The
minister of Tourism and Culture has challenged every citizen of The Gambia to
be always reciting or singing the country’s national anthem orally rather than
listening to a recorded version or audio played by DJs at any gathering. He
added that reciting it is a sign of one’s love and pride for the country,
Hamat
N.K. Bah who could not hide his feelings at the end of The Gambia’s national
anthem audio which was played at the official launching ceremony of the Youth
and Trade Roadmap for The Gambia’s creative industries held at a local hotel
last Tuesday described it as something ‘sad.’
“When
we are singing our national anthem, let’s stop listening to the audio but sing
with our mouths,” he urged.
Minister
Bah, who was visibly not happy after observing a large crowd listening to the
national anthem without uttering a word of the anthem, said “it is only in The
Gambia that plays audio of the country’s national anthem without people singing
the wordings with mouth but listening only to the audio.”
The
minister pointed out that singing or reciting it with mouths instead of
listening to the audio alone “will make it echo in our minds and get us back to
who we are and what we are.”
He
said each time there is football match that The Gambia is playing host, the
national anthem will be playing while spectators will listening to it without
reciting/singing it alongside with the audio. “But come to the turn of the
visiting team whose number might be less than 3% of the spectators will sing
their national anthem out through their mouths for everyone to hear.”
He
said: “this is sad,” but “let’s sing it with our mouths and be proud of it,”
while he encouraged citizens to visit the national archive/museum and to know
more about the importance of the national anthem.