News — gambia

The Gambia is West Africa‘s smallest country in terms of landmass but what it lacks in size, the country nicknamed The Smiling Coast makes up for a wide variety of cultures and a hospitable destination for tourists from especially Europe.

The economy of The Gambia is heavily reliant on its tourism sector because of its hospitable and welcoming citizens even if there are only 2.3 million of them. The Gambia’s aforementioned nickname is as a result of its place on the African map where its strategic insertion into Senegal makes it look like a face cracked a smile.

The Gambia achieved independence from the British in 1965. Even at that time, the country was regarded as a constitutional monarchy since Queen Elizabeth was the head of state and her appointee, the governor-general, was the head of government. Dawuda Jawara became the country’s first president in 1970.

During the colonial days, it was called British Gambia, in reference to the lands Britain claimed for itself around the River Gambia. This was common practice among the colonizers to name an area they took by adjectivizing the name of the area with their identity. That is how come we spoke of French Guinea, which became Guinea as well as Portuguese Guinea which became Guinea-Bissau. In 1970, the name The Gambia was taken after the country became a sovereign republic.

The long-serving leader Yahya Jammeh renamed the country the Islamic Republic of Gambia in 2015 only for current head of state Adama Barrow to go back to the republic era name.

But was inspired “Gambia” at all?

There are two reigning theories as to how Gambia came to be known. The most popular is that the name comes from the Mandinka term Kambra or Kambaa, in reference to the largest river in the country. Kambaa or Kambra was then corrupted into Gambia by the colonizers.

The second theory is that the name comes from what the Serer people called Gamba, a traditional calabash that is beaten to announce the death of an and respected Serer individual. Both the Serer and the Mandinka are ethnic natives of West Africa and The Gambia in particular.

Fatoumata Danson, a 39-year-old Gambian immigrant residing in New York, was fatally shot in the head by her 22-year-old son in retaliation for allegedly kicking him out of her home and telling him to get a job, family members said.

According to NBC New York, the incident occurred in Danson’s apartment at Lehman Village in Harlem on Tuesday, January 26. The accused – identified as Musa Camara – was later apprehended by the police somewhere around the neighborhood while still armed with the murder weapon.

Following his arrest, police said he underwent a psychiatric evaluation at a hospital. Distraught relatives who spoke to the news outlet said they want the accused to face the full rigors of the law, with Danson’s brother, Yaku Basangari, saying he wants his nephew Camara to “to rot in jail for the rest of his life.” Besides Camara, Danson had seven other children.

Basangari, who described his sister as lovely and kind, said the family immigrated to New York City from Gambia and Sierra Leone in the 1990s in search of greener pastures. “She always smiled and laughed,” he said.

Asked what may have been the motive behind Camara fatally shooting his own mother, Basangari said it was because his nephew is a “lazy bastard.” “My sister told him to get a job, threw him out of the house…and this was his reaction,” he added.

Meanwhile, the New York Daily News reported Camara was due to appear before the Manhattan Criminal Court on the day of the shooting for earlier threatening to kill Danson. Authorities had also provided Danson with a “panic button” she could press for help after she was granted an order of protection against Camara. He flouted that order when he went to her apartment to kill her.

Prior to the shooting, Camara was initially facing charges related to body-slamming his deceased mother before telling her, “I will kill you”, during a confrontation in her apartment last year. The police also reportedly visited the home several times to break up altercations between the two.

“She is an immigrant in this country, come and look for a better life and she got killed by her own son,” Yankuba Sangarie, another brother of Danson, told the New York Post.

“I want him to go the rest of his life in prison,” he emotionally added. “My nephew- I want him to go life in prison, no mercy for him.”

Camara has been charged with murder.

Since 2011 that respected kora player, vocalist and instrumentalist Sona Jobarteh dropped the album Fasiya, the world-renowned musician has not released any other album. Instead, she has been placing all her finances and energies into the Gambia Academy of Music and Culture she opened in her home country, The Gambia, in 2015.

The school is the first of its kind in The Gambia that teaches music and academic studies as an integrated course of study. In other words, the Academy educates children in their cultural traditions and heritage alongside the mainstream curriculum.

“My ambition was to teach children an innate sense of pride in their own culture and history. It became my ambition to make sure I contributed to this change,” said Jobarteh, who is from a long West African tradition of Griots and kora players from Mali and The Gambia.

At just five years old, Jobarteh was already playing the kora, the 21-string instrument which is traditionally reserved for men. Today, she is known as the first professional female kora player in The Gambia, and throughout her performances, she has shown that one does not have to conform to outside influence to be successful in the music industry.

