weeks ago and now I'm ready to really get the show on the road. In the song I call on Sierra Leoneans in the diaspora to go back home. Many of us came to the west to better ourselves with the intention of going back home and for one reason or the other we got stuck. For some of us it is understandably not a practical proposition, but there are those of us who can make some adjustments in our lives and make the transition. In talking to people I do sense a strong desire to go back home and I also believe that there is a reverse exodus from the west that will continue to grow. I'm sure it will continue over the next decade and beyond. Sierra Leone needs us, Africa needs us.  Our country needs all the resources we can bring to bear so we can make it the place that we want it to be. But first we have to “get off this plantation”, “decontaminate our minds" and “we have to change the way we live and care for one another”.  I believe that the main problem we face as Sierra Leoneans is the state of our collective minds. We really have issues. However we do need optimism and have to believe that things will be alright if we are going to change the state of our nation; children are suffering, people are dying, teachers can't teach if they can't get paid and it goes on and on and on. We have our share of problems but one thing that cannot be taken from us is our power to change our own reality. This is not blind optimism but an enduring faith in the human spirit and our ability to change our actions by changing our thoughts. This is where we must start. I have faith in Salone people.

In my next blog posting we'll look at a song called "The Truth" from my album "A Chapter of Roots". Until then have a wonderful time.
 

The Black Loyalists

 

As we celebrate American Independence on the 4^th of July I think it fitting to write about the founding of America and the founding of Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone, especially given that this year marks the latter's 50th Independence Anniversary from British colonial rule. The relationship between these two events and how much they are intertwined gets lost on us as we let an important slice of history fall between the cracks. The founding of Freetown came out of the seeds of the American Revolution when then Governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, issued a proclamation that promised blacks their freedom if they crossed the lines and fought for the British against the patriots led by George Washington.
At the time, the American colonies were resisting British imperial rule and were determined to fight for their liberty. This, of course, had its contradictions as these Americans had enslaved Africans who were in no stretch of the imagination considered liberated. Even though Thomas Jefferson and many of the founding fathers appeared to abhor slavery, they were slave owners themselves and resisted freeing their slaves. Although the founding fathers appeared torn with this contradiction of slavery, their slaves were fully aware of what liberation meant. So, following Lord Dunmore's proclamation, thousands of slaves rushed to pick up arms. Lord Dunmore was no abolitionist; this was a tactical move on his part considering that the British did not have enough troops. The patriots were terrified of the prospect of a slave rebellion, which would have been a military disaster on their part. They reciprocated by allowing blacks “under certain conditions” to fight on their side. Thus, the main question for the slaves was, “should I fight for the Americans or should I fight for the British”. The slaves that fought for the British were called the Black Loyalists, some of whom later became the founders of Freetown.

It is interesting to note that among the slaves who went to Freetown was Harry Washington, who was owned by George Washington and was around 60 years old when he arrived in 1792. Another Black Loyalist was a slave called Ralph Henry who ran away from Patrick Henry in 1776. You may remember Patrick Henry from his famous statement, “Give me liberty or give me death”.  Another Black Loyalist was David George who was one of the founders of the first Black Baptist church in America. There were many others including a blind preacher called Moses Wilkinson who was known as “Daddy Moses” and Boston King who was a carpenter and ship builder.  However, my focus today is on the Black Loyalist leader, Thomas Peters.

Thomas Peters

Thomas Peters was captured in Nigeria in 1760 and brought to North Carolina as a slave. He was a very rebellious slave and refused to accept his predicament. He was sold several times and then one day he heard the proclamation of freedom made by the British. He crossed enemy lines and became a sergeant in the black British regiment called the Black Pioneers. As we all know the British lost in 1783 and these Loyalists which included both blacks, whites and Indians, were evacuated to Canada to a place called Nova Scotia. What I find interesting is that in the history that we are taught in Sierra Leone, the founding of Freetown starts in Nova Scotia.  Most Sierra Leoneans fail to ask where Nova Scotia is located and how did these blacks get to Nova Scotia? Indeed, they were refugees from the American Revolutionary war. The relationship betwen Sierra Leone and Nova Scotia cannot be understated even though there has been little contact between both communities. I was in touch with the development manager at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Nova Scotia, John Hennigar-Shuh, and he played the Black Loyalist video at the official reception for the 225th anniversary of the Black Loyalists arriving in Nova Scotia. He said that the people loved it and it helped to "globalize our celebrations". It is incumbent upon us as Sierra Leoneans to further explore our historical ties.
When the Black Loyalists arrived in Nova Scotia they became extremely disillusioned as the promises made by the British went unfulfilled. The blacks had been promised land and basic sustenance but ended up living in poverty and in some cases as indentured servants while the white loyalists received the large portions of land and food. Some blacks were actually re-enslaved as the whites refused to treat them with any respect or dignity. The Black Loyalists refused to accept there condition as they had shed blood and fought valiantly for the British in return for their freedom and they were unwilling to accept anything less than what was due them. They vigorously protested their situation and chose Thomas Peters as their leader. Below is a link to the actual petition written by Thomas Peters.


