24 April 2006 22:34

Thione Balago Secka Interview

Just 15 hours after the historic SeneGambian Awards organised by Waka J Promotions where Thione Balago Secka was the entertainer for the Night, UKGambians.com were honoured to meet Thione Secka for an exclusive interview.

This meeting was arrange by Waka and when we arrived in the Chinese restaurant where Thione was having dinner with his wife and Lamin Cham, Champion Sounds, they kindly offered us to join them which we did. Thione was having beef with black beans sauce and so was his wife but Lamin Cham opted for something else. Me and Waka only had drinks since we ate at his house just before going out to meet the legendary Thione Seck. After the meal, Thione reveals he prefers the traditional SeneGambian dishes with more taste.

I managed to discuss with this very religious, calm, and gentleman like man about how he got involved with singing, his favourite songs, the challenges facing the SeneGambian music industry, about the award he received, the shift of his target audience amongst other things.

Thione as far as I can remember you have always been around entertaining the SeneGambian audience, when did you actually start performing?

You were probably breast feeding when I started my career, my late grandfather known as Latch Jorr was a great singer and singing has been a tradition within my family. Singing is something I inherited; something I teach rather learned. When I was a youth and still in school, I was the head singer in our school quire and it never stopped.

Which song made you famous or so to say put your name on the map?

Which song do you think?

I was too young to remember or probably not yet born, but the one I remember my mother listening to was “jongoma” with one of the lines “fi laa la don harr beh towteh, ma guesto saine la ngai daw din yow” (Here was I waiting for you, I turn my back saw you running towards me)

No, the song that made me famous is called “sey” (marriage)

My perception of your target audience is from early ages of your career you were only attracting the elder generation of the SeneGambian audience but recently you have moved to attract a more wider audience including the youths, was this deliberate?

I always hear people telling me “When I hear you sing I always feel happy”, “when ever am sad, your songs cheers me up” when am sad, my family knows how to cheer me up, they just play your songs and all my sadness will be gone.” These are people of all generations. In the beginning, the elders were more interested in the words, messages I put across; the younger generation has taken over I have not made a deliberate changed to attract the younger generation, this just happened by chance but what pleases me most is the fact that the elder generation are still hanging there and not refusing to leave it to the youths.

You have performed in many countries and places, is there any particular place or concert that stands out from the rest?

 They are all the same to me; the audience is always the same (SeneGambians) and they all share the same objective which is to be entertained and I always deliver and get the crowd of their feet.

I have only witnessed two shows with you in London, how many other occasions have played here?

I have played 5 times that is if I remember right. I was here during the Womart festival, Waka Jagne of Waka J Promotions brought me twice, Yaram Art’s Njok Malick and Lamin Cham of Champion Sounds brought me on the other occasions.

What do you think of the UK audience?

Playing in London or Birmingham is just like playing in Senegal or Gambia, the audience are practically the same, the dances are the same and they all share a common objective which is to be entertained.

The Life Time Achievement Award was awarded to you by Waka J Promotions, how high do you rank this one amongst your other awards?

I have received many awards since I started singing but the Life Time Achievement Award is ranked amongst the highest. It is a pleasure and I am honoured and cherish this award for the rest of my life.

We only know you as an entertainer, musician, are you involved with any other things besides music?

No, I don’t have time to concentrate on other activities. The music dominates most of my time. Singing is now my mean of surviving, when I started singing it was probably to be fame and to be known as a singer, I have gone past that stage now, this is my full time job where I get to feed my family from.

I have always wondered if musicians enjoy listening to their own music in their spare time?

I don’t listen to music in my spare time, and when relaxing I just watch TV.I only listen to music when am in my car driving and during that time I listen to all flavours of music, American, African, all kinds really.

Do you have any favourite within your own songs?

 Two favourite songs, one of them is the one called “Rasul”, (Allo petite) the song for the Prophet Mohammed and the other one is where I sing about my dad who was an honourable man with great dignity. He always looked after himself and was much respected within our community. The song is called “papa” (daddy) and it has been remixed in the “njoll sikim” cassette.

Who is your favourite SeneGambian artist?

No particular favourite, there are so many I enjoy listening to so it’s hard to choose one as a favourite

What is the biggest challenge facing the SeneGambians music industry at present?

Lack of resouces is one, only the drums can be manufactured in Africa all the remaining instruments must be imported. The difficulty in dealing with fellow Africans is a headache but arguably the biggest challenge of them all is the music piracy. Illegal copying of cassettes cuts down our revenue we generate through selling records and it is proving hard to make up to these losses. This use to be a problem with little effect but with the development of new technologies it is becoming increasing easy to copy and distribute large quantities.

Last but not least, we saw you last year and this year as well, can the UK SeneGambian audience expect to see you in 2007?

That is in the hands of God, and if it happens I will be more than happy to play here again.

UKG would like to take this opportunity to thank and wish Thione Secka best of luck.

Interviewed by: saul Frazer