SILGIL-KO TO ONE OF AFRICA'S GREATEST ARTISTS AND THINKERS! GAMBIA'S EBOU MADI SILLAH By Mbye Touray February 2006 Sigil-Ko. Comrade (Nyancho) is gone, Baaba, and it may sound curious to those who may not understand, but somehow to me, as painful as his passing away really hits me, his bravery and courage in confronting the reality that life will sooner or later come to an end, makes it easier for me to fathom that one of the Most influential people on earth who brought an added dimension to my ideological perspective is no longer with us. Comrade the philosopher; Comrade the Historian; Comrade the indefatigable advocate of the poor and oppressed, where-ever they may be; Comrade whose house was open to all peoples from all works Of life from the farthest corners of the world; whose house was a forum for intellectual discussion, and above all, a house where one learns that art and Artists have a social responsibility to express that a different world exists for the poor and oppressed-a world of hunger, misery, poor health, illiteracy, Joblessness; and above all, a world that is sustained through political intimidation and coersion, and yes, pure terror. But perhaps, more important for Comrade Was his firm conviction to the very end of his life that the resilience and will of the poor and oppressed wherever they may be in their struggle for A more just, equitable and humane society will ultimately prevail. SUCH WAS THE FAITH THAT COMRADE HAD ALWAYS EXPRESSED IN HIS WORK OF ART. The man was more than just a friend, or brother, or comrade-in-arms; he was us, and we were him. It is very easy for me to drift into a sort of eulogy about the mans character, his talents as an individual artist, as a humorist, or devoted husband, father, brother Or whatever, but I will be doing my man a profound disservice if /we dwell on these individual character-traits; you see, Comrade was larger than all of these-and in my view the honourable way of honouring the man and his legacy is to make all concerted efforts to preserve his artistic work in all the mediums He employed, including his written word-simply put, we need to make a concerted effort to preserve his legacy. Mbye Touray. いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] いいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいいい