And they sound awesome. Named after Sierra Leone (meaning Lion Mountains), Lion Mountain Studio runs out of a custom-built cupboard studio at Marrickville Community Centre’s Skid Row Radio. Each Sunday the cupboard opens its doors to members of the newly arrived and refugee African communities, holding workshops and one-on-one sessions with members of Sydney’s electronic and hip hop communities, including Seekae, Killaqueenz, Thomas William and members of the ONEOFOUR Collective. After two years of skilling up on songwriting, beat making and production, Lion Mountain Studio is proud to unveil the release of Sounds of the Lion, a compilation showcasing the finest Sierra Leonean sounds this side of the Indian Ocean. Mixing English with the native Krio, Sounds of the Lion stylistically borrows from rap, hip-hop, grime, moombahton, dancehall and dubstep to create a unique mix of sounds, influence and experience. What is Lion Mountain Studio? Lion Mountain Studio is a community project initiated and controlled by members of Sydney's Sierra Leone community. The project was devised
to assist people from Sierra Leone and other African communities gain access and training in music making and recording in an informal
structure with the long term goal of building the communities own capacity for creative expression in a computerised and on-line media
environment. To achieve this the project focuses primarily upon building technical skills in music production and recording through
songwriting and music creation-based activities. The project has a training space provided through in kind support from Radio Skid Row and aside from a coordinator and specialist presenters, the project is run by volunteer producers and engineers. The project is also supported by Metro Migrant Resource Centre, Marrickville Youth Resource Centre and MusicNSW. Project participants often begin with a low level of computer literacy, the program seeks to build these skills along the way. Through the on-line release of music produced in the
project, the participants have had the opportunity to tell their story to a wide and varied audience. Project participants have identified
their participation in the project as assisting greatly in their self esteem, mental health as well as technical and computer based skills. Lion Mountain Studio holds free group classes focussing on producing music with Ableton Live every Sunday. Group classes every Sunday, 2pm for guys and 3pm for girls. All welcome.
