OUS2RAY: good day Waka it’s a pleasure to meet you. Let me begin by congratulating you on your award for the best music promoter of the year. We’re proud of you because you’re putting our nation on the top of the charts and it is also nice to see our fellow Gambians contributing not only to national development, but to African development as well. WAKA JAGNE: Good day to you too and thank you very much for your congratulations on the award. I am very humble and honoured to have received such a prestigious award (music promoter of the year) @ the African Music Awards. I was very proud to be one of three SeneGambians nominated for such an event, the others being Youssou Ndour and Viviane. As a patriotic Gambian I have always strived to put Gambia on the map through a variety of events in the entertainment business. OUS2RAY: can you please give us a brief background history of yourself i.e. how you came to gain interest in the promotion scene. WAKA JAGNE: From a very early age I had acquired a great love of music. But my interest in promoting music started whilst I was schooling in Sierra Leone. There I was enthralled by how they embraced entertainment and sought to bring this new and vibrant theme to the Gambia, where I felt a void in entertainment existed. At the time Gambian entertainment business needed a face lift that depicted the new generation. I believe that I had what it took to make a difference; I came on the scene when I believe a talent like mine could not be more acute. After my schooling in Sierra Leone I decided to teach dance in the Gambia and later formed a dance group named the space invaders. I put together a dance show which was the most successful dance show in Gambian history, which triggered much interest in the show biz industry. After that I have done dj’ing in various clubs in Gambia and London before I took up promotion full time. OUS2RAY: we all have idols, people we used to look up to when we were young and still look up to or use as case studies for our development. Can you tell me who he/she or they are?WAKA JAGNE: People like Youssou Ndour, Musa Ngum and Lie Ngum. As you can see my idols were musicians because at the time there were no well known young Gambian promoters.
OUS2RAY: Challenges! We all go through them but what advice do you have for Gam-Music as a new upcoming promotion centre to be able to tackle these challenges.WAKA JAGNE: First and foremost I would like to advise Gam Music that they are in a challenging industry and that they should stay focused, work hard, surround themselves with positive people, be determined and have a belief in themselves.OUS2RAY: what do you think about the Gambian music industry in this present day and age? And do you think there are areas that need to be improved?WAKA JAGNE: I think the Gambian music industry is moving slowly but surely. It has improved a lot over the past couple of years. We have seen a lot of young emerging Gambian music producers coming up with different beats to help improve the quality of our sound. The Gambian music industry has been stagnant for a long time and I don't think is to do with promoters & dj's. There are various problems standing in the way of the progress of our music scene, to start with we need a music school , where people can learn how to play instruments, how to sing on key and how to do original music of the Gambia for the outside world to appreciate our culture. One of the problems is we don't have instrumentalist and most of the youngsters are rather going into rap and reggae styles of music. We need more Gambian bands because is bands that do concerts not individual artists. That’s why most of the big shows back home are done by Senegalese bands. On our side (promoters) the only thing we can do is to blend our artist with established Senegalese bands to expose them and make them see what they could do to be in the proper limelight. To catapult our music industry to a respectable level we will need a lot of government help, starting from the grassroots. I also believe our musicians needs to do more, the promoters and dj's need to try harder and most importantly is the people out there you the consumers, you need to support them more. But the good thing is I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. Big up Gam music, all promoters of Gambian music, all Gam music producers and all Gambian artists, lets keep the dream alive. OUS2RAY: what can Gam-music expect from Mr Waka Jagne?
WAKA JAGNE: Gam music can be sure that I am always here to give advice where needed and you can rely on my support 100%OUS2RAY: that’s great, and what’s next on you diary, what can we look forward to at the end of the year and the following year. WAKA JAGNE: As usual I am full of surprises and constantly paving the way with original concepts. So wait and see. OUS2RAY: do you have any last words, advice for the youths of today? WAKA JAGNE: Always put your education first, utilise your talents, never be afraid to ask for help, stay away from crime and be ORIGINAL.It’s been a pleasure Mr Jagne, thanks for your time and we hope to catch up with you sometime soon. All the best and nuff respect!!!!
|