Was Sierra Leone well represented at the Africa Day Benefit Concert?

Freetown | 26th May 2020 | Vertex Media

On the 25th May 2020, MTV Base Africa and YouTube hosted a virtual music concert in celebrating the Africa Day. The concert brought together couple of selected musicians from across the continent, and the event was broadcast live on MTV Base Africa and on YouTube. The Host of the concert was the Hollywood actor, artist and MC – Idris Elba.

In Sierra Leone, news about the show was received with mixed feelings. It all started when the organisers released a list of performers with NO Sierra Leonean artistes featured on the show. More appalling was because the Chief Host of the show is a Sierra Leonean citizen, a renowned celebrity and brand ambassador for Sierra Leone, Idris Elba. Many Sierra Leoneans were disappointed that the organisers and Idris couldn’t include any artist from Sierra Leone to perform.

Few hours to the show on Monday, a confirmation of Sierra Leone’s participation through Drizilik was announced on social media, after weeks of bashing at the organisers and the Host – Idris Elba. Social media went abuzz as music fans from Sierra Leone rejoiced when we were finally given a space to perform.

More surprising was the performance of Shadow Boxxer who was never announced to perform but eventually did so. Few hours later, many fans and bloggers started registering their disappointments on how everything was ‘stage managed’. Many argue that there are better representatives if only the organisers had consulted the fans or did their research.

Drizilik’s performance of ‘TELL’ was well commended by many but not so much on Shadow Boxxer’s performance of ‘PROMISE’ featuring Silvastone. Many believed Shadow’s performance was a wasted opportunity for Sierra Leone. But how were they selected to perform?

After digging deep, many realized that their appearances was solely influenced by Idris Elba, NOT the organisers. There is cordial relationship between Idris Elba and Shadow Boxxer, who many say are cousins. And Idris is an admirer of Shadow’s arts. He has tweeted about Shadow several times, but not so for any other Sierra Leonean artiste. Few years back when Nigerian singer D’Banj featured Idris Elba on a track titled ‘CONFIDENTIAL’, Idris had to request that D’Banj must include Shadow Boxxer on the song, which was the case. And recently, Idris featured Shadow in a track called ‘GIRL WITH THE BANG’. It was apparently clear that his relationship with Idris worked well for him as seen inthe ‘Africa Day Benefit Concert.’

A close confidant disclosed that after the pressure on Idris Elba for a Sierra Leonean representation, Idris had to recommend Shadow Boxxer to the organisers, and Shadow in turn advocated for Drizilik to be included to perform. Of course Shadow Boxxer loves Drizilik and always cheer him up. That was the reason he and Drizilik were included. But it was absolutely not the idea of the organisers who initially left us out. What happened was seen by many as what is called in Krio as ‘Sababu’ (favouritism).
MTV Base Africa is being run by Nigerians. They air 80% of Nigerian music, and Ghanaian and South African music sharing the remaining. So this is not the first time they’re leaving us out on their platforms, they couldn’t even nominate us in their awards. The concert was a dominance of Nigerian and Ghanaian performances.

However, many were looking forward to seeing the likes of Kao Denero (who already has a trending album in Africa), Star Zee, etc, who would have pulled more impacts for the country. Many would have also love seeing Morris performing ‘DENGE N POSE’ – the hottest Sierra Leonean song in 2020, but he was not on Idris and Boxxer’s list. They are already on the spotlight to project Salone music to the world. From the social media reactions, most of the praises were directed to Drizilik for his brilliant performance, but Shadow’s space was considered a wasted opportunity for Sierra Leone.

Had the organisers chose for themselves without any outside or internal influence, they would have probably chose something different from what we saw on Monday. Again, there has always been a bitter rivalry between Shadow and Kao Denero in the past in the rap scene, and probably if Shadow was asked to select, I believe he wouldn’t give Kao that opportunity. Therefore, Kao shouldn’t be trolled for being left out, many top African stars were also not included.

In a nutshell, it was great that Sierra Leone shared the platform with other African countries. But what will be the impacts or returns onwards, will MTV Base Africa start playing Sierra Leonean videos, especially those of Drizilik and Shadow Boxxer? Or will they start nominating us in their Awards? We are waiting to see!

Another important question, has Idris Elba acted as a patriot or he was forced to act so in at the concert last night?