On the right track: the record label reaching out to Cameroon's street talent
It does not take long for a crowd to gather when the Jail Time Records van pulls up to the kerb and starts blasting music in Cameroon's port city, Douala. Set up not just to play music but as a mobile recording studio, too, the van passes through the city's poorer neighbourhoods, offering the microphone to Douala's aspiring but unguided young musicians.
The goal is to scout for new talent while also helping out young people in areas plagued by drugs and crime.
'We go to the ghettos with the mobile recording studio, start blasting the music and open the mic up for freestylers. More and more young people start gathering and freestyling. They want to be part of it,' says Steve Happi, co-founder of Jail Time Records – a label that started in Cameroon's prisons.
Since 2019, Jail Time Records has been operating in Cameroon's toughest prison, helping inmates to find a creative outlet and even launch a career in music.
The project's success has meant the authorities in Burkina Faso are also allowing the label to operate a music project from Ouagadougou's prison there but the team wanted to expand what they do in Cameroon by reaching some young people before they end up in prison.
Happi says: 'The reality is the only older brother figures they have to look up to from the ghetto are mostly the drug dealers, so they are growing up in the hands of criminals. Our goal with this project is to put up a hand and say we can go in another direction too.'
Many of the young people disappear down the backstreets soon after their freestyling, never seen by Happi again, but occasionally they come across a talent that they can bring back to the studio. In time, they hope to release an album of songs from the street sessions.
Happi's task is not easy – some of the young people are difficult to track down because they do not have phones or they have sold them because they need money.
He is also tussling for influence with the negative forces in the city, especially the phenomenon of 'microbes' – gangs of dozens of youths who often mob parts of the city, attacking people and stealing. It is an issue that has got worse with the rising influence of drugs and gangs in Douala, he says.
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But for young people such as one 21-year-old who records under the name Diblaq, this is the opportunity they have been waiting for.
'The street freestyles allowed me to develop my music in a new way. My environment isn't really favourable to my growth but I used to struggle to save up some money and then head straight to the studio,' says Diblaq.
'Now, with Jail Time Records, I have access to a recording studio for free. Creating music gives me a certain freedom, allows me to express myself and share my feelings with those around me.'
Happi knows there is talent in the neglected corners of Douala but that when recording costs are too much for most, talented young people can have their lives derailed by small mistakes, such as drug possession, which can lead to harsh prison sentences. It is in jail that many pick up far worse habits.
The aim of the project is to start helping young people at every stage, by giving them guidance and hope before they end up in jail, in addition to the work they were doing with those already in prison and those who have been released.
That work has helped people such as KMB, who came across Jail Time Records when imprisoned as a child but now, aged 21 and out of jail, is trying to use music to steer clear of prison.
'It's difficult in this environment to find work and stay out of trouble because I grew up in a poor area and have been involved in criminal activities,' says KMB. 'The project helps me to record my music and pursue my passion and avoid going back to my old demons.'
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The Guardian
02-06-2025
- The Guardian
On the right track: the record label reaching out to Cameroon's street talent
It does not take long for a crowd to gather when the Jail Time Records van pulls up to the kerb and starts blasting music in Cameroon's port city, Douala. Set up not just to play music but as a mobile recording studio, too, the van passes through the city's poorer neighbourhoods, offering the microphone to Douala's aspiring but unguided young musicians. The goal is to scout for new talent while also helping out young people in areas plagued by drugs and crime. 'We go to the ghettos with the mobile recording studio, start blasting the music and open the mic up for freestylers. More and more young people start gathering and freestyling. They want to be part of it,' says Steve Happi, co-founder of Jail Time Records – a label that started in Cameroon's prisons. Since 2019, Jail Time Records has been operating in Cameroon's toughest prison, helping inmates to find a creative outlet and even launch a career in music. The project's success has meant the authorities in Burkina Faso are also allowing the label to operate a music project from Ouagadougou's prison there but the team wanted to expand what they do in Cameroon by reaching some young people before they end up in prison. Happi says: 'The reality is the only older brother figures they have to look up to from the ghetto are mostly the drug dealers, so they are growing up in the hands of criminals. Our goal with this project is to put up a hand and say we can go in another direction too.' Many of the young people disappear down the backstreets soon after their freestyling, never seen by Happi again, but occasionally they come across a talent that they can bring back to the studio. In time, they hope to release an album of songs from the street sessions. Happi's task is not easy – some of the young people are difficult to track down because they do not have phones or they have sold them because they need money. He is also tussling for influence with the negative forces in the city, especially the phenomenon of 'microbes' – gangs of dozens of youths who often mob parts of the city, attacking people and stealing. It is an issue that has got worse with the rising influence of drugs and gangs in Douala, he says. Sign up to Global Dispatch Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features and pictures, curated by our global development team after newsletter promotion But for young people such as one 21-year-old who records under the name Diblaq, this is the opportunity they have been waiting for. 