http://www.royalprovincial.com/military/black/blkpet1.htm
(The Online Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies)


In 1790 Peters was sent on  a mission to take the petition to London and demand that the British honor their promise. Peters traveled to London to deliver this message at an enormous risk to himself as the slave trade was in full force during this time and he could have easily been captured and sold back into slavery. When he got to London he was able to find his former commander General Henry Clinton who used to be one of the leaders of the British forces in North America. General Clinton felt obligated to introduce Thomas Peters to the leading abolitionists of the day. During this period, as the slave trade was wreaking havoc on the African continent, the abolition movement in England was gathering steam with people like Granville Sharp, William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson and others. These abolitionists had thought of a scheme to create a settlement in Africa where blacks and whites could live together in equality. It was their sense of what a “democratic” nation should look like. A botanist by the name of Henry Smeathman who was doing research on ants in Sierra Leone between 1771 and 1774 suggested to the abolitionists that the country would be a perfect place for their new settlement. Smeathman at the time lived on Banana Islands which was governed by the Caulker family.

Granville Sharp

As the American Revolutionary War was raging on, many white loyalists left America with their slaves to go to England. Many of these slaves were able to run away when they got to England and became known as “the black poor” because they were living on the streets; destitute and homeless. This was so because in 1772 Chief Justice Mansfield had ruled that it was illegal under British law for a slave master to forcibly remove his slave from England and sell them into slavery. This decision came down after Granville Sharp took up the case of a runaway slave called James Somerset. The abolitionists seized upon Smeathmans idea and in 1787 Granville Sharp and the others sent the first set of “black poor” to Sierra Leone and called the place Granville town. This perilous journey included a little over 300 blacks and 100 whites and they called their new home the “Province of Freedom”. These settlers included a runaway slave from Philadelphia called Richard Weaver who became their governor and chief magistrate.

The mission was unsuccessful and Granville Sharp's dream failed. There was chaos in Granville Town; the settlers faced extraordinary hardship as they tried to build huts in the jungle with wild animals roaming about and preying on them. The rains were treacherous and disease spread quickly. The settlers were dying daily and to compound their problems there was a conflict with the local Temne chief, King Tom, who is reputed to have sold two of the settlers back into slavery. His successor, King Jimmy, burned down Granville Town after some British sailors burned down one of his towns. As the conflict raged on there were also stories of some of the settlers escaping the chaos of Granville Town and going to work at the slave depots on Bance island.  It is important to note that even though King Tom and King Jimmy wreaked havoc on the new settlement and were actively engaged in the slave trade, King Naimbana, their leader, was opposed to the slave trade but conceded that he didn’t have the power to stop it. In fact one of the settlers named Elliot Griffiths became the interpreter for King Naimbana and married his daughter. Naimbana was a savvy leader and realized that "western" education was crucial to enable them to interact effectively with Europeans because of their predominant influence in trade.  He sent two of his sons to Europe to study.

King Naimbana

Granville Town had become a failure and Granville Sharp was looking for new blood when he met with Thomas Peters.  When Peters told Sharp that he wanted to take his people in Nova Scotia to Africa it worked perfectly into the abolitionist's plan. Thomas Peters left London in 1791 with John Clarkson who was the younger brother of Thomas Clarkson and also a Navy Captain. The abolitionists chose John Clarkson to lead the mission because he was needed for logistical purposes as it was a tremendous feat to organize these ships and the journey. They also concluded that the young Clarkson was also needed because he was white, and the  Nova Scotian officials would not have looked kindly on a black man leading such a mission. This became evident when Peters and Clarkson arrived in Nova Scotia and started rallying support for their trip to Sierra Leone. The response from the blacks was tremendous as many of them fantasized about going back home. They saw this in biblical terms and talked about “going back home to Zion the promised land”. The churches were packed and blacks traveled for miles to hear Clarkson, Peters and the preachers like David George and Daddy Moses talk about going home and being free. The Governor of Nova Scotia quickly realized that if he didn’t undermine this trip nearly all of the blacks would leave and this would have devastated the economy so he did everything he could to sabotage the journey. However, on the 15^th of January 1792, Thomas Peters and John Clarkson led 1,196 blacks in a flotilla of 16 ships, to found a new settlement, which they called Freetown and which is now the capital of Sierra Leone.

