Music career
In 2004, K-Man, along with fellow Sierra Leonean youth Underground rappers C-Jay and Camouflag, formed the Freetown based Hip Hop group called Conscious Knowledge, more commonly known as CK. The group released their debut hit single called 'Africa' in the paradise compilation volume 1. K-Man's soft voice and densely packed rap lyrics came to be recognized and he quickly rose as the most prominent members of the group.
K-Man left Freetown for neighboring Conakry, Guinea to develop his music career. While in Guinea, K-Man worked with several prominent Guinean rappers including Bill De Sam and Sierra Leonean born in Guinea reggae musician Daddi Cool.
With enough time at his disposal, the Mandingo young star K-Man decided to go solo. This would mean doing all eight tracks in his debut album "watch u back" alone. Songs like Bombat and Watch your back became hits in Sierra Leone Guinea and The Gambia.
His second album "Leh Wi Make Salone" (let's build Sierra Leone) was internationally successful in West Africa and within the Sierra Leone community abroad. The album helped to rebuild the image of the country and build confidence in the international community that Sierra Leone is peaceful and investor-friendly, a goal pursued by the Sierra Leonean government.
Sierra Leone's music is a mixture of native, French, British, West Indian and Creole musical genres.
Koidu Town is the capital and largest city of the diamond-rich Kono District in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. The population of Koidu Town is 124,662 based on the 2015 Sierra Leone national census. Koidu Town is the fifth largest city in Sierra Leone by population, after Freetown, Kenema, Bo and Makeni. Koidu Town is a major urban, business, commercial and diamond trade center. Koidu Town lies approximately 280 miles east of Freetown, and about 60 miles north of Kenema.
Kono District is a district in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is Koidu Town. Motema is the second most populous city in the district. The other major towns in the district include Yengema, Tombodu, Jaiama Nimikor and Sewafe. The district is the largest diamond producer in Sierra Leone. The population of Kono District is 505,767. Kono District borders Kenema District to the southwest, The Republic of Guinea to the east, Koinadugu District to the northeast and Kailahun District to the southeast. Kono District is divided into fourteen chiefdoms.
The Diamond Stars Football Club is a Sierra Leonean professional football club based in Koidu Town, Kono District, Sierra Leone. The club represent the diamond-rich Kono District and is a member of the Sierra Leone National Premier League, the top football league in Sierra Leone. The club is coached by a Class A Coach ZAPA.
Sidique Mansaray is a Sierra Leonean footballer, who currently plays as a striker for the East End Lions in Sierra Leone National Premier League. He is also a regular member of the Leone Stars, Sierra Leone national football team. in 2001, Mansaray scored the only goal as Sierra Leone defeated Nigeria 1-0 in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying match in Freetown
The Kono people are a major Mande-speaking ethnic group in Sierra Leone at 5.2% of the country's total population. Their homeland is the diamond-rich Kono District in eastern Sierra Leone. The Kono are primarily diamond miners and farmers.
Alhaji Samuel Sidique Sam-Sumana is a Sierra Leonean politician who was the Vice President of Sierra Leone from September 17, 2007, to March 17, 2015. Sam-Sumana stood as the vice-presidential candidate of the All People's Congress (APC) in the 2007 presidential election, alongside presidential candidate Ernest Bai Koroma. The APC ticket defeated the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) presidential candidate Solomon Berewa and vice presidential candidate Momodou Koroma. Sam-Sumana took office as vice president on September 17, 2007.
Solomon Yambassu is a Sierra Leonean footballer, who plays for East End Lions in Sierra Leone National Premier League.
Karamoh Kabba is a Sierra Leonean author, writer, novelist and journalist. He has written several accounts about the Sierra Leone civil war, such as A Mother’s Saga: An Account of the Rebel War in Sierra Leone and the self-published work Lion Mountain and Morquee: A Political Drama of Wish over Wisdom published by Sierra Leone Writers Series. He has published several short stories and verses of poems on the Web site, Sierra Leone Web.
