SpotLight: The beautiful raspy sounds of Sierra Leonean recording artist "Seydu"

Seydu and the Kondi

Seydu receiving 2002 International Afro Music Festival Award in Wurzburg, Germany for the album “Diamond Tears”. Senegalese Designer Oumou Sy, also received an award that year

Last year I was at the Ministry of Development at Youyi building and i met Seydu in the corridor. He started a conversation with me out of the blue asking what work i did and i explained i was in the tv business. I guess creatives recognize each other…or maybe he stopped me cause i was cute.

Anyway, while he didn’t tell me he was a musician, he was happy to tell me all about his NGO Diamond Child, a children’s arts center that he had set up in Goderich to promote and resuscitate sierra leone arts and cultural education. I took his contact and promised to stop by to see the NGO but i never did.

And now almost a year later via a facebook message I’ve learned that the same Seydu who i had long since forgotten is a successful international artist based in Spain. He’s recorded two albums “Freetown” and “Diamond Tear” and is currently working on his third album “Papa’s Land” on Spanish Label Boa Records.
 

                                       Seydu on Spanish TV

                              Seydu’s The Well from the album “Diamond Tears”

Seydu

(birth name Anthony Zachariah Jalloh) was born in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone (West Africa). His earliest musical experiences were shaped by that city and by his musical family. His grandfather taught him the secrets of drumming and his mother sang Fullah and Mandingo songs. After performing with the National Dance Troupe of Sierra Leone, Seydu moved to Nigeria and then to Spain, where he played and recorded with a number of Spanish bands. After leaving his first band, Bambara, (a reggae-oriented group) he started to develop his own musical ideas based on the traditional music of his childhood and the diverse musical influences he had encountered in his eclectic career.

For more on Seydu please visit his website: www.seydu.com
To learn about Seydu’s NGO Diamond child visit: www.diamond-child.org