By: Nyima Sillah
Jali Bakary Suso a young Gambia Afro Manding musician said they are going to develop “Jakalo” into a high standard to limit unemployment rate in the country.He made this statement on Thursday at a press conference held in Baobab restaurant in Bijilo.
Bakary said: Jakalo is a place where people don’t visit frequently like before but with motivation, there can be changes. Adding that, giving a platform alone to kids to play Instruments will make people to come back to “Jakalo”
“We want to make sure that every child gets the right to choose whatever they want to do, and we are going to employ some people to join us which we believe will reduce the unemployment rate in the country”, He added.
According to him, he recorded 18songs for now among which the three are already on air and the launching will be 27th of February. One of the songs he recorded is traditional music title “Ayoo” and it contains message for those abroad by telling them that there’s no place like home and also for Gambians not to forget their culture by adopting the European lifestyle.
He also said: people have different perspectives but he believes Afro Manding in general is the culture that is happening in the society and is the language known to many. “If we try to gather talents within that language and sensitize people on what is happening in our society through our own language, then I see no reason for us not developing our nation and we need to unite under one umbrella as musicians, promote our culture and develop our nation”, He said.
“I have not started any collaboration with anyone yet because looking at the interval of 2years and in between Covid-19 also came up there was no possibility for me to have a collaboration with any artist but is it arrange and i am looking forward to have a collaboration with Sona Jobarteh, T-smalls and even Jaliba Kuyateh”, He disclosed.
However Christian Mahlig, Manager also mentioned that, they want to make everything available for the kids so that they can have something to do. “I spoke with few people that have passion for music but they said there is no place for them to learn their music skills and I was surprised that there is no music school in the Gambia which leads to my fast development of this idea and also choose to support Afro Manding because Gambia has its own culture”
Jali Bakary Suso is an Afro Manding musician who was born in Georgetown and joined the Afro Manding industry for the past 2years through the influence of her mother. He was a business man before getting into music and also worked in hotel industries before starting his Afro Manding music in 2018.
