My lasting memory of Sierra Leone is watching UN personnel in makeshift camps beside my plane hang their laundry to dry. I feel like I got to know the soldiers personally as I watched them make breakfast and peg underwear to strings attached to their tents. During these predictably long layovers on Dakar-Lagos flights I would also admire the Freetown cityscape at a distance: the city rises right out of the ocean into a mountain range of traffic nightmares.

Sierra Leone has a mixed legacy. Some of my friends call it the friendliest place on earth and one of the more beautiful countries in Africa. Apparently Beach #2 is unrivaled for a good tan after a dose of aid work or a press scoop. That said, most people will immediately associate it with armless refugees, blood diamonds and Charles Taylor.

These days Sierra Leone is all over the media thanks in no small part to hype from Kanye West about the evils of Sierra Leone’s diamond industry. Indeed, a friend just published the cover story for Fortune magazine entitled “Diamonds aren’t forever“, a look at the diamond industry in Sierra Leone and the hapless masses who dig in the mud all day looking for a way out of a severe poverty.

Those of you who’ve read Benn loxo for a while will know that I’m big fan of music from places that most people associated with misery, violence and the rest of Africa’s dark side. This is because while most people won’t get a chance to visit Sierra Leone (or Angola, or Ethiopia, or Liberia, or….), everyone should have the chance to give it a second listen. Freetown has thriving clubs and a budding music scene, including some decent rap and reggaeton-esque musicians. The country is at a point now where, if its neighbours behave and politics hold together through next year’s elections, things could be looking a little bit up. All the more reason to pay some attention and give some respect, even if that just means sampling the music.

Benn loxo listener and good DJ Chief Boima agrees. A few weeks ago he gave me a copy of his latest mix, Diamonds From Sierra Leone. On the album, Boima, an American-Sierra Leonian, gives us plenty of reasons to listen to Sierra Leone. Where did you find that last track, Kimjimi? Fantastic. More on his myspace site.

I happen to have an album or two that he samples so I thought I’d follow up on yesterday’s post with some original/mix combos.

Emmerson – Borbor Bele (original)
Emmerson – Borbor Bele (remix)
Emmerson – Sugar Meresin (original)
Emmerson – Sugar Meresin (remix)
Unknown – Kimjimi