Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars

With all due respect to Wyclef Jean and his Refugee All Stars, who have surely experienced their own hardshipsespecially John Forte, who spent the better part of the decade in federal prison under harsh drug sentencingClef and company can only begin to imagine the horrors that Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars survived. Formed in refugee camps after being displaced by a violent civil war, the African reggae band huddled together to forget their sorrows. Some were scarred and missing limbs. One was forced to murder his own son. But when they gathered, they made festive, uplifting music about human resolve, and thanks to a documentary and an appearance on “Oprah,” the All Stars have become a Buena Vista Social Club-styled success, sharing their stark stories and their incongruously sunny harmonies for audiences around the world.