By Betty Ceesay
It’s another Wednesday with another set of musical porters who are no less than Gambia’s Big Banga and our honorable Musa Jobarteh the commander of the quieter.
While some people are born into their careers, others on the other hand need to search and search to find what they could make a career.
There are also those who search for a while and end up accepting whatever came their way, the list of different stories goes on and on. One of our guests, however, so new to me and probably you, too, as well found a career in music while just tasting the nature of the industry.
Big Banger said he was just trying out, just passing by, and, through that found out that he actually had something for the game. Since coming into the industry, the singer has been presently recognized as a good traditional music icon. Although, he blends quite well into the current modern trends, the singer proudly represents the Gambia’s culture through his fondling usage of the local languages in his songs. The singer is versatile and fluently speaking many local languages.
The question many asked is why Big Banga, one may want to know. The singer explained the genesis of his name. ‘Big Banga’ came through as a representation of who he is and what he does. Gambia’s Big Banga has been into massive settings for as long as it is and this gave birth to the Big.
He has always been into big moves, big dreams, big everything and so it was easy for him to be nicknamed Big. The ‘Banga,’ however, is the first syllables of his real name and this was what made up the Big Banga. Interesting!
Big Banger said he had no serious thought about starting a music career it was never a part of his plans until he decided to check it out. “Music was not a thing I gave much attention to while growing up,” he explained and added that music drew itself to him as while he was just trying it out as some sort of a joke and suddenly realized that he actually had the talent.
The singer started with a group called Malabo Empire and in 2019 released his single titled Matora meaning name sake which he proudly dedicated to his beloved mother.
In 2021 he launched his popular album called Acorombasi meaning “pinch it”. The title of the song was however inspired by the many petty talks in town as reported by the singer.
The journey of becoming an artist, he said was tough and rough. But knowing what you want to become at an early age might have a great advantage for the fact that you start planning your life, setting objectives, and knowing the baby step goals to be accomplished in accordance with the ultimate. But he worked hard in a short while to develop himself on his career.
Big Banga is an all types of music lover ranging from R&B, hip-hop, and so on. The genre that stands out the most for him however is reggae music. The singer dislosed that he doesn’t like the idea of sticking to just one genre, he likes producing from all the genres that he loves and can do good in. As of now, however, he has produced more of hip-hop and hopefully will produce more of it as his major focus area.
As many people struggle with having the help and support from friends and family, Big Banga happens to be one of the few Gambian singers who have not faced much opposition from his loved ones concerning his decision to become an artist. He has so many people that are involved in his career and have helped him in his growth to becoming who he is today and among them are Movement Ganga, Gambian Namen Sano and a lot more.
“I have never been to the English school” the Big Banga revealed. But despite not attending English school, Big Banga still speaks good and understandable English language and many other local languages such as Sarahuleh which is his mother tongue, Mandinka, and wollof.
Big Banga is set to launch his latest album on November 19 2022 at the Qcity, Fans and lovers of music should expect a lot from him as per his promise he said “I’ve got so much in stock for you.”