John Clarkson

When they arrived in Freetown there was an instant leadership struggle between Peters and Clarkson as both of them saw themselves as the leader. This struggle often became intense and Clarkson challenged Peters to a duel under the cotton tree in the middle of Freetown as he felt extremely threatened by Peters assertion of leadership. Unfortunately, Peters died within six months of their arrival and Clarkson was prevailed. Our history books tend to focus more on Clarkson's leadership and belittle the role played by Thomas Peters who was the one appointed by the blacks in Nova Scotia to represent them in England. I personally feel that we should not forget the legacy of people like Thomas Peters who went through an ordeal we could only imagine, to achieve their dream. He and the other Black Loyalists embody the true resilience of the African spirit which has made us hopeful and fueled our survival even when during moments in our history that we could see no light at the end of the tunnel.

On a personal note, I stumbled upon the story of Thomas Peters when searching for my slave ancestor Thomas Bright, who is my maternal grandmother's (Mama Amy) grandfather and who came to Sierra Leone as a preacher. After I wrote the song I went to a good friend of mine Adrian "Netty" Fraser who does graphic design work for me and told him about my exciting discovery. He then told me that he was a descendant of Thomas Peters. His now late mother put together a family tree which he gave me. As I was looking at the family tree I noticed a common relative. My mother had told me that Thomas Bright married a Mrs Peters whose husband had died. I later figured out that my ancestor Thomas Bright appears to have married the widow of Thomas Peters. It is amazing how the spirit of our ancestors lives on through us.

There are several books that tell the Black Loyalist story including the most recent one by an associate professor of history at Harvard University, Maya Jasanoff. Her book, "Liberty's Exiles, American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World", was published by Knopf (a division of Random House) and released this year (2011). The book's focus is more on the White Loyalists but she does tell the story of the Black Loyalists quite well and I'm proud to have made my little contribution to her effort.



There have been other books like "Rough Crossings" by reknowed British Historian, Simon Schama, who teaches at Columbia University. It was Schama who said that the reason Thomas Peters is not in the pantheon of African American greats like Frederick Douglas is that he fought on "the wrong side" during the revolutionary war. Another fascinating book is by an Australian Professor, Cassandra Pybus, called "Epic Journeys of Freedom" and she goes into detail about the stories of "runaway slaves" of the American Revolution. These books were all published within the past few years so their appears to be a resurging interest in this "untold story" of the American Revolution. There are other books that have been published including "From Slavery to Freetown: Black Loyalists after the American Revolution by Mary Louise Clifford, John Peterson's "Province of Freedom, A History of Sierra Leone", James Walker's "The Black Loyalists, The Search for a Promised Land in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone", and many others. There is even a work of fiction by Canadian writer Lawrence Hill called "Someone Knows My Name" that tells this story. I will try to give a complete listing of books and websites about the Black Loyalist story and I'm sure I'll get help from readers. It is important that we keep these stories alive as we carry the blood of these people in our veins. As part of Sierra Leone's 50th anniversary celebrations in December 2011, we have embarked on what we call "The New Black Loyalist Project", which will bring together Sierra Leoneans,  Sierra Leonean descendants, and friends of Sierra Leone who live in the Diaspora, for three days of festivities in Freetown. There will be several events that will both entertain and educate as we celebrate the Black Loyalist story and other aspects of Sierra Leone history and culture. The festivities will also include music concerts that will also feature me and my band. I'll keep you posted as things develop.

This is my first blog posting and over the next few months I will be taking one of my songs and posting a blog about the song, its lyrics and any behind the scene stories or issues surrounding the song. I hope you enjoy my postings and my music. The CD is $12 and you can purchase an individual song for just $0.99. Click on my music store below, register with cdbaby, and enjoy the music. Please stick around  and join me for this ride into my world of edutainment.



　
　Shabaka Sounds website   http://www.shabakasounds.com/