Sierra Leone is using reggae music to strengthen its cultural ties with the Caribbean. The genre, rooted in Jamaica, is becoming a platform for African heritage, tourism and international cultural exchange.
About the One Nation Reggae Festival
The One Nation Reggae Festival (ONRF) grew from a concept introduced by Sierra Leone’s Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Mrs. Nabeela Farida Tunis, and Francis Momoh.
The inaugural festival was delivered with substantial support from the private sector, including Leone Rock Metal Group and inkeemedia , alongside the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs. This collaboration was central to bringing the vision to life and established a foundation for ONRF’s continued development as a largely private sector driven platform, with the Ministry providing institutional support and facilitating cultural and tourism partnerships.
The festival was created to celebrate the country’s historical links with the Caribbean and to promote Sierra Leone as a cultural tourism destination.
Reggae has a particular significance in that relationship. The music has long been associated with African identity, freedom, resistance and resilience. Sierra Leone and Caribbean societies also share historical connections shaped by the transatlantic movement of Africans.
The festival is seeking to turn those connections into modern cultural partnerships.
The inaugural edition took place in 2025 at the Radisson Blu in Freetown. It brought together international reggae performers, including Jamaican stars Sizzla Kalonji Christopher Martin, and Queen Ifrica.
A key part of the festival has been the development of a distinct “Sierra Leone Sound”,
combining reggae with traditional Sierra Leonean musical influences.
The ONRF also creates opportunities for local artists to collaborate with performers from
Africa and the Caribbean, via cultural exchange.
The Tourism Ministry says two Sierra Leonean reggae artists are expected to perform in
Jamaica, strengthening links between Freetown and Kingston.
For Sierra Leone, the festival offers an opportunity to tell a different story about the country,
one centred on heritage, creativity and its place within the global African diaspora.
The One Nation Reggae Festival returns for its second edition from 25-30 November 2026.. It will feature performances, cultural showcases, educational forums and community activities focused on cultural preservation, youth empowerment, diaspora engagement and sustainable tourism.
Reggae as a language of shared history
The connection between Sierra Leone and the Caribbean is older than modern music.
Freetown’s history is deeply connected to the movement of formerly enslaved Africans and
Black communities across the Atlantic. The city was established as a settlement for freed
Africans, and people of African and Caribbean heritage became part of the social and
cultural fabric of Sierra Leone.
That history gives Sierra Leone a distinctive place in conversations about Africa and the
African diaspora.
Reggae provides another layer to that relationship.
UNESCO recognised Jamaica’s reggae music as intangible cultural heritage in 2018. The music has long carried messages about freedom, identity, resistance, social justice and cultural pride.
The One Nation Reggae Festival is using those themes to create a contemporary platform for
reconnecting African and Caribbean communities.
The idea is not simply to bring Jamaican or Caribbean musicians to Sierra Leone. It is to
create an environment where African and Caribbean artists, audiences and cultural
practitioners can meet, collaborate and explore the histories that connect them.
