About this project
Sorie Kondi is a virtuosic blind folk musician from the small West African country of Sierra Leone. He sings and plays the Sierra Leonean version of a thumb piano called the Kondi. This tool is so close to him that he has take it as his last name.
His daily busking on the streets of Freetown, has made him familiar to many residents in Sierra Leone's capital city. But Sorie Kondi's popularity has not been able to bring him out of the grinding poverty that many of the country's citizens experience. He currently lives in a one room shack in the notorious Destruction Bay slum. In 2010, his daily struggle for survival, the reality of poverty, and the struggle to raise school fees for his children was chronicled in a short BBC documentary.
Sorie Kondi has recently been invited to the 2012 South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas. This opportunity has the potential to initiate a life changing international music career for the humble yet talented musician. One can imagine that the cost involved for him to attend a conference in the U.S. is extremely prohibitive. That's why we're asking for your help to raise the funds to get Sorie Kondi to South by Southwest. We feel that the exposure he would gain at such an event will open the door for further opportunities in the U.S. and Europe, and facilitate collaborations with artists based in these locations.
We're trying to raise the amount of $4000 to help cover plane tickets, Visa fees, and internal travel costs for Sorie Kondi, his caretaker, and an accompanying musician. With your help, we will be able to expose the amazing talents of Sorie Kondi to the world!
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90
Backers
$3,562
pledged of $2,750 goal
0
seconds to go
Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on February 2.
Pledge $10 or more Pledge $10 or more
An inclusion on our list thank you list to contributors on Sorie Kondi's website.
Pledge $15 or more Pledge $15 or more
An mp3 download of Sorie Kondi's latest album Thogolobea, currently only available in Sierra Leone + above.
Pledge $25 or more Pledge $25 or more
A CD copy of Sorie Kondi's latest album Thogolobea, currently only available in Sierra Leone + above.
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A signed CD copy of Sorie Kondi's latest album Thogolobea, currently only available in Sierra Leone plus a ticket to a Sorie Kondi show of your choice + above.
Pledge $100 or more Pledge $100 or more
An exclusive DVD of Sorie Kondi music videos, performances, and documentaries + above.
Pledge $170 or more Pledge $170 or more
Unique set of fifty (50) 4x6" prints of never-before-seen photos of Sorie Kondi. Only one set available
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A set of country clothes as worn by Sorie Kondi in the Thogolobea video.
Pledge $300 or more Pledge $300 or more
A Kondi (Sierra Leonean thumb piano) handmade by Sorie Kondi.
Pledge $1,000 or more Pledge $1,000 or more
A performance at your venue of choice in the United States by Sorie Kondi + above.
Pledge $5,000 or more Pledge $5,000 or more
All of the above, plus executive produce a song by Sorie Kondi (a dedication or topic of your choice).
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Sorie Kondi was born in the village of Mangiloko, near the city of Makeni in Sierra Leone, West Africa around the year 1968. His actual birthdate is not certain because there is no official record of his birth. He never went to school but began to play the Kondi, a traditional instrument of Sierra Leone as a teenager. It was apparent early on that he had a special talent for music, and by 1984 he started earning some small money by playing at ceremonies and travelling to nearby villages.
Being born blind in such a poor country and never receiving any formal education would seem like enough hardship by itself. But then his life was uprooted in 1996 when civil war forced him to leave his home and seek refuge in Freetown. Despite the ongoing war, he began recording his first album there in 1998, and finished it after 4 months. But on January 6, 1999, the rebels staged a brutal assault on Freetown called Operation No Living Thing. Almost all the city’s residents fled to the bush. Sorie was abandoned, forced to hide inside his house for 5 days while much of the city was looted and burned down. When the dust settled, the master tapes had been lost and his career plans derailed. He decided to remain in the capital city, in a neighborhood called Fourah Bay, renting a one-room shack perched on a dangerously steep hill (dangerous, that is, even for a sighted person).
Having lost his chance to commercially release a cassette, Sorie Kondi made a name for himself (literally, he adopted the name of his instrument as his surname) as a street musician. Unfortunately, this profession doesn’t bring in much money in a country where almost everybody is living in poverty.
Sorie Kondi is a musical genius and a cultural treasure, able to sing in four different languages (Loko, his mother tongue, Temne, Krio, and English). He is also an innovator; he taught himself how to play a little-known traditional instrument at the age of 15, later electrified it, and developed a unique style of playing it.
