Mr. Badou Jobe,

In one of Oko's earlier postings he wrote:

"We cannot build the future without knowing the past.
It is hypocritical to say that we are all brothers and sisters and that we must not talk amongst ourselves but keep our mouths shut and leave things the way they are and everything is fine. Africa has been going on too long in this trend. We need a new approach to our problems and
frustrations, in a respectful and intelligent way, for the way forward".

It was this position of Oko Drammeh's that I declared my agreement with. Perhaps my formualtion was unfortunate, in which case I must say clearly that I did not mean to hold you personally as a social problem. Far from it. Besides, I am convinced that others who commented on my opinion did so in support of the said view, not necessarily in support of Oko's version of the causes of differences within Ifang Bondi.

It is encouraging though, to notice that both Oko Drammeh and yourself seemed to have geared up to enlighten us more and provide fresh insights into the Gambian music industry in a less tense note. Please, let us continue the discussion in that spirit.

Sincerely,
Momodou S Sidibeh 


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Badou Jobe" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2003 1:17 AM
Subject: Re: Conspiration Paps Touray / The Dream Team


> Dear Mr. Modou Sidibeh, on 29 March you wrote in reply to my own
> posting:
> 
> "I am inclined towards sharing the view advanced by Oko Drammeh, namely,
> we cannot hope to redress social problems if we desist from narrating
> their causes, for fear of brewing fresh acrimony."
> 
> Thank you very much for the honour of promoting me to a social problem,
> where previously I had been considered a mere radical individual.
> Your in general highly regarded opinion will definitely add weight to
> the concerted effort to recreate Gambian music history until a
> satisfactory outcome has been reached, doing justice to the likes of Mr.
> Oko Drammeh and fellow gurus of Gambian culture.
> 
> Well then, here's your dream team - Mr. Oko Drammeh & Mr. Tombong Saidy
> - when it comes to narrating causes & redressing social problems,
> besides of course internationally exploiting Gambian music and culture.
> And who definitely have proved themselves utterly fearless when it comes
> to brewing acrimony.
> 
> Under Mr. Saidy's GRTS reign, they already joined forces in securing the
> historic archives of the GRTS, comprising invaluable unique live
> material of all Gambia's greats, both modern bands and the maestro's of
> the traditional music, to be digitized (transferred to cd masters) by
> Lasting Value.
> Lasting Value is a Texas/US based commercial multimedia company, of
> which Mr. Oko Drammeh is an associate and which he uses to market his
> CD/DVD products.
> 
> Recently Mr. Oko Drammeh paid a trip to China, meeting with
> entertainment business executives, looking for strategic partners in the
> field of CD/DVD production, marketing & merchandising, specifically in
> the field of cultural music.  Mr. Drammeh/Lasting Value is soon going to
> open an office in China.
> 
> China is the biggest producer in the world of cheap (pirate) cds (and
> cd-roms), due to the fact that it never signed international copyright
> laws which enables it to reproduce (steal) original music without paying
> one penny royalties to the authors or even without the author's
> authorization.
> Just like China, The Gambia also hasn't signed international copyright
> laws. This implies that original/authentic Gambian material, including
> the historic GRTS archives, can be exploited without legal sanctions for
> non-payment to the authors or the authors' refusal of using the
> material. A producer can even assign the authorship to some-one else -
> for instance himself - than the real author. As a matter of fact this
> already happened.
> 
> 
> The story continues !!!! promises mr. Oko Drammeh
> Mr. Sidibeh, see what I mean about the 2nd story: People want to know,
> says the Dream Team.
> 
> Wishing all of the Gambia-L continuing happy reading (mind the loose
> marbles).
> 
> Badou Jobe
> 
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