Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

No Problem

Trouble. It’s the foundation of 99 percent of pop and rock music. But the trials and travails of most lovesick songwriters, antiestablishment punks and punch-drunk country singers seem downright quaint compared to the horrors experienced by Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars. The band grew out of refugee camps in war-torn West Africa, and its members have lived through unimaginable atrocities. They could be forgiven for dwelling on sadness — but their music does quite the opposite. SLRA’s latest record, Rise & Shine, is a gleeful, genre-jumping celebration of the power of the human spirit to overcome the longest odds. And they would know. Catch them this Saturday, May 24, at the Higher Ground Showcase Lounge.