This was confirmed to journalists at a press conference at the Red Cross headquarters in Kanifing.
Mbye Bittaye, manager of the Humanity Starz while confirming the new singles as a masterpiece said: “When we started the band way back in 2004, many people said that these people [Humanity Starz] were just wasting their time. The big critics said the band will not be sustained but thank God we’re still crawling. When we launched the first album called ‘Aduna,’ there was another programme that was going on simultaneously at Jama Hall. We wanted to do the launch at Jarma and Abdou Gitteh Secka was in the country. They said Humanity Starz won’t pull a large crowd but we proved those people wrong and that hall was filled up. We were the first to launch an album at Jarma and when no one thought of going to Pencha Mi, we did the launch of the ‘Jotna’ album and it was a very successful one.
“My understanding of music has gone pasthobbies. It’s a noble profession and besides, music can be used for business purposes at the end of the day. Entertainment is part of human survival and you cannot enjoy life without being entertained. It’s difficult when you feel stressed and even if you are happy, you need to be entertained.”
On his part, Kalilu Banja, the secretary general of the Gambia Music Union said the music industry consists of three sub-sectors including the recording, the publishing and the live performance sub-sectors. “When you talk about the Humanity Starz, they are one of the few music groups in The Gambia that are engaged in all those different sectors,” he said. We are in this part of the world where we need to put a lot of buts together so that we can come up with a vibrant music industry.”
He added: “I would like to inform you that we have come up with a strategy for the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and the directors here have done extremely good work to ensure that there is a review of the copy right act and also legislation for the interest of the musicians of The Gambia.”
Sheikh Omar Jallow, the director of Performing and Creative Arts at the National Centre for Arts and Culture commented: “The Humanity Starz have really grown to become a household name. However, now is time to cement your work and by cementing your work is through creating albums so that you can derive revenues and incomes for your work.”
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