For a while there seemed to be a genuine interest on the Gambia-L in the history & the future of the Gambian music, and I gladly would have shared my firsthand knowledge of the history and my musical experiences in order to contribute to a constructive discussion. But reading mr. Oko Drammeh's messages & related reactions, I realized the futility of such effort. Instead I'll do something many people dislike me for most: telling the truth. To mr. Oko Drammeh: it took you 20 years to get me angry, congratulations, you finally succeeded! People know I don't waste my time with gossip and nonsense (the suggestion I dabble in black magic will make anyone, who knows me & my family background, roar with laughter). Normally I wouldn't have bothered to react to the postings of mr. Oko Drammeh, even though it's easy to refute his ramblings line for line. Mr. Drammeh, who in the late 70s did a stint with Ifang Bondi as a junior employee, had only limited access to the internal affairs of Ifang Bondi. After his departure all his further information, covering the following 20 years of Ifang Bondi, is based on speculation & rumours and outright nonsense. But it hurts me deeply how mr. Drammeh ridicules Paps Touray's image. The moment Paps passed away, mr. Drammeh rushed in to exploit his death, grossly using his obituary to promote the sale of his Soto Koto products. So I feel I owe it to Paps Touray to explain the true role mr. Drammeh played, and I challenge anyone to prove me wrong. Paps & I had a strong bond. Somehow our characters complemented each other, Paps being more of a dreamer, a bit unpractical and susceptible, while I tend to be more down-to-earth and determined. Paps often relied on me to solve his problems/regulate his life, which wasn't always easy. However hard the Oko's of this world try, no-one will be able to destroy the lifetime friendship that existed between me and Paps. Likewise the wrong Oko has inflicted on Paps, sadly enough, cannot be undone anymore. Since the Super Eagles days Paps & I had formed a musical team. Paps was a great singer and a good text writer, but not a composer/arranger, lacking the necessary instrumental skills. Not uncommon for a singer, after all even Pavarotti doesn't compose the arias he's singing. On the other hand the Super Eagles experience had taught me to arrange & compose. The two of us would spend endless hours together at home working on new songs, later on often joined by Senemi (whom I myself had recruited & trained). Ali Harb, Bai Janha, Ousman Beyai also collaborated with Paps to put his lyrics to music. From day one everyone relied on me to be the driving force behind Ifang Bondi. Being a bandleader & artistic director is not a very glamorous job, one that few musicians would aspire, and certainly no-one else within Ifang Bondi ever wanted it. It implies a lot of responsibility and stamina. While other band members are free to come & go as they please, and consequently do, the bandleader is left to struggle on in heavy weather, when all crew has jumped boat, putting in all his effort as well as money to keep the ship afloat. I've kept Ifang Bondi sailing for better & worse. After Karamo, Paps and Senemi had quit many people expected, even hoped Ifang Bondi to perish. Instead I started to train young local musicians. By now dozens of young gifted artists have benefited from international touring & recording with Ifang Bondi. It's an ongoing creative process, securing the authentic music for the next generation, true to the ideology of Ifang Bondi. During his job with Ifang Bondi mr. Drammeh's greatest claim to fame is writing some liner notes for the sleeve of the Saraba album. Otherwise he isn't remembered for any lasting contribution to Ifang Bondi. Hence mr.Drammeh wasn't really missed when he went. Mr. Drammeh himself however wasn't prepared to let go, trying desperately to get a grip on Ifang Bondi and for the next 20 years kept pestering us with his dubious schemes. With time mr.Drammeh's obsession with Ifang Bondi assumed megalomaniac proportions. First by declaring himself - in media interviews, bios, job interviews - the manager, then founder-member of Ifang Bondi & originator of the Afro-Manding Sound, and eventually even manager of Super Eagles - in a self-promoting article which he submitted to the Rough Guide of World Music (which was promptly corrected in the next edition, after people noticed this blatantly untrue fact). Yet my wife and I once gave mr. Drammeh the benefit of the doubt, when he invited us to discuss the plan for a US tour, labelled "the Golden Opportunity" The proposal consisted of expanding Ifang Bondi into a 25-piece band, including long-dead musicians, blind teenage girls, several of mr. Drammeh's Dutch wives/girlfriends etc. Leadership of this ambitious