State House, Banjul, 29th October 2019 – On the margins of the ongoing President’s Meet the People tour, President Adama Barrow has granted audience to a popular Gambian singer, Jizzle, for the successful launching of his album at a mega-concert at the Independence Stadium last week.
Jizzle, as known as Jerreh Jallow, recently launched his album ‘’Finally’’ in front of tens of thousands of supporters. The 22-year old rap sensation became the second Gambian artist to have brought such record crowd to the Stadium after Brikama-born rap sensation ST.
“We are very proud of you. In the past, it is only foreign artists that fill up the stadium. But now we have our own Gambians, very young people like you filling up the stadium. We should all be proud of that,” said Barrow.
“It is a big thing; not for you alone but for the whole country and my government.”
The president said he is committed to supporting Gambians to explore their creative potentials, stating that ‘we want Gambians to be competing at the world stage’.
“We don’t want foreign musicians to come to the Gambia to play and make huge amount of money and leave with it… it is not good for the economy. We have to make sure everything remains in The Gambia,” said Barrow.
While pledging the government’s continuous support for arts and culture, the president revealed that his government has increased the budget allocation to for the promotion of the sector.
He advised Jizzle to remain committed to music as a career and profession in order to keep the momentum. On his part, Jizzle said he was honoured to be received by the President to offer his personal congratulations.
He called for continuous government support for the music industry. Alagie Muhammed Darboe, the spokesperson for the artist also thanked the President for taking time out of his busy schedule to meet them.