>From: Badou Jobe <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: Gambian Music History / Albert Harb - Ifang Bondi >Date: Sat, 22 Mar 2003 19:47:37 +0100 > >Pa Touray's passing away clearly triggers off an interest in the icons >of Gambian music. >Following below the (extended) contents of a private email sent before >to Momodou Sidibeh, asking about Albert Harb, vocalist/saxophone & flute >player/ composer of Ifang Bondi. >I'll be glad to contribute any further details about the history of >Gambian music. > >Badou Jobe/Ifang Bondi > >ALBERT HARB (1951 - 1993) >Albert (aka Ali) Harb was a wonderful singer, saxophone & flute player >and a gifted composer. >He was born & grew up in Fatoto, where his father was a trader. As a >result Ali was fluent in Fula and Mandinka, both the language and the >traditional music. >He got his musical training with the Police Band, the hotbed for many >outstanding musicians, including Super Eagles/Ifang Bondi members Paps >Touray, Edu Haffner, Pa Njie (bass), Samson Gassama. >(Commander Nicol of the Police Band used to positively hate SE/IB for >hijacking his best musicians!) > >Albert replaced saxophonist Modou Cham in 1974, when at the end of an >Ifang Bondi tour in England Cham stayed behind. >Albert soon became the 2nd front man next to Paps. His superb high tenor >voice complemented Paps' grave baritone in a combination unmatched in >African music (as showcased in "Sutukun" on the Saraba album) >Apart from being an outstanding musician & composer - e.g. "Yolele" and >"Nyano Faro" - Albert was also a wonderful person, the eternal >peacemaker. His exceptional sense of humour & wittiness would make us >helpless with laughter and made us again and again overcome hard times. >With his talents, his great personality and his good looks he was >everyone's darling, both with his colleagues and the audience. > >In the early 80s Ifang Bondi got hit by a boycott by the then regime >after I categorically refused to swap our critical lyrics for songs >praising the political leaders & their cronies. As a result public >performance and airplay were denied to us (Ifang Bondi tapes in the >radio archives still show the banning stickers). >We had no other option than to go abroad. Albert headed for Ivory Coast >while the core of Ifang Bondi - Pa Touray, Kunon Jarjutay, Karamo >Sabally, Mawdo Sy and I myself - went to Europe were we recorded the >beautiful album Mantra, the title song of which - for obvious reasons >("Stop the tribalism, nepotism, opportunism") - >never got airplay in The Gambia. > >In 85/86 we came back to The Gambia, and, joined by Albert, tried to >perform again. Only to find out that the Ifang Bondi music with its >critical lyrics was still very much unwelcome in our home country. So we > >focused on international tours and recorded the album "Sanjo". > > >From 89 on Albert came along on all our European tours, forming with >Paps the most beautiful vocal duo to ever exist in African music. >When Paps decided to retire in 1990 - tired of the hardship of touring >and the strenuous demands of working on a new repertoire - Albert >remained the only front man of Ifang Bondi. >In 1993 he developed some lung problems and the doctor advised him to >refrain from singing and playing flute & saxophone for a while. We >decided to leave him in The Gambia so that he would be in good condition > >to come over for the recording sessions planned for the end of the year. > >In July, during a big concert in Amsterdam, Samson Gassama -just >returned from The Gambia -told us Albert had very suddenly died. It was >the hardest concert I ever had to play in my life: smiling to an >ecstatic crowd whilst inside I was crying. > >Albert's family told us afterwards that he was in good shape, cheerful >as ever and had died - completely unexpectedly but peacefully - in his >sleep. >His sudden death, at only 41 years of age, sent shock waves through the >international African >music community but was largely ignored in the Gambia. >I dedicated the new album "Daraja" to him. I also wrote a tribute to >Albert, "Kibaru", a re-working of a popular song Ali & I wrote together, > >which features as the first song on the following album "Gis Gis". > >Then 3 years ago I lost under tragic circumstances another one of my >lifetime friends, drummer Malan Gassama. In the middle of a live radio >show we did together on radio FM Malan collapsed and died on the spot of > >a heart attack. This was just after Malan told me he wanted to rejoin >Ifang Bondi and we were very thrilled about the prospect of our renewed >collaboration. So again the next album - a re-release of the original >Super Eagles material - sadly featured an obituary... > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l >To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: >[log in to unmask] > >To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface >at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~