enterprise to be formed by a triumvirate of mr. Drammeh, Kunon Jarjutay and Paps. Mr. Drammeh graciously assigned me the - unpaid - job of training this travelling circus, in 4 weeks time, but otherwise I wasn't included in the line-up. Artist fee for the lucky ones to be selected consisted of free transport and a 2 meals a day... I duly showed the Golden Opportunity to the other members in The Gambia, we had a big laugh, binned it and went on with our own business. Other people however, notably musicians and music professionals, didn't escape unharmed. Mr. Drammeh accumulated massive debts everywhere, cheating people on contracts & payments; he got blacklisted by world music promoters and agencies, and finally, after a legal battle, was even kicked out of his own African festival. Very sad was the fate of the young Seck sisters from Dakar, who paid a lot of money to Oko after being promised a 20-gig international tour, only to find out - when stranded in Holland - that it was all a big lie. It caused a huge scandal in Senegal. Mr. Drammeh disrepute affected us as well: due to his claim about being our manager, we were sought out by angry people, victim of his schemes, who assumed we'd know his hide-out. In 1991, only a few weeks before departing for our international tour, Paps Touray decided to resign - tired of the hardship of touring and the rigours of rehearsing a new repertoire. All of us, me in particular, were very upset. In vain his family, including Mas Sosseh, as well as fellow musicians such as Bai Janha, Ali Harb, Ousman Beyai tried to make him change his mind. All these people can testify to the truth of this. Meanwhile mr. Drammeh turned record producer. After a fateful recording with Abdel Kabirr (who will be happy to provide details) and the "Soto Koto Band" - a loose collection of western studio musicians, Mr. Drammeh moved on to the exploitation of the "Legend". He brought Paps to Holland with the promise to turn him into a superstar. It must have come as a bad surprise that Paps failed to be a composer. So Ousman Beyai was rushed in to rescue the recording project, trying to reconstruct from old tapes the "big Ifang Bondi anthem tunes" Paps never composed... Lack of professional artistic direction turned the project into a failure. But finally somehow a record was produced, with mr. Drammeh claiming, at the expense of the lawful composers, a substantial share of the copyrights as "arranger" - even though he cannot write one single note. So finally Paps Touray's splendid solo career was ready to take off. And in the capable hands of top producer mr. Drammeh Paps' solo career, between 1993 and 2001, comprised the dazzling number of 6 concerts, 2 of them in mr. Drammeh's own festival, a sorry sight no Gambian wishes to remember. In between - with mr Drammeh hiding in Hollywood - Paps was left in Amsterdam to fend for himself, penniless, visa expired, moving from one sympathizing friend's house to another - for some time I paid a cousin of mine for Paps' upkeep. Paps' solo career culminated in the memorable tour to Sweden, when on arrival in Stockholm the band were welcomed by a US fax from mr. Drammeh "TOUR CANCELLED". The Dutch band members, including Ousman Beyai, promptly returned, paying for their own tickets. Paps & Kunon were stranded in Sweden. Before long their visa expired and eventually they ended up in jail. Kunon was extradited while Paps was rescued by marrying a local lady. (Stockholm Gambians, kindly correct me if I'm wrong) Paps remained in Stockholm, depressed and bitter, brooding on a chance to take mr. Drammeh to court. Finally, his health ravaged, people helped him to go home to The Gambia. The whole Stockholm diaspora knew exactly what Oko Drammeh did to Paps; they also see with their own eyes how mr. Drammeh, by means of an obituary, tries to turn the loss of a great musician into a personal profit - yet people think it befitting to extend their heartfelt sympathy to such a person... So now we have 2 stories: - One is Badou Jobe's story, who, because of never quiting, happens to be the most knowledgeable person on Ifang Bondi, from its conception 30 years ago up till now; whose life consists of plain hard work and professional skills, and who doesn't owe - musically or otherwise - anything to anyone, least of all to supernatural powers :). - The other one is the story of a former Ifang Bondi employee hovering around in a twilight zone of voodoo, spiteful gossip, deceit, lies and jealousy, and who thrives on people's credulity. No doubt the 2nd story makes better reading, judging by the reactions. So I gladly leave the field to the likes of mr. Drammeh and his revelations, for the members of the Gambia-L to gloat on, wishing them happy reading Badou Jobe ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~