'The street freestyles allowed me to develop my music in a new way. My environment isn't really favourable to my growth but I used to struggle to save up some money and then head straight to the studio,' says Diblaq. 'Now, with Jail Time Records, I have access to a recording studio for free. Creating music gives me a certain freedom, allows me to express myself and share my feelings with those around me.' Happi knows there is talent in the neglected corners of Douala but that when recording costs are too much for most, talented young people can have their lives derailed by small mistakes, such as drug possession, which can lead to harsh prison sentences. It is in jail that many pick up far worse habits. The aim of the project is to start helping young people at every stage, by giving them guidance and hope before they end up in jail, in addition to the work they were doing with those already in prison and those who have been released. That work has helped people such as KMB, who came across Jail Time Records when imprisoned as a child but now, aged 21 and out of jail, is trying to use music to steer clear of prison. 'It's difficult in this environment to find work and stay out of trouble because I grew up in a poor area and have been involved in criminal activities,' says KMB. 'The project helps me to record my music and pursue my passion and avoid going back to my old demons.'
The Guardian
28-04-2025
- The Guardian
‘It was steer or they would kill me': why Sudanese war refugees are filling prisons in Greece
Former law student Samuel, 19, fled his home town of Geneina shortly after it was ransacked during one of the worst massacres of Sudan's brutal civil war, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 13 million people. After making it overland to Libya, Samuel spent two days crossing the Mediterranean in June before being rescued by a cargo ship and escorted by the Greek coastguard to Crete. He is now being held in the Avlona youth prison, 28 miles (45km) north of Athens, along with an estimated 50 other Sudanese men, most of whom, lawyers and activists say, are war refugees who have been detained and accused of migrant smuggling after seeking asylum in Europe and arriving on the Greek island of Crete. Samuel was identified by other passengers as the dinghy's pilot, a violation of several Greek laws including aiding the transfer of illegal migrants. If convicted he faces a possible 15 years in prison. He says he is no smuggler, but a refugee seeking safety in Europe. He paid smugglers 12,000 Libyan dinars (£1,660), which he says was a discounted fare on the condition that he navigate the boat. He has said he didn't know how to steer or even swim. 'It was steer or they would kill me,' he told Greek prosecutors in his testimony. View image in fullscreen Avlona prison, north of Athens, where Samuel is being held in the youth detention centre. Photograph: Thanassis Stavrakis/AP Hundreds of people have been arrested under Greece's harsh anti-smuggling law that came into force in 2014 with jail sentences of up to 25 years. Convicted migrant smugglers are now the second-largest group in Greek prisons behind those jailed for drug-related offences. Activists and lawyers have said it is often the most vulnerable who will steer the boat, including men who sometimes agree to do it in return for a reduction in the price of passage for themselves or their family members. They say the criminalisation of refugees and asylum seekers is ineffective in disrupting smuggling networks, as the real smugglers are rarely on the boat. 'The very tough anti-smuggling law has been a timeless governmental weapon to minimise illegal immigration. In reality it is completely useless, only filling up Greek prisons with people who have no record or connection to criminal offences,' says Samuel's lawyer Spyros Pantazis. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Global Dispatch Free newsletter Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features and pictures, curated by our global development team Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion My family was torn apart. I have a mother and father and I am the eldest of six Samuel, Sudanese prisoner Pantazis, an Athens-based criminal defence lawyer, describes Samuel as 'brave and committed to a better future' and says the Greek prosecution's case rests solely on witness statements taken by the Greek coastguard with no footage, digital evidence or proof of financial gain. Pantazis also says no witnesses will have to appear in court, depriving Samuel of the right to face his accusers. 