Freetown | 4th August 2021 | Vertex Media
By Alie Sonta Kamara
The dance to the beat of the drums echoing from the Bintumani has since lost its grounds. The fading tune has even been repressed by a more powerful external force that tames the ruins of the hills and valleys. Is there a Sierra Leonean music industry that represents the Bintumani drums amid the big fight?
Why Sierra Leone music is on a freefall? Perhaps the first reason will take us to the fact that most of the big names we used to know have taken the back seat, giving the invaders (the Nigerians in particular) the opportunity to gain more grounds and conquer the land. In those days when big names like Dry Eye Crew, Jungle Leaders, Shady Baby, Alonzo, Base Aphonix, Extra O, Cee Jay, Camouflage, DX 3, Step Q, Black for Conscious, Sisters with Attitude, Kaddie Black, Sonita, Sugar Lulu, Big Joe, Pipuls, Joe Fadding and B Station, Daddy Rhymes, and many more were in their prime, Sierra Leone music was at its peak even when Nigerian giants like P Square, 2 Face, African China, Mad Melon and Mountain Black of the Danfo Driver fame, and Timaya were pushing through with the mightiest of forces. Sierra Leone music was all the way at the top. Shows were packed full in pomp and pageantry. Our guys did not let the side down, and there was little to worry about the few Nigerian giants and the only VIP squad from Ghana. But they ended up relaxing.
The hasty retreat our stars beat was a self-defeating mechanism, a loss to the Sierra Leone music and a big win to the alien drums. With the old Nigerian folks still blazing up like wild fire, new recruits like Davido, Wizked, Run Town, Pato Ranking, Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade, Bracket, Tecno, Fire Boy etc, joined the Super Eagle force to make the takeover an easy ride. They raged with principled steps in bulldozing amours, taking the entertainment land by arbitrary force, whilst we dance to their tunes in complimenting fashion, looking low upon our designs with primitive conscience. My oh my, we lost the battle to the foreigners. What was even more serious to the loss is when we ourselves have to ameliorate the beauty of our drums in condemnatory terms, giving the alien piano a sanctifying welcome. Salone man for true!
Then the Ghanaians increased their velocity and brought in Stone Boy, Shatta Wale, R2Bs, Kwame Eugene, King Promise, and a host of fine names. The incursion got wild. We were pulled from every direction. Singing music in the Sierra Leonean way could cost any artist his name, since the Bitumani drums no more echoed tunes from the Wusums, the Peninsular, and the Gola Forest. We lost our identity, not even a ruin to build from.
As the smokes from the alien amours spew wild across the plain with increase in constancy, new recruits from the Bitumani side hailed from behind. The Old School of the Dry Eye Crew tune had waned in the void. The emerging trend named itself New School which includes Crack Twist and Zamzam, Drizilik, Prodigy, and generally Markmuday. The New School seems to flow with the trend of the Afro beat which includes Afro Hip pop, Afro Pop, and Afro R and B. This group of young folks is no bounce back of the Bitumani drums. They copied wholesale from the Nigerians and boosted the foreign business. The irony is the following: the old names from the Sierra Leone side relaxed and kept their distance from the newcomers in the same soil. These newcomers, in trying to be new by the very name, followed the Nigerians whose old folks embraced the new ones and concretized the fight to stamp an indelible mark on the global wall.
Another factor that is contributing to the freefall of the Sierra Leone music industry is the magnitude at which the New School artists are using Nigerian Samples. The LXG are the notorious founders of this practice, so our so-called Sierra Leonean music does not represent the Bitumani drums; rather it represents that of the Nigerian. Where is our culture? One of the features of Sierra Leone music is the Milo Jazz. We have lost our style of music which is the zouk. The worries are endless, and we do not have reliable soldiers to once more go on the war front to take back our pride.
What then should be done to start the rebranding effort? A project titled ‘What is Sierra Leone Music?’ should be established. With funds available, a week-long seminar should bring together artists, DJ’s, music producers, engineers and music directors. An effort should be made to first tap into the true definition of Sierra Leone music. Which instruments define our culture? How was it seen in the past? How did it die out? How can we bring it back with some modification to suit the time? How do we get people to fall in love with our music again? This is what I expect the current Ambassador of Entertainment to do. I rest my case.
