Have you ever been drunk on the palm wine music of Seydu? He is a musician from Sierra Leone whose entire life is dedicated to representing the Fulah culture. He was tutored by his grandfather, who was also a great performing artist.
Seydu (1964) has an extraordinary story to tell. At the age of twelve he managed to stow away in a ship and he eventually ended up in Spain where he lived for more than thirty years. An important period in his life in which he reached the deepest and the highest point. This year he came back home, to do -as he says- what he is destined to do.
Seydu carries the Fulah traditions and at the same time he had to become aware of other cultures in the world. It made him what he has become today. He opened up a school for arts & culture, Diamond Child. It is a place where young people from the street learn all kinds of skills and have a chance to get reconnected with their cultural heritage.
Seydu explains why: 'Sierra Leone is a very poor nation that has everything and it's a very rich nation that is crying with tears of diamonds. The only hope is the coming generation, the children of Sierra Leone. Those are the real diamonds.'
So Seydu doesn't hesitate to call on those who are taking the guts of the country. 'Telling the rich to give back is saying: don't cut down the tree, because they are your riches', he says. 'You have to plant rice at the same time or build a water system so that people can eat. Do your mining thing, but don't create empty holes into which someone can fall.'
A lot more was said during that long interview with Seydu, on a quite Sunday in Freetown, earlier this year. He was ready to tell why he was away for such a long time and what he has been through while living abroad. Listen here to his story and his beautiful music.
The Listening Box was a successful audio experiment, created by Christina Carvalho and me in Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Embassy in Amsterdam. It was a good opportunity to share my work and our love for radio face-to-face with an audience. Instead of going to a film, they came to listen to the music and life story of the artist Seydu from Sierra Leone. People found it touching, artistic and original. For us, it was an attempt to bring back the tranquility of the mind in today's media culture of snapshots and soundbites. Listen hear to the interview (in Dutch) at Amsterdam FM about our event.
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