By Ibrahim S. Bangura
Solomon Fatorma, popularly known as Solo’s Beat, and Tracy Jac-During, both local musicians in Sierra Leone, have been awarded certificates for participating in the Berklee Gnaoua World Music program in Morocco.
Adding to the awards, the local musicians were promised to attend the forthcoming Careers in Music Program at Berklee Valencia in 2025. The forthcoming program aims at guiding musicians on how to make use of their talents in promoting peace, development, among other things, in their different countries.
The World Music Program was a five-day event in which musicians were exposed to different musical experiences from diverse groups of people. There were continuous musical performances throughout the five days. It started on Monday June 24th, 2024, and ended on Saturday June 29th, 2024.
Jac-During and Solo thanked the organizers of the event for giving them the opportunity to meet with different people from whom they gained new musical knowledge.
They also thanked Sierra Leoneans and Telem Uncommon Sound music group for supporting local music and musicians.
Solo’s Beat is a multitalented musician who spent some years at the Ballanta Academy of Music and Performing Arts nurturing his musical talent. He is also co-founder of Telem Music Group, singer-songwriter, and music producer. Jack-During is an Afro Soul/ RnB Singer and Songwriter.
During the event, musicians were guided on how to use their indigenous music and musical instruments. They were also trained on good listening skills and on understanding musical concepts of different nations.