“You can actually represent your tradition, you can even sing in your own language without having to bend to pressure not to do so,” she said.

It is against this background that she founded the Academy dedicated to the social and economic development of the country. To Jobarteh, African children, when given the kind of education her Academy offers, will be motivated to take up roles in building and harnessing the resources of their own countries rather than thinking of leaving their country.

Jobarteh, a scholar in traditional West African Mande music, came to the above realization during her studies at SOAS University in London, CNN reported. “[SOAS] has one of Europe’s largest libraries containing African literature and resources — an absolutely amazing place,” she told CNN. “But why should Africans leave Africa to go and study their own culture? This is something that didn’t sit well with me.”

So with 21 students, Jobarteh started her Academy in a makeshift facility in Farato, a rural town in western Gambia. The number of students has increased to 40, with many being orphans from rural communities who lacked access to education. Jobarteh pays the fees of all the students, using the earnings from her international touring and album sales.

With more students hoping to join the Academy, it is now expanding to Kartong in southwestern Gambia. Jobarteh purchased 50 hectares of land in Kartong in 2017 toward the construction of a new campus that will support about 300 students as well as the Academy’s Senior department for those above 18 years old.

The Academy campus, which hopes to become a “centralized hub for African cultural and academic excellence”, will offer courses including general and specialist musical education to both national and international students, all of whom will benefit from on-site accommodation. The new campus comes with facilities such as a dance studio, a concert hall, recording studio, a library, screening room and a multi-media suite, according to its website.

Sustainable, locally sourced materials will be used for the project but what really excites Jobarteh is the location of the campus. The Academy campus is not only a ten-minute walk to the beach but also closely connected to the rural community, giving Jobarteh and her team “a bright, natural setting that blends African tradition, arts and culture with academia.”

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Jobarteh is currently seeking external funding in order to complete the pioneering institution.

Since 2011 that respected kora player, vocalist and instrumentalist Sona Jobarteh dropped the album Fasiya, the world-renowned musician has not released any other album. Instead, she has been placing all her finances and energies into the Gambia Academy of Music and Culture she opened in her home country, The Gambia, in 2015.

The school is the first of its kind in The Gambia that teaches music and academic studies as an integrated course of study. In other words, the Academy educates children in their cultural traditions and heritage alongside the mainstream curriculum.

“My ambition was to teach children an innate sense of pride in their own culture and history. It became my ambition to make sure I contributed to this change,” said Jobarteh, who is from a long West African tradition of Griots and kora players from Mali and The Gambia.

At just five years old, Jobarteh was already playing the kora, the 21-string instrument which is traditionally reserved for men. Today, she is known as the first professional female kora player in The Gambia, and throughout her performances, she has shown that one does not have to conform to outside influence to be successful in the music industry.

“You can actually represent your tradition, you can even sing in your own language without having to bend to pressure not to do so,” she said.

It is against this background that she founded the Academy dedicated to the social and economic development of the country. To Jobarteh, African children, when given the kind of education her Academy offers, will be motivated to take up roles in building and harnessing the resources of their own countries rather than thinking of leaving their country.

Jobarteh, a scholar in traditional West African Mande music, came to the above realization during her studies at SOAS University in London, CNN reported. “[SOAS] has one of Europe’s largest libraries containing African literature and resources — an absolutely amazing place,” she told CNN. “But why should Africans leave Africa to go and study their own culture? This is something that didn’t sit well with me.”

So with 21 students, Jobarteh started her Academy in a makeshift facility in Farato, a rural town in western Gambia. The number of students has increased to 40, with many being orphans from rural communities who lacked access to education. Jobarteh pays the fees of all the students, using the earnings from her international touring and album sales.

With more students hoping to join the Academy, it is now expanding to Kartong in southwestern Gambia. Jobarteh purchased 50 hectares of land in Kartong in 2017 toward the construction of a new campus that will support about 300 students as well as the Academy’s Senior department for those above 18 years old.

The Academy campus, which hopes to become a “centralized hub for African cultural and academic excellence”, will offer courses including general and specialist musical education to both national and international students, all of whom will benefit from on-site accommodation. The new campus comes with facilities such as a dance studio, a concert hall, recording studio, a library, screening room and a multi-media suite, according to its website.

Sustainable, locally sourced materials will be used for the project but what really excites Jobarteh is the location of the campus. The Academy campus is not only a ten-minute walk to the beach but also closely connected to the rural community, giving Jobarteh and her team “a bright, natural setting that blends African tradition, arts and culture with academia.”

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Jobarteh is currently seeking external funding in order to complete the pioneering institution.

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