World-class pianist unlocks the rhythm at Freetown jail

Concert pianist Panos Karan has played to a sold-out Carnegie Hall three times. He’s played in villages along the Amazon River twice and for communities hit by last year’s tsunami in Japan. On his most recent tour in Sierra Leone, he faced one of his toughest crowds yet – a maximum-security prison.
By Damon van der Linde, Freetown
Karan, who was born in Greece in 1982, now lives in London. He was formally trained there as a concert pianist at the Royal Academy of Music.
Visiting Sierra Leone this past April was part of charitable work that he and some friends have undertaken. Called Keys of Change, their organization seeks to bring Karan’s live performances to people who wouldn’t have the opportunity to listen to live music and who might, on top of that, derive a sense of hope from it.
“For people who weren’t familiar with this music before, it might have sounded different, but I could see a lot of curiosity,” Karan said. “I’ve noticed in Sierra Leone that people love to dance. It doesn’t matter if they’ve heard Tchaikovsky or Handel before.”
This was his first visit to the country and first time performing in West Africa. For two weeks Karan travelled the nation, playing to diverse groups including students, war amputees and sex workers. The tour brought him to community centres, into slums, through small villages and, most notably, to the Freetown Central Prison.
Intermezzo
Commonly called Pademba Road, the facility is the only maximum-security jail in the country. And it is crowded. Since a prison break late last year, it’s been hard to get permission to visit for such events.
Karan sat at his keyboard, set up in a dusty courtyard. A chain-link fence, known as the Lion’s Gate, separated him from the thousand inmates in the audience. The sun was blazing at the height of Sierra Leonean’s dry season, as his set began with Tchaikovsky’s ‘Intermezzo’ from ‘The Nutcracker’.
Some of the prisoners danced. Some yelled. For the most part, they were receptive. Amadu Kamara, for one, stood watching. He has spent the past nine years behind these walls.
“I feel good because this is the first time I’ve had this kind of opportunity as a prisoner," said Kamara. It would have been nice if they brought us something special, like soft drinks, but maybe next time. I still love the music.”
The set closed with a Sierra Leonean West African calypso classic, 'Fire Fire Fire' by Ebenezer Calendar. Yet before the applause even stopped, guards were chasing the inmates back to their cells.
Encore
The cell blocks still carry the names of British abolitionists, such as Willam Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson. No surprise since British colonial administration constructed the prison in 1914 to hold some 300 inmates. Today the facility holds over a thousand men, including those awaiting trial and convicted violent offenders.
Keys of Change plans to set up scholarships with a local community music school in Sierra Leone, said Karan. And he plans to return next year.
“Compare this venue to Carnegie Hall,” said the pianist as he was rushed out of the prison after what was one of his last shows in Sierra Leone. “The energy was incredible.”