Showing Archived Posts

Sierra Leone’s Sorie Kondi comes to D.C.

Posted October 11th, 2012 at 6:19 pm (UTC-4)
4 comments

On Thursday, October 4th, vocalist and music innovator Sorie Koroma, a.k.a. Sorie Kondi, gave his debut US performance in Washington DC. Kondi, who has been blind since birth, gave an exciting performance of what his sideman and percussion player, Ibrahama, described as “cultural music.”  I spoke with them before the show and learned that their […]

Posted in Sierra Leone

S.E. Rogie, the VOA outtakes

Posted June 29th, 2010 at 8:46 pm (UTC-4)
1 comment

I am one of those suckers who love massive box sets stuffed full of twelve versions of the same song, of endless alternate takes, and mumbled studio chatter. I am particularly fond of false starts, missed cues, flubbed notes and botched recordings. Listening to these by-products of the recording process makes it possible to isolate […]

Posted in Sierra Leone

Back in Business!

Posted May 12th, 2008 at 3:56 pm (UTC-4)
4 comments

Well, almost. I have just returned from a month out of the office. I am currently finishing up the research for several forthcoming posts. In the days to come you should be able to enjoy some rare 45s from Somalia, some great tapes from Radio Mali, and hopefully, a second installment of Mauritanian music-I was […]

Posted in Sierra Leone

The Heartbeats of Sierra Leone

Posted March 31st, 2008 at 11:45 pm (UTC-4)
31 comments

Ever since our weekly radio program ‘Music Time in Africa’ first hit the airwaves, back in 1965, Geraldo Pino and the Heartbeats of Sierra Leone have been part of the show: for the last 43 years our opening and closing theme has been a guitar loop taken from the Hearbeats song ‘Zamsi’. Over the course […]

Posted in Sierra Leone

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About

Heather Maxwell produces and hosts the award-winning radio program “Music Time in Africa” and is the African Music Editor for the Voice of America. Heather is an ethnomusicologist with Doctorate and Master’s degrees from Indiana University specializing in African Music. She is also an accomplished jazz and Afrojazz/Afrosoul vocalist and has been working, researching, and performing in Africa and the U.S. since 1987.

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