By Ibrahim Sorious Samura

The City of Banjul will host the second edition of the Festival of ECOWAS Nations (ECOFEST) at the Bakau Stadium on the 5th April, 2019. The Gambia, otherwise known as the ‘Smiling Coast of West Africa’ will play host to nine (9) West African nations in a night of music festivities. This follows after a successful festival in Freetown 2018 – ECOFEST’s maiden edition. It brought together seven (7) nations on one stage, sharing multitudes of culture and music backgrounds. The Kabaka Multimedia & Entertainment (KME) from Sierra Leone and Empire Entertainment from Ghana were the organisers and brain behind the this regional music meetup.

This year’s theme/edition is titled ‘Battle of The Storms’. KME is partnering with GlobalAce to host ECOFEST GAMBIA 2019.

“This show demonstrates that ECOFEST is an international brand from a Sierra Leonean idea,” CEO of KME, Lawyer Abu Bakarr Turay aka Kabaka told Vertex Media.

ECOFEST is the first of it’s kind amalgamating the entertainment industry of seven West African countries for a start. The notion was concocted by Sierra Leone’s lead Entertainment Promoter Lawyer Abu Bakarr Turay popularly known as The Kabaka, CEO of KME Records and Ghana’s biggest entertainment guru Nat Kwabena Adisi popularly known as Bola Ray of EIB Network as they thought it fit to escalate the now legendary Ghana Meets Naija show to another level. It is clear that the two giants of West Africa, Nigeria and Ghana are blazing the trail in the entertainment industry in West Africa and even Africa as a whole. Accounting for millions of dollars in revenue every year, the entertainment sector in these two countries now impacts greatly on their respective GDPs. Nearly $4 billion in Nigeria alone in 2017 and accounts for 20% of their workforce. The case is not so for Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia and Guinea. In Sierra Leone more especially, YouTube views for example are at a record low. There’s also no decent hall in Sierra Leone that can accommodate up to 2,000 people for any Musical activity. Unlike Nigeria that has Eko Conference Center that hosts about 5000 people and the Fantasy Dome in Accra that hosts 10,000 people, Sierra Leone can only host such an event at the Siaka Stevens Stadium.

ECOFEST will bring together talents from SIERRA LEONE, LIBERIA, GAMBIA, SENEGAL, GUINEA CONAKRY, NIGERIA AND GHANA and many more countries from especially West Africa. The aim is to first achieve a united West African Entertainment platform. There’s an uneven advantage of bigger nations with greater population against smaller nations with lesser population. Unlike Places like South Africa and East Africa, West Africa is now represented by only Nigeria and Ghana, relegating talents from countries like Sierra Leone, Gambia, Guinea and Liberia to the sidelines. Even Senegal that used to have the legendary Youssou N’Dour has been dominated by the Nigerians and the Ghanians whose “afrobeats” tunes have now caught the attention of even the Western World. So whilst it is now easy to see Nigerian and Ghanian Superstars doing songs with world superstars like Drake and Nicki Minaj, other nations are unable to even get a “collabo” with Wiz Kid and Davido. And when they do, it comes at a cost that’s unrecoverable. ECOFEST will attempt to bridge this wide gap. It is an attempt to bring unity in diversity and to have a universal musical and entertainment language amongst West Africans and Africans as a whole.

ECOFEST GAMBIA GOAL

The Goal as earlier stated is to achieve a one West African Entertainment platform, then eventually merge with the rest of Africa as we take Africa to the World. The only way this is achievable is by allowing the bigger nations to bring their talents to the doorsteps of smaller nations not as “hired guns” but as partners and mentors. It is an open secret that Superstars such as Wiz Kid and Davido sometimes ask for performance fees as high as $150,000 for a one hour performance. Getting Wiz Kid and Davido to Freetown for example apart from other incidental costs, is at minimum $80,000. This has nothing to do with air fare, hotel accommodation, feeding and ground transportation. To other nations, this is an easy feat. To Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where no artiste has ever being paid $20,000 to perform outside their cities, it is nothing but a dream. The disparity is too great a measure. So ECOFEST will not just be about music. Music will be a tool. ECOFEST will be a center of excellence. Sharing of cultural ideas. From the Movie industry, Comedy to arts and culture. A day or two of festivities for a start as all nations will have one destination as a rendezvous per time. This time it will be the Gambia. This will be repeated in all countries involved as it a rotational event, always climaxed by a competition amongst the nations with winners having great prizes.

The following musicians will be representing the various nations in The Gambia this year:

Nigeria – Timaya; Ghana – Stonebwoy; Gambia – ST, Omid Wisdom, Nobles & Double T; Sierra Leone – KME All Stars, Arkman & Innocent; Guinea – Takana Zion; Liberia – FA & J Slught; Senegal – Dip; Mali and Cape Verde to be announced also.