Joseph Gerald Adolphus Cole better known by his stage name Daddy Saj is a Sierra Leonean rapper and arguably the biggest and most famous musician from Sierra Leone. He uses his music to address political corruption and general corruption in Sierra Leone. His rap is a blend of hip hop and traditional goombay music. While his music is mostly in Krio, Sierra Leone's national language, he does also performs in English. His first album 'Corruption e do so' struck a chord not only in Sierra Leone, but across Africa.
Ibrahim Jaffa Condeh is a Sierra Leonean journalist and news anchor. He is the senior journalist for the Freetown based Concord Times newspaper. Although Condeh is primarily based in Freetown, he often report on location for breaking news stories throughout Sierra Leone. He is a graduate of Fourah Bay College with a master's degree in journalism (FBC). Condeh is a Muslim and a member of the Mandingo ethnic group.
Sahr Randolf Fillie-Faboe is a Sierra Leonean politician and diplomat. He is a former Sierra Leone's Ambassador to Liberia and a former member of parliament of Sierra Leone.
Mandingo people of Sierra Leone is a major ethnic group in Sierra Leone and a branch of the Mandinka people of West Africa. Most Sierra Leonean Mandingo are the direct descendants of Mandinka settlers from Guinea, who settled in the north and eastern part of Sierra Leone, beginning in the late 1870s to the 1890s under the rule of prominent Mandinka Muslim cleric Samori Ture. Also later a significantly large population of Mandinka from Guinea migrated and settled in Eastern Sierra Leone and Northern Sierra Leone in the early to mid 20th century. The Mandingo people of Sierra Leone have a very close friendly and allied relationship with their neighbors the Mandingo people of Guinea and Liberia, as they share pretty much identical dialect of the Mandingo language, tradition, culture and food.
For the music label, see Motéma Music.
Union Trust Bank (UTB), whose full name is Union Trust Bank Limited, is a commercial bank in Sierra Leone. It is licensed as a "commercial bank" by the Bank of Sierra Leone, the central bank and national banking regulator.
Sierra Leone is officially a secular state, although Islam and Christianity are the two main and dominant religions in the country. The constitution of Sierra Leone provides for freedom of religion and the Sierra Leone Government generally protects it. The Sierra Leone Government is constitutionally forbidden from establishing a state religion, though Muslim and Christian prayers are usually held in the country at the beginning of major political occasions, including presidential inauguration.
Diana Finda Konomanyi is a Sierra Leonean politician who has served as Minister of Lands, Country Planning and the Environment, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development in the erstwhile Government of President Ernest Bai Koroma. Prior to her ministerial appointment 'Iron Lady', was the Chairperson of the Kono District Council. after winning a landslide victory in a local government bye election in her home town of Kono District. Following the election of the All People's Congress (APC) and President Ernest Bai Koroma in 2007, Diana was appointed Board Chair of the Sierra Leone National Shipping Company
Sierra Leone is home to about sixteen ethnic groups, each with its own language. In Sierra Leone, membership of an ethnic group often overlaps with a shared religious identity.
Mohamed Mansaray widely known as Kamarainba, is a Sierra Leonean politician, psychologist, and the current leader and chairman of the Alliance Democratic Party (ADP), a left wing populist political party he formed in Sierra Leone in opposition of the country"s two main political parties, the ruling APC party and the main opposition SLPP.
Alhaji Mohamed Bailor Barrie, simply referred to as Bailor Barrie or M.B. Barrie was a Sierra Leonean businessman, activist and philanthropist. He hailed from Sierra Leone's northern district of Koinadugu and was a member of the Fula ethnic group of which he later became a well known activist and leader. Barrie became prominent in Sierra Leone's post colonial economic environment in the 1970s as the first Fula to venture into the European-Lebanese dominated import business of motor vehicles. He became very successful in the booming diamond mining and trading industry in the 1970s and 1980s, which established him as one of Sierra Leone's most successful businessmen, even without a standard level of education. Then president of Sierra Leone Siaka Stevens was using Barrie's success to defend himself against critics attacking him for ignoring the country's crumbling educational sector, by claiming that one could be successful like Barrie without any standard level of education. Barrie died in a road accident in 1989 on his way from Kenema, in the eastern part of Sierra Leone.