'My family was torn apart. I have a mother and father and I am the eldest of six. Friends told me they are in refugee camps, but I have not spoken to them in over a year,' Samuel testified to Greek prosecutors in June 2024, shortly after his arrival. Crete has recently emerged as Greece's main entry point for migrants, accounting for more than a quarter of all arrivals since January 2025, overtaking previous hotspots such as Lesbos and Samos. According to Greek officials, more than 2,500 people have arrived in Crete from Africa so far this year. Sudanese nationals make up the fourth-largest group of asylum seekers in Greece, overtaking traditional cohorts such as Syrians and Palestinians. UNHCR figures show arrivals on Crete increased more than sixfold in 2024 compared with 2023. View image in fullscreen A dinghy washed up on the shores of Agios Georgios, east of Lesbos, Greece, after a boat carrying migrants capsized on 10 January 2024. Photograph: Manolis Lagoutaris/AFP/Getty Images Gabriella Sanchez, a research fellow at Georgetown University, says the criminalisation of refugees from the civil war in Sudan contravenes the UN protocol on migrant smuggling, which 'clearly establishes that a migrant cannot be prosecuted for facilitating his or her own smuggling. The practice across EU countries of prosecuting young migrants as smugglers goes against the protocol's principles.' Another war refugee, Justin Angui, 19, who fled Sudan in 2023, was found guilty of smuggling last month but is now appealing against his conviction. He says he saw his father killed before fleeing Sudan. In his court testimony, he said: 'My mother told me to leave at any cost, so I fled to Libya. I worked in a supermarket to save up, then used those earnings – along with the small amount my mother had given me – to pay a smuggler and make the journey here.' Angui now says he longs to speak to his mother and two younger sisters 'I haven't had any contact with them since I was imprisoned six months ago. I've lost hope – it's all dark now.' Julia Winkler, a political scientist who co-authored a 2023 report on migrant criminalisation in Greece, says: 'What's happening in Crete is a brutal example of how Europe's so-called 'war on smuggling' is, in reality, criminalising the very act of migration.' The Greek immigration and asylum ministry said it did not wish to comment.
The Guardian
11-04-2025
- The Guardian
Children of war: six orphans' 1,000-mile journey across Sudan in search of safety
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Tanks, artillery, drones and pickup trucks with heavy machine-guns mounted (known as 'technicals') feature heavily. Asrar and her siblings have been alone since July last year, when their mother, Aisha, died from dysentery at their home in Omdurman. 'There was nowhere to go to treat her. She got sick and was gone in two days,' says Asrar. Haroun, arriving back at the house after his workshop shift, adds: 'We were devastated when she died.' Their father disappeared before the war started, leaving the house one day and never returning. His children have been unable to reach him on his mobile phone; they presume he is dead. Left alone as the fighting in Omdurman intensified, the children lost their home and were forced to live on the city's ruined streets. Pointing at the pictures on the wall, mostly drawn by the twins, Haroun describes how their neighbourhood was subject to repeated drone attacks. 'The fighting was too close for us to stay there,' he says. Another brother who lives in Libya sent them money by phone to pay a driver to take them to El Geneina, where their parents were from and an elder sister, Israa, 30, still lived. Sign up to Global Dispatch Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features and pictures, curated by our global development team after newsletter promotion Their journey across the vast country forced them to navigate countless checkpoints and pass through towns emptied of residents. Nearly 13 million people have been displaced since the conflict began. 'Huge parts of the road felt like a ghost town,' says Haroun. They paid a driver in advance but he abandoned them along the way. 'He left us there with nothing,' Haroun says. 'We had already paid him, and we had run out of money, so we had to sell our mother's perfumes and clothes and survive on beans.' Strangers gave them money to help pay for them to make it to El Geneina, with the children forced to sleep on streets for several weeks. On arriving in the Darfur city last month, their elder sister could not be found, most likely having fled across the border to Chad. They found her house in ruins and moved into a nearby derelict house that had been left completely bare after being looted. A threadbare carpet serves as their bed. Despite escaping Omdurman, life in El Geneina is also fraught with risk. The city has witnessed myriad war crimes, including one of the worst atrocities of the war – a frenzied episode of violence, rape and looting by the RSF in 2023, in which almost 15,000 people were killed. In January, the US state department formally declared that the RSF had committed genocide during the civil war, committing 'systematic atrocities', many in West Darfur. For the orphans, hopes of a stable future are bleak. With the conflict about to enter its third year, 17 million Sudanese children are without a school. Haroun says he has abandoned his aspiration of becoming an engineer so he can look after his younger brothers and sisters. 'I want to register my siblings to go back to school. They've missed two years of education already and I want them to get back to learning,' he says. Neighbours share what little they have – bread, soup, beans and lentils – but survival is a daily struggle. 'We live in the hope that this nightmare ends soon,' says Haroun. Karl Schembri is media adviser for east and southern Africa with the Norwegian Refugee Council
