Ambassador Perry's Speeches

Devin Phillips and the New Orleans Straight Ahead Concert

Remarks for Ambassador June Carter Perry
Embassy Atrium
December 5, 2007 at 6:30 PM

Honorable Ministers,
Ladies and Gentlemen, good evening.

I am very pleased to welcome you here to the Embassy tonight for our Rhythm Road program.  Rhythm Road is an American cultural exchange program that is the result of a partnership between Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.  This season, 6 jazz quartets and 4 urban music ensembles are touring regions including Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and of course Africa. The group you will hear tonight was among the six selected out of over 400 applicants, so we really are about to hear the best of the best of American music. 

An important part of African-American history, Jazz is referred to by many as the only true American Art form, so it is fitting that we come together to share this program at the American Embassy.  Beginning Sunday, we will be able to welcome another piece of African-American History, when the Amistad ship reaches Freetown, so I encourage you all to take the time to go to the Government Wharf and tour the ship.

The group we will hear tonight, Devin Phillips and the New Orleans Straight Ahead, hails originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, but relocated to Portland, Oregon following Hurricane Katrina.  Their repertoire includes a cross-section of jazz classics as well as new material.  The young men in the group have all been playing jazz for many years, and they are excited to be on their first African tour.

During their stay in Sierra Leone, the group has taught over 100 Sierra Leonean music students about jazz, and has given two concerts that were free and open to the public.  At the performance in Bo, I understand they had some members of the audience dancing in the aisles. 

We have a very special addition to our program tonight as well.  As a result of a friendship formed during this tour, the Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars are here and will perform with Devin Phillips and the New Orleans Straight Ahead.

The Refugee All Stars were among the thousands of Sierra Leoneans who fled to Guinea during the war and they began making music for their fellow refugees and to express themselves in the suffocating environment of the refugee camps.  It was in the refugee camp that American documentary filmmakers met the group.  Back in Freetown after the war, the group recorded their album, and now the Refugee All Stars tour the world spreading their message of peace and love with their fusion of traditional West African music, roots reggae and rhythmic traditional folk.

I am confident that tonight’s program will be exciting for all of us, so without further ado, I’m happy to introduce the Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars and Devin Phillips and the New Orleans Straight Ahead.