By Demba Baldeh Seattle, WA
It is a common knowledge that artists and their audiences live a symbiosis life where neither the artist nor the audience can afford to alienate the other. The artist needs the audience as that is his farm where he gets his daily living and the audiences need the product of the artist for entertainment which nourishes the soul and brings temporary excitement into their lives.
It is also a conventional business practice and smart public relationship strategy for any corporation or private entity no matter how big or small to stay away from negative publicity in the press. Although negative publicity can sometimes yield temporary attention, in the long run its negative impact far supersedes its benefits. This is the moral story that consumed the otherwise well liked Senegalese artists Thione Balago Seck, his young son Wally Seck and the Raan Daan band during their just concluded tour of the United States.
Thione Seck the Senegalese music icon for decades have enjoyed unprecedented popularity and respect from all ages because of the originality of his music coupled with his melodious voice. His songs are often of substance invoking deep ties within relationships and sometimes referencing religious faith that mostly appeals to many audiences. Of recent though, the usually calm demeanor artist who handles his stage presence well ventured into politics in his music by praise singing controversial leaders such as Gambian President Yahya Jammeh and to a lesser extent former Senegalese President Abdou Joof who was defeated by Abdoulie Wade of Senegal at a presidential poll in 2000.
Although it is a common occurrence for artists to praise sing leaders in position of power, the level of political consciousness of citizens and fans of these artists have lately taken offense of the excessive praise of leaders in the face of oppression of their people without regard to the plight of victims. Thione Seck like many other artists frequented Banjul to praise Gambian President Yahya Jammeh mainly to get a share of the dictator’s display of wealth and lavish life style. As if that was not enough, Thione Balago Seck was caught by a journalist before boarding a plane who asked why he sings praises to Yahya Jammeh especially with Jammeh’s dismal human rights records. Thione’s response in an angry tune saying “Dena woi kumaa buga woi” translation (I will since anybody I like to praise sing)”, would attract an uproar and eventually a campaign by dissident activists led by Democratic Union of Gambian Activists (DUGA) and their counterpart a civil society group base in Senegal. They called on fans to boycott his shows in the United States. The controversy made headlines on Newspapers, online blogs and became the topic of discussion on social media, listservs and online radios for weeks.
As he began his tour of the United States, the controversy intensified with almost everybody weighing in on the subject including people who never participate in political discussions. Supporters argued that he reserves the right to sing anyone and besides he wasn’t the first one to praise sing a dictator. Opponents decried his lack of sensitivity to the oppressed masses in Gambia and the illegal execution of prisoners including two Senegalese citizens one of them a woman – Tabara Samba. The controversy trailed Thione and his son and he would face questions every step of the way… It became a distraction to his usual self and the damage control to walk back from what he said appeared to have been too little too late..
The initial scouting report on Thione and Wally Balago Seck’s tour of the United States was of mixed reactions. However, as they continue to tour the US words started going round that the attendance in Atlanta, Maryland, New York and other States have turned out to be an embarrassing disaster. The Show in Seattle was scheduled to take place on Friday April 11th 2013. Seattle and the Northwest community were excited about the prospect of Thione Seck and his son performing in Seattle. Many neighboring states as far as Alaska were reportedly buying airline tickets to attend the show. As the publicity continuous with Boye promotions doing radio and social media announcements, the young ladies were so excited they bought dresses, shoes some reportedly as costly as $800 a dress. This reporter could sense an excitement in the air with people even taking some time off from work just for this event.
All of a sudden on Thursday night, this reporter was contacted by Boye Promotions who spent a sleepless night trying to save the day by making the event possible for his community. He did everything but to no avail. Apparently, there was either gross miscommunication among the parties or simply it was a case of bunch of amateurish aspiring music promoters who jumped into an expensive enterprise without the experience and adequate resources to fulfill their promise to the people. According to Boye promotions the lady a Guinean national – Mariama Seray Jallow commonly known as Masadi, one Tijan Touray a DJ in New York, Lamin Cham music promoter from Gambia and one Senegalese national Saihou supposedly promoter of Thione Seck were each giving different information to each other. “No one knew who was in charge or who was supposed to do or say what” said one of the parties involved.
The contract that was signed between Boye promotion and Masadi indicated that Boye promotion was responsible for bringing the artists to Seattle but that Tijan Touray was to pay for their return ticket to New York so they could have another show there on Saturday before heading back to Senegal. Apparently neither folks wanted to pay for the expenses of the outbound tickets from Seattle. Boye promotion volunteered to pay for the return tickets but it was too late. Devastated with potential loss of almost over $8,000, Boye promotion posted an apology on his face book page stating “I’m profoundly saddened to announce that Thione seck Seattle show that was supposed to be held today has been cancelled. I would like to let everyone know that the circumstances leading to cancellation of this show is beyond our control. We have done everything to make this happen but to no success. I want to thank the people of Seattle for their support!! If you have questions please feel free to call me or send me a message! We will keep you posted with any new development! WE WILL FIGHT THIS!!!
According to Masadi who we spoke to at length about this incident, the shows throughout the United States were a disaster with absolutely no money whatsoever made by any of the parties involved. As a result no one had the money to pay for Thione and his bands’ return tickets from Seattle. The elderly Thione Seck reportedly angry like hell insisted that he wasn’t going to fly to Seattle without his return tickets. He was embarrassingly left stranded in Carolina refusing to speak to anyone involved. He reportedly headed back to Maryland for his flight back to Senegal on Sunday disappointed and feeling abandoned and disrespected.
The Seattle Community is left with mixed feelings some angry for dashing their hopes mostly the women and others relieved that they were saved the agony of having to give their hard earned dollars to what increasingly appears to be an unworthy artists who only cares about going after traces of cash from anywhere he can get it. One commentator said to this reporter “for those who think Thione Seck does not need the people’s cash, it is a flat lie as he wouldn’t have left his family and comfort in Senegal only to be stranded at an airport here”. He added while the money he gets here and there will not make or break him, he too needs to go to work to put food on the table just like any of us.
As angry and disappointed as the Seattle population is, at least majority did not lose their money or spend the night over what could have gone down as another failed program with handful of people showing up. There are several lessons to learn here from promoters, to fans to the Artists themselves. In short, artists must never engage in negative publicity when on a music tour where they depend on the people showing up to the event and not a particular institution. Second, the aspiring music promoters must learn never to do business as usual where you they rely on he said she said… Third the fans must understand the nature of such business and not rush to spend their hard earn resources to praise singers who may never remember them again in their lives. As for dynamic political activists like DUGA, it may be comforting for them to know that in fact Thione’s trip to the United States may have largely failed because of the negative publicity. However, it is prudent for activists to apply the same standards to all artists across the board who only care about the cash they get from ruthless leaders rather than being sensitive to the general plight of the people. For Thione and his young son, the next time you caught up with a journalist and they ask you a sensitive question take the diplomatic route and think before you leap!