Poda-Poda's Creative Stops II

The second quarter of the year has come and gone, and we are half way through 2021 already. This past quarter, there were some really cool creative events both both online and offline, and here’s a wrap up of some of them:

Salone at 60: There were many celebrations and events this year to mark Sierra Leone’s 60th independence anniversary. Among them were the unveiling of the “I Love Salone “ art installation by Madengn Association, and another Jaylai Gomei festival with John Akar Foundation.

3rd Culture Kid Productions, owned by Sierra Leonean creative Adenike Hamilton, hosted a Made In Salone festival, which featured good old gumbe music, Dr Olo’s milo band, fresh palmwine and the most peppery pepper soup we’ve had in a long time. It was a really great vibe to usher in our independence day!

Poda-Poda Stories also interviewed legendary playwright Charlie Haffner, about his creative journey and his message to Sierra Leoneans for our 60th independence anniversary.

The Young Sierra Leonean brought Salone Week in honor of Sierra Leone’s 60th independence anniversary, and they had so many goodies! One of them was a virtual event about the Krio Language, which you can watch on their IGTV.

We have a new favorite hangout spot, and its at one of our favorite places in Sierra Leone-Barla at Lumley Beach! Owned by Sierra Leonean writer Ibe Kabba, Barla is more than a beach bar. With it’s mini library and excellent sea view, its’s fast becoming a creative hub as well. In May, they started a poetry slam called Nu Griots, hosted by Sierra Leonean folklore singer, Fantacee Kamara AKA Fantacee Wizz, and another open mic night in June. We can’t wait to see more Nu Griots events at Barla!

Kip Kompin Cinema Series: More Kip Kompin cinema series, this time brought to you by Poda-Poda Stories and Young Salone. This Kip Kompin held in June was focused on Sierra Leone Women in film, and featured a social justice segment with a film produced by Purposeful called Blood Rite. Other films shown were Bureh Beach by Filmmaker Seun Babalola, and a beautiful love story Okada Love, produced by Fantacee Wizz. Our plan with Young Salone is to bring Kip Kompin live in Freetown in December, we’re excited!

The Gilded Ones Homecoming: Remember when we had the IG live chat with Namina Forna in February? Well the Gilded Ones came home for real this time! Namina Forna visited Sierra Leone in June and had two events which we attended. The first was hosted at her home in Freetown, and it was amazing to chat with her about the book and readers had a lot of really great questions for the author. The second event was hosted by Yasmine Ibrahim of Mina Bilkis, and it was an intimate chat between Namina Forna and readers . She offered a lot of good nuggets about writing , how to navigate the world of publishing and did a book signing as well .

Poda-Poda's Creative Stops: Arts, Culture & Photography

Freetown is slowly becoming a creative arts hub, and I love it! Life is getting back to normal as Sierra Leone has managed to limit the spread of COVID-19.For the first quarter of 2021, several creative events took place both virtually and offline, and of course the Poda-Poda was there.

Here’s a roundup of what you missed, and how to catch up:

1.       The Gilded Ones-Homecoming, with Namina Forna: First up was a live conversation with New York Times bestselling author, Namina Forna ! As part of the book tour of The Gilded Ones, Poda-Poda Stories organized a Homecoming event for the Sierra Leone community to chat with Namina about her book and her creative journey, on Instagram Live.

It was so much fun; Namina talked to us about the journey to writing her book, embracing the hard but beautiful road of creativity and the important themes in the book. If you missed it, it’s still here on our Instagram page-catch up on the laughs, technical difficulties, and any nuggets from the book you might have missed out.

2.   Yasmix: Next was a photography exhibition and mixer event by the incredible travel blogger and photographer, Yasmin Metz -Johnson of Yasmin Tells . Highlighting different parts of Sierra Leone, the photography exhibition featured pieces like” Don’t Hurt Yourself”, “ Beach Day on a WeekDay” and “Representation Matters”.

Photos 1-3 Courtesy of Yasmix( Instagram: yasmix_freetown)

Poda-Poda was proud to sponsor and purchase a piece “ Don’t Hurt Yourself”, that highlights the hustle and bustle of Lumley Circle. This is the first Yasmix event for this year, so stay tuned for more events by following the page on Instagram .

3. Vagina Monologues: Presented by Sierra Leonean feminist organization Femme Collective on International Women’s Day this year, V monologues featured epic performances, sex education snippets, and powerful spoken word poetry, including A Bin Smɔl, a poda-poda poem.

Photos Courtesy of Femme Collective ( Facebook: FemmeCollectiveSL)

It was a great evening, where performers talked about sexuality, pleasure, abuse and sexual liberation for Sierra Leonean women.

4.  Kip Kompin Cinema Series : Our cousins over at Young Salone organised virtual film screening called Kip Kompin Cinema .

The event highlighted short films shot in Sierra Leone by Sierra Leoneans, and it was amazing to see the incredible talent by Sierra Leonean cinematographers. We hope to see another Kip Kompin series soon.

5.    Jaylay Gomei: A storytelling and poetry festival featured stellar performances from Alim Kamara and N.Doe. The highlight of the night was the poetry battle from emerging Sierra Leone poets and it was definitely an unforgettable experience.

Photos Courtesy of Jaylay Gomei (Instagram: jaylay_gomei_festival)

If you want more of Jaylay Gomei, look out for their event on the 26th of April.  

6.    Girls Behind The Lens: A female photographers collective put together their photography and art exhibition, followed by a really exciting auction sale of the prints.

Girls Behind the Lens (GBL) is a group of young female photographers, who also provide training and mentorship to young girls and women who would like to pursue a career in photography and videography.

7.  Female Art exhibition: Organised by Swiss Hotel, this event featured work of Sierra Leonean female artists, including Bondumani Art and Josephine Dauda. Set up by the swimming pool, there was food, as well as art and painting classes for kids and adults.

Check out Bondumani and Josephine Dauda’s art on Instagram.

That’s it for now. Here’s to many more exciting creative events in the second quarter of 2021.