Sulay from Musigam

With my interest in world music it is hardly surprising that many of my friends in The Gambia are musicians and I know how little they get paid. In fact by the time they have paid for a taxi to take their instruments home after a gig there is virtually nothing left!

Over the past three years a group of Gambian musicians led by Sulay Sowe have been trying to set up a musicians union in The Gambia and in May last year “Musigam” went to congress and was officially inaugurated.

Musigam’s core objectives are to raise the status of musicians in The Gambia, to enhance the profile of Gambian music and culture, to set a reasonable rate of pay for artists and to carry out cultural exchanges with world musicians and academics.

A recent fund-raiser in the UK was a great success and featured musicians’ such as Juldeh Camara (from Brikama and recent winner of Radio 3’s World Music Award) and Musa Mboob (originally from Serekunda). They hope to have raised enough to employe someone to man the union’s office in The Gambia, lobbying for fair rates of pay whilst also preserving and developing the musical cultural heritage in The Gambia.

For more information you can contact Musigam at musigam@gmail.com

Musigam’s next event is a concert in The Gambia for World Music Day, 21st June 2009.

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