In the Garden of Eden
"I did a lot of war paintings during the war years, but I"m not doing those paintings again. Artists reflect what is around them. I"m doing street scenes, beautiful faces, people are smiling." Leslie Lumeh has been a professional Liberian artist since 1993, when the country was still deep in civil crisis. Though the fighting ended in 2003, not everyone in his profession has moved on. "Some artists are still in that state... you cannot blame them. They have not moved across … [Read more...]
On Fine Art Soundbooth
Artistic blacksmith Manfred Zbrzezny and woodcarver Anthony Sartuh discuss what it means to be an "artist", how to promote art in Liberia, artists" responsibility to society, their favorite artistic pieces, and the sacrifices casino artists must make. For more information on "arms to art" please visit Manfred"s website. … [Read more...]
Project Websites Created
Nasseman.com - Rabbie Nassrallah Rabbie Nassrallah, aka Nasseman, hails from Liberia on the West African coast. Born in 1979 to a Lebanese father and Liberian mother, Rabbie grew up in Liberia’s bustling capital, Monrovia. As a young man, he witnessed the devastation of Liberia’s 1989 – 2003 civil war, a period which helped to shape his strong sense of social justice. Rabbie began performing when he was eleven, and rose to prominence in 2005 with the hit “Till We Meet Again”, written … [Read more...]
TakunJ The Struggle to Make it
He thought he was a quiet and unpopular guy — until one day he attended the same show as the president. When Madame President entered the hall the crowd went wild and started screaming. But when he entered, there was even more noise. Click to view galleryHe is Takun-J, Liberia's leading hip-co artist. Hip-co ("co" as in colloquial), is a style of music that is unique to Liberia, because it is the way that people freely speak and relate to one another. It sounds like a mix of rap … [Read more...]
On Music Soundbooth
For more information on on best online casino Rabbie and TakunJ please visit TakunJ.com and Nasseman.com. … [Read more...]
Laughing In Liberia – Quincy T
Quincy Terence Juleh, is a Liberian median widely known as Quincy ‘T’ who believes that his art is in his nature. According to Mr. Juleh, his joke telling gained the attention of the Liberian people through the nation first privately own radio station Radio Monrovia during the crisis in the country. At the time of the war in Liberia, Quincy ‘T’ believed that his comedy show was a method that he used casino to keep people in-door and relieve them of stress. Chuckie Taylor, the fearful son of … [Read more...]
Liberian Golden Image Awards
Last Tuesday Rabbie and Ja-Rock, our guides to all things cultural, took us along as they performed at the nomination ceremony for Liberia’s first annual Golden Image Awards. The awards are designed to showcase those who have contributed to the post-conflict growth of peace and arts. Accompanying the nomination ceremony was a small art fair, which, aside from our friends’ performance of course, was one of the highlights of the day. It is difficult on a visit to Monrovia to find … [Read more...]
Forging peace
[swfobj src="http://togetherliberia.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/manfred-zbrzezny-by-peter-toby-together-liberia/soundslider.swf" width="960" height="670"]Manfred Zbrzenzy's work landed in the office of the vice president after one of Manfred's American customers bought about 20 candle stands and shared some with Boakai. The 50-year-old blacksmith was overwhelmed with joy when he heard the news. The VP has handed the candle stands out to visitors as a souvenir. Story, images and audio by Peter … [Read more...]
Takun J – Hip-Co in Liberia
Takun J is Liberia’s premier Hip-Co artist. In terms of musical genre, Hip-Co (Co as in short for colloquial) is uniquely Liberian. In short, it’s music of the vernacular, the way people speak and relate to each other. Hip-Co evolved in the 1980s and has always been socially & politically bent. In the ‘90s it continued to develop through the civil wars, and today stands as a definitive mark of Liberian culture. Takun J has climbed his way to the top of the scene and is widely know both here … [Read more...]
You can “click,” or make it “explode”
Liberia could be the only country with a national handshake. The greeting actually can be a whole series of moves after the shakers lock hands, or it can be a simple, vanilla shake, as long as it ends with the distinctive “click,” where the shaking parties grasp the tips of each other’s middle fingers and snap. The best shakers can produce an arresting click, audible across a room. The worst? Silence. A complete misfire. Epic failure. This befalls many rookies visiting the country for … [Read more...]
“Gaffa girl” makes mark in rap
Having spent the last two days working on the set of a real, live reggae video, I can now add “gaffa” to my CV. I am someone with few, if any, practical visual media skills. So how did I end up on the production team for what might be the most polished music video to ever come out of Monrovia? The story starts, as the best ones always do, in the hotel bar. Exhausted after a day of media training in the sticky Liberian summer, I was trudging through the bar to the dining room when Sayeed, … [Read more...]
Suppression Inna We Nation, It Makes the Poor People Weep
Corruption bringing poverty And poverty putting my sisters on the street... They abuse us many days And misuse us so many ways - Nasseman, 'Bonkey' We were first introduced to Rabbie Nassrallah, aka Nasseman, last Wednesday night, by Sayeed, the manager of our guesthouse. We didn't realize at the time that we were meeting Liberia's premier reggae star, nor just how quickly he would become a significant part of our project. Rabbie has been living in Monrovia his entire life, … [Read more...]
Education in Cestos, Rivercess county
It was all about education. As media trainers, we improved the storytelling skills of our journalism students. As storytellers, our students focused on education issues in one of the poorest counties in Liberia. As foreigners, we were schooled in both the best and worst parts of traveling in Liberia. Smiles, beaches and cool breezes welcomed us to Cestos. Most locals took us in with open arms, showing us the warm hospitality of a rural community in Liberia. Unfortunately, a robber and some … [Read more...]
Church welcomes our team
We arrived at the church an hour late; one of our two taxis had broken down. Joseph, a taxi driver and presiding elder in the church, was dressed to the nines in an orange blazer and navy tie. He had told the congregation that he was bringing foreign guests, and was obviously anxious to deliver on his promise. The church was in the middle of a very poor neighborhood. Because of the rain, there were deep, muddy puddles in the road that our low-slung taxi struggled to get through. People along … [Read more...]
Day 1 of Training In Liberia
The training sessions started today. At the end of the class, we gathered for a photo. … [Read more...]
