Dear Jabou Joh,

Yes, of course I remember we used to be close neighbours at
Wellingtonstreet, and our families know each other very well.

You wrote:

"I was actually trying to see if we can trigger of a discussion on this
matter so as to explore (...) what could possibly be done to remedy this
particular situation and also in terms of perhaps working with the
proper authorities to formulate laws."

Thank you for the initiative; the matter definitely deserves wider
attention!
Many people are not aware of it, but the copyright legislation is a
major issue The moneys involved world-wide run into the hundreds of
billions of dollars.
For song writing artists such as me copyright royalties form a
considerable source of income, so obviously we fight hard to defend our
interests, monitoring all developments, specifically the internet piracy
(Napster etc.) and the negative impact of large-scale piracy in Asia, in
particular in China (clandestine Ifang Bondi cd's are easily available
in Hong Kong)

The Gambia hasn't ratified international copyright conventions, allowing
legalized piracy, as a result of which Gambian musicians are denied
royalties without impunity.
To give you an example: the Senegalese government, which did implement
copyright laws, requires that music producers who want to duplicate
cassettes in one of the commercial plants pay up-front copyright moneys
to the BSDA (the Senegalese copyright office) for distribution to the
rightful authors. Gambian productions however are exempt of paying
copyright duties. So it suffices to mention/claim that your product is
for the Gambian home market to dodge payment of copyrights. Hence,
Gambia's non-compliance with copyright laws also affects the rights of
for instance Senegalese artists, seeing unscrupulous producers
duplicating/distributing their material under a Gambian flag.

Early 1998 I tried to raise the question at an official level by
submitting an open letter to the National Assembly (see below), dealing
with the issue of promoting the arts in The Gambia, including an urgent
request to implement copyright legislation. Every single member as well
as every minister received a copy of the letter. Typically, not one
single person returned so much as an acknowledgement of receipt. Sadly
culture has a very low priority.
I also keep urging fellow artists to start a political lobby to put the
copyright issue on the agenda, but for obvious reasons they are
reluctant to do so, considering they are depending on state owned media
for the promotion of their products.

PS Matarr: Dave Thomas never owned Ifang Bondi songs. He recieved the
right to exploit them - release cassettes - in return for a loan for the
acquisition of instruments. Mr. Oko Drammeh wouldn't know anything about
this, as this was many years before he was employed by us. And anyway
the nature of his job didn't include such responsibility.

TO THE HONOURABLE MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.
"Since we now have a functional democracy I would like to use my
democratic rights as a Gambian and an artist to urge the Members of
Parliament to effectively enhance the interests of the country's
cultural sector and the artists and to commit themselves to the long
overdue promotion of our culture.

Artists and crafts(wo)men, representing the applied arts, are essential
to maintain a spiritually healthy, open and progressive society.
From Stone Age on societies have acknowledged the importance of the arts
by providing an infrastructure which enables artists to develop their
talents for the benefit of the whole society. It's the artists' role to
preserve and form the cultural identity of their society or country,
thus carving its profile amongst other cultures.

It is, however, not so easy to preserve one's unique cultural identity.
Nowadays we are, as many small and non-western societies, subjected to
the aggressive impact of globally operating mass media and
multinationals, whose sole aim is to turn the entire world into a
consumers market for their products, brainwashing people to exchange
their culture for a commercially dictated "lifestyle".
It is an alarming development that on the local level entrepreneurs are
adopting the same materialistic strategy, for instance Senegal's mbalax
industry or our tailors abandoning traditional dress-making to embark on
mass-producing ill-fitting jeans.

We, the Gambian artists, represent an important section of the society,
comprising the following professional branches:

- the performing arts: music; dance; theatre;
- the visual arts: painting; sculpture ('woodcarving'); photography;
filming and video filming;
- the applied arts: textile design; fashion design and  embroidery
('weaving/choup/batik and 'sewing'); jewellery design; pottery; graphic
design; architecture;
- literature (oral and written): poetry; prose; play and script writing.

Despite the importance of the artists' role in Gambian society our work
is often not taken seriously and our professional interests, in terms of
training opportunities, studios, venues,  promotion, wages are largely
neglected or not recognized at all.
Therefore I appeal to all Members of Parliament, duly elected to
represent all Gambians including artists, to follow the example of other
countries by drafting and passing bills to following effect:

1. Sign the international conventions re the protection of copyrights
and make piracy a legally punishable offence.
Introduce copyright levies on public performance and/or commercial
exploitation of work of arts, the moneys to be administered by official
copyright organizations, e.g. BSDA in Senegal.

 2. Have radio and other audio(-visual) media, club DJs etc. dedicate,
by force of law, at least 50% of their playtime to Gambian artists
and/or their products (regardless of style, be it traditional, classic,
pop).

3. Allocate a substantial share of (national) lottery moneys to the
development of the cultural sector, e.g. for scholarships to talented
artists to attend art schools , professional theater/dance/film training
courses and conservatories abroad (considering that as yet the domestic
economy will not be able to for cater such costly institutions).
Rather than wasting their talents on producing fake artefacts for
tourists or becoming uninspired hotel entertainers, or even worse being
exploited for fund-raising events, these trained artists will then be
able to consider an international career or become expert teachers in
their own right.

4. Levy taxes on foreign performers and allocate these moneys to the
development of our own cultural sector.

5. Implementation of yearly or biennial  prestigious awards to the best
artists, and have the work of the award winners
performed/exhibited/published etc. in important cultural centres.
The event, e.g. under the auspices of the UNESCO, to be chaired by a
jury of internationally renowned experts/artists in the respective
fields of art.

6. Creation of 'state' galleries annex gift shops displaying and selling
the best artistic products our country has to offer with certificates of
authenticity and signed by the artist. The profits are to be ploughed
back into the development of the cultural sector (see 3). Such
galleries/gift shops prove to be a huge success in other countries; it
makes art accessible and raises the public's cultural awareness as it is
far easier to walk into an "art supermarket" than visiting a museum. It
enables Gambians as well as visitors to purchase valuable and original
gifts and it will be an incentive to individual artists to produce real
works of art, rather than tourist gimmicks.
The proposed measures will hardly form a burden to the state, on the
contrary, and will be greatly appreciated by all Gambians irrespective
of ethnic background and walks of life.

Herewith I also urgently appeal to all fellow artists to send a letter
of adhesion to the National Assembly to support the proposed measures,
as to form a strong lobby to have our professional interests
acknowledged.

Don't forget, we provide the cultural GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of
our country!   Badou Jobe / musician"

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