My Album Was Very Successful Says Egalitarian

FOROYAA Newspaper (Serrekunda)

Kebba Camara

13 July 2011

interview

Egalitarian, a Gambian artist who produced a 15 track album called ‘Walked around’ reveals to Art and Music that the album was a huge success.

How successful was your last album?

The album is as successful as the word success because it has connected me to different places that I have not been before. It has connected me with the right people. Let me add that it does not really mean that we made money but to be connected is a success. We have done so much when that album was released and we are still working hard.

Was it true that the first copies were exhausted and you have to copy again?

Yes, the first copies were done but we did not copy more because we knew that the market was not secured. Some have copies of the album and were not original copies, so when we realised that the album was scattered everywhere we do not see the need to produce more copies.

Who are the sole sponsors of your album ‘walk around’?

Thanks to my management, for the hard work, big thanks to global properties for believing in what we do, thanks to LG because they are always there for me, thanks to the fans especially those who bought the copies of the album.

What are you up to at the moment?

Trying to do things professionally, we are working on another album that will be called ‘Dinkendo’ and the promotion is on. It has given me another level of promotion people were not expecting me to sing in that kind of music which is very close to Mbalax music and is a combination of 5 different languages, I can do more than that. I’m working on an album and before the end of the year we will publish it. The album talks about the possessiveness of the youths of the Gambia, possessiveness of the people of Africa, the album is about integrating people. This album will really have colours.

Tell me something about your country-wide tour?

Yes, we did that last year and it was all about sensitising people about the children of SOS children village. We were trying to send a message that those children are our own children and they need to be loved, they need to be protected, they need to be educated, proper treatment and respect just as the other children. We promised to give some of the percentage of the proceeds to the schools which we did for ‘operation safe a baby’ in Bansang Hospital. We are yet to do a presentation for SOS but we will do that soon and everybody will be invited to see what Gainako entertainment is doing, that entertainment body is not all about enriching Egalitarian but to support the needy outside, especially the children.

Why are you so concerned about children?

(laughs) May be it is the way I grew up because I grew up without knowing my father. There was only one old woman who was trying her level best to see me through. I grow up realizing that I missed the father love, and now am seeing that there are so many children who have neither mother nor father love. So I feel it is for those kids and l always ask me what I can do. God has given me the one thing to share with them and that’s the music, through that I can help them raise funds and help connect them with other people who may help them to carry on with their lives and may be this is why am in love with not only Gambian children but all the children who need my love.

How did you feel when you saw a 6 year old kid performing with you on the same stage?

(Laughs) you know they also have a vision. I feel so great knowing that even if am not there, there is always someone to accomplish my mission. I felt so over joy to see someone who wants to be like Egalitarian. People have seen what I wanted to do and may be I can’t reach there to the maximum. I think it is a dream of everybody if you are doing something and you see somebody else doing a similar thing.

My advice to the musicians will be we should not just do music because of fame or to live in good house or drive fancy cars. We should have a mission, teach people and help people. Socialism is the only system that can unite people, without it there is no love, without love there is no respect, without respect there is no unity and without unity there is always violence. But if we socialize we have a spiritual connection that brings us together. This should be mission of the artist not the contrary.

Tell us something about a track in your last album titled ‘African Children’ were you featuring Jaliba Kuyateh?

Like I keep on saying, it is not only for the Gambian children but for each and every African child because I have travelled to lots of different countries in Africa and I have seen the living conditions. I have seen different cultures of different African countries, how some kids live is very bad and I believe it I should keep quite without doing something about it. I will not have peace of mind on earth and even hereafter. So that message was to call on the government, NGO’s and other concerned institutions in Africa to help one or two children to have proper education, because education is the key to success in life. I was just reminding the people in that tune that the kids need education, and Jaliba was like interpreting the message in the local Mandinka language.

We understand that Jaliba is a very busy artist and having him on board on a combination is not an easy task, how was it so successful for you to have him in your album?

Well for me I found it very easy to have him in that track, my promoter went there he spoke to him and emphasise that the track has something to do with children. May be that’s why he do not waste anytime because he is also another children ambassador in Gambia. He came to the studio, we did the first one, we called on him again to come and do another one on the same song. He drove his car to and from the studio, he did everything without complaint. I want to take this opportunity to thank him and I must say that it is a very nice track in the album and it took my music to another level.

Which other artists were featured in the ‘Walk Around’ album?

I have Fafa D and Amajang. I have Big D of Senegal, T Smallz, Tam So, Hearth Breaker, Blood, Royal Messenger, A9, Makida, Jalex, and Flexman. All the songs were recorded in the Gambia.

What about the next album, will you feature some artists and will the recording be done here?

Yes, we are planning to do some recordings in the Gambia and some out of the Gambia. Some songs will be recorded here with the Sunland studio of Hakeem and the recordings are on going. I will feature some artists from Freetown and all over. I told you that I like socializing with people. We at the Gainako entertainment will do everything possible to see we reach the level we want to reach, we got the talent and the idea, we just lack the physical power to uplift ourselves, so we need people to come on board and be of assistance.

Your last album was about 15 tracks, will this one you are working on be more or less than 15?

I want to work not less, we are going less than 15 because it will not be easy financially to record up to 15 track album. I’m charged $10,000 for an album meaning each track is $1,000 which is very costly. This is why my up coming album will be less than 15 tracks.

How comes you keep on producing albums in Gambia even though many artist complain of the piracy?

(Laugh) yeah, its affecting me as well but in another way its o.k because it is selling me and my product by way of promotion. We don’t really make money out of the albums, because our CDs got stocked in the market which is not good for us. If you go to the neighbouring countries an artist can produce just one album and he is o.k but Gambian market is not really going well with artist.

What is your impression about Gambian music in general?

Well, it is not growing well because we are always in one place and that is the Gambia. Our music is not crossing borders, we are always here and nowhere else. That is why if the president calls for a programme you see all the artists running there because at least they expect some money. That’s not a good sign. This shows that Gambian artists are stocked in just one place (the Gambia) but if we have a market in Europe, U.S etc that would really help.

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