Music of Sierra Leone

The national anthem of Sierra Leone, "High We Exalt Thee, Realm of the Free", was composed by John Akar with lyrics by Clifford Nelson Fyle and arrangement by Logie E. K. Wright.

Sierra Leonean palm wine music is known as maringa, and it was first popularized by the Creole musician Ebenezer Calendar & His Maringar Band, who used Caribbean styles, especially Trinidadian calypso.

The gumbe, a square drum with legs, was an important cultural symbol for the Jamaican maroon settlers who were to become part of the Sierra Leone Creole ethnic community.

The drum had always been associated with the invocation of their ancestors (Bilby 2007:15), and played an important role in their Maroon strongholds in Jamaica in the 18th century, in their fight for freedom against the British.

Sierra Leoneans abroad have created their own styles, such as Seydu, Ansoumana Bangura, Abdul Tee-Jay, Bosca Banks, Daddy Rahmanu, Patricia Bakarr and Sidike Diabate and Mwana Musa's African Connexion.

Mwana Musa was an able composer who worked with musicians such as David Toop, Steve Beresford, Ray Carless, Ugo Delmirani, Robin Jones, Mongoley (Lipua Lipua) Safroman (GO Malebo)Len Jones one of Sierra Leones finest guitarists, Lindel Lewis, Ayo-Roy MAcauley leading guitarist from Sierra Leone, Kevin Robinson, Paapa Jay-Mensah etc.