By Betty Ceesay
Aisha is a young determined, hardworking, and super multi-talented Gambian lady. She is gifted and involved in numerous works of life, she is most commonly known for her DJ works. She plays at parties, clubs, Ceremonies, etc. In her own words “I love my work being a DJ”.
Isha’s education was put on a halt after sitting for her grade 9 final examinations.
She however attended primary and middle school.
“I have ever been all about business and it took my attention away from school,” she said.
Aisha explained that she was in and out of Senegal and had lived there at some point and only came to the Gambia for feasts and this was because one of her parents lived there.
After one of my visits to my mom In 2015, I decided to stay in the Gambia and start my DJ career.
The desire to be a DJ started from my love for music. Aisha explains her love for music as an addiction “Music is my pain killer, whatever stress I’m going through, music just works it all for me. It cools and calms me down”. And from this passion, she thinks herself into sharing this beautiful work of art with other people by becoming a DJ.
It wasn’t easy for Aisha to finally start doing what she loved because of the culture, especially, in the Gambia. Being a female child in the Gambia places strong restrictions on you. This is because society defines almost everything for you and unfortunately being a DJ is ruled out for women. And so for Aisha to start her journey to becoming a DJ, she had to fight battles to win. The first person she had to convince was her mom. Many of her family members discouraged her as well but she stood her ground to become who she wished to be.
Every upcoming individual needs someone to uplift them, show them the way, and so forth and for Aisha, DJ So Fly happens to be that person. She described him as her greatest pusher because he encouraged her and put her through the system among many others.
Aisha first played at Officer’s Mess. This was the place she learned a lot about the whole process.
Even at her start, things were still very hard on her with the negative comments and discouragements she was getting from people she loved and cared for and so she had to stop at some point, come back, and stop again but giving up was never going to be a deal for her.
Aisha learned the hard way but she is very proud of herself today because she is doing what she loves and has gained her family’s support.
According to her, trusting yourself and knowing where you come from is good enough to take you anywhere you want to be. She added that no friend or whosoever can influence her to do things against her will and this is because she knew herself and knew where she wanted to be.
Isha played around Senegambia, Kololi queen set, Benece, and many other venues but recently she only plays at ceremonies and events like weddings, naming ceremonies, birthdays, and the like.
