As part of promoting Gambian artistes as well as taking Gambian music to international level, majority of Gambian artistes at the weekend performed on stage at the Serrekunda Mini Stadium at a show attended by hundreds of music supporters.
Speaking in an interview with this reporter at the show, Karen Y. Bucrels, who is one of the brains behind the show, thanked all the organizers of the event, saying their mission in The Gambia is to help people to develop themselves irrespective of being black or white.
“We have to put our hearts together to work as a team,” she said.
The purpose of organizing the concert was to promote the upcoming Gambian artistes, she said, adding that the foundation will do everything possible to develop artistes and other people in this country.
“We have also started our magazine called the Mirror, which is also penetrating the market, especially in Bijilo.
The coming of this magazine will also contribute a lot because we can hear what is happening in our area,” she said.
She thanked the community of Bijilo for giving them the area to develop a skills centre, saying they are hopeful that this will also bring tourist attractions as well as a gallery to sell the culture of The Gambia “because The Gambia is the heart of the world”.
Ghust, a Gambian artiste, who also spoke to this reporter at the show, thanked the organizers of the event, saying the coming of such event in this country is a big promotion for the people of this country, particularly musicians who really lack promotion to develop themselves in the profession.
Ghust, a native of Lamin, is a reggae dancer who is busy working in the studio to release his first album.
This is a big show and is to uplift the artistes in the right direction as well as to support The Gambian music, he noted.
Ghust, who joined the music industry when he was very young, was able to release a single in 2009.
He said he has not released any album yet but he is working towards doing so sooner or later.
“The show is annually done and this is a good initiative and people will love it so much,” he told Point Entertainment.
Ghust also said he has never attended any international music festival but with the coming of this initiative, hopefully, they will attend more festivals in the near future.
“As a musician we have the talent but we lack the support. I have so many love albums to come in the near future,” Ghust said.
Junior Soul, aka Ahankai, also an artiste who spoke to this reporter at the event, said he found himself in the music industry and started recording in 2010.
“In 2012, I recorded in a studio called Black Fire and in 2013, I produced four singles which are presently on promotion at various radio stations in the country,” he said. I joined the music industry because I love music.”
Aka Ahankai therefore thanked Hearthft Foundation for coming with this initiative, adding that this is a good idea because it is out to promote the young artistes of this country.
He however called on the young artistes to work hard to develop their music, adding that music is all about preaching to entertain as well as to educate the people.
“I am expecting to release my first album entitled Step Again,” he said, adding: “For those who organized this event I thank them so much and pray for them to have chance to do more in life because for Gambian music we need something of this sort as we lack promotion.”
