By AWA DK Conteh
Ebrima Sey, best known by his stage name Big Sey is a Gambian reggae and dancehall artist, born in Latrikunda German. He is known for his creative ways of creating and expressing his uniqueness through music.
In an exclusive interview with Gambia Daily Life & Entertainment, Big Sey explained that he started his music career when he was in grade 9, but it was not serious because his parents wanted him to go to school and have a good education.
The young artist said that at the time, all he could see was being a star and someone who belonged to the big stage. He said for him, education was secondary; hence he temporarily dropped out school at grade 11.
Ebrima Sey narrated that he draws his musical inspiration from musicians such as BABA MAAL, ISMAILA LO and LUCIANO “because they are revolutionaries’’.
He noted that by following their journey or understanding their stories, one will get to know that they use music to kind of advocate for the things that people need in this world.
He explained that in 2005, he released a maiden single, titled HATRED while in high school but it was not an official release. Big Sey added that in 2010, he released a single, called ‘’BAYIL BUGA LUYOMBA’’ which was followed by ‘’WATCH YOURSELF’’.
‘’In 2012, I relocated to UK then released another single called LET’S DANCE,’’ he said.
The artist noted that in 2014, TESCO GOT TALENT in Middleton Manchester did research on him and then they approached him and said they liked the type of music he does. He said this was because his music was surrounded with African background with African stories and he was invited with different artists from different cities where he came out second out of 19 contestants to win the award which was an international award, and later ended up doing an apprenticeship for TESCO GOT TALENT.
The young artist said in 2015, he was voted the second artist of the year by the interface Gambia in UK, the award was followed by the release of another single called“DA SYSTEM”.
He explained that in 2016, he released a song named ‘SUGAR BABY’ ‘’which was like, a topic that kept lingering in my head then it became a hit and loved by many’’.
He said in 2018, he became the first Gambian artist to launch his album outside his country which was held in UK where he invited Gambian artist like Singhateh (freaky Joe).
Big Sey indicated that he has been in a project called Charity Developmental Fund which is mainly owned by Gambians such as Join Hands Save a baby by HaddyJarjue at the Brikama maternity unit, and Ndey Eddy Foundation which are organizations that work towards helping Gambians, mainly kids and pregnant women.
“I happen to participate in performing for them by supporting them raise funds for the charity organization so that these people can benefit from it and I have also helped mobilize line up with different artists to kind of do a song for one of these charities,’’ he explained.
Big Sey said he started a project called “GAM FEST” which he wanted to do annually in the UK, and it involves celebrating Gambian culture and tradition. He said they did the first launch that involved ST in the UK and another in Manchester. He added that they tried to work on this summer to bring at least three artists from The Gambia and they have the local council involved in Manchester.
Big Sey concluded that there is no country like Gambia and his target towards the project that he is planning is to bring Gambian artist together to explore their talents in the involvement of other international artists.
