Waagan: Reviving the Open Mic Festival - Part 2

Waagan speaks on reviving the Open Mic Festival © Gom Sa Bopa

By Yusef Taylor, @FlexDan_YT

The second part of this story highlights the importance of the Open Mic Festival as a legacy event. After one of the pioneers of the event revealed some of the reasons for shelving the Open Mic Fest, the public demand showed when members of the public continued to ask questions around how the event could be revived.

It’s important to highlight that the Gambian music industry is currently being dominated by Senegalese artists especially during the November to December period which is when the Open Mic Fest would dominate the arts and entertainment sector. This would attract more Gambians home who would bring along friends and further boost the tourism industry. But with the legacy event now shelved and the external dominance causing capital flight music lovers were insistent on a revivial of the event.

The panel discussion organized by Team Gom Sa Bopa on 4th January 2025 prior to the Cypher Open Mic, also gave music lovers a chance to ask questions. Insisting on one of the pioneers, Abdoukarim “Waagan” Faye to reconsider a re-launch of the Open Mic Fest, the Cypher’s DJ Yung Blood took the opportunity to direct a question to Waagan with a passionate plea.

Gom Sa Bopa Panel Discussion © Gom Sa Bopa

Tony Taylor commonly known as DJ Yung Blood, highlighted that “Artists have huge events in the Gambia but Music itself needs to have a huge event in The Gambia. Life evolves and you’ve given your all to a project to the point where you feel you can’t give it anymore. But it would have been much appreciated if there was a legacy to continue the work you’ve done. When something gets so big that thousands of people start to associate with what you’re doing then the initiative is no longer just yours. Waagan I have to ask you this. When will our Open Mic Fest return?”

In response Waagan explained that “nobody wants to give birth to something and see it die in your presence. You want to build a legacy. If history is to be fair, I want to believe that Black Lynx will get a little mention. Even if it’s just one line”.

He went further to speak about the legacy of the Open Mic Fest saying “one thing I always realize while I was in the music business most of the people who used to come around were not really passionate about music. They were in it for the hype. People didn’t realize the amount of work that is required. A lot of people who approached us just wanted to hang out with artists. Many people just saw the glitz and the glam, they see us on TV. But many didn’t realize that took me a week of work to present 10 mins on TV. The three-minute song took hours [even days]. Some people think it takes just that 3 minutes to get the same impact but when they realize how much work goes into this, that’s when you start separating the men from the boys. So, speaking of handing that over I would have loved to”.

Waagan (right) speaks to Panelist Killa Ace © Gom Sa Bopa

Moderator for the panel discussion, Yusef Taylor alias Flex Dan, the Spokesperson of Gom Sa Bopa and Editor for Askanwi interjected to say “Waagan no! Don’t tell us that this is dead, tell us how we can revive the Open Mic Fest.”

At this point he revealed how “several people have come to me asking me to do that and I will tell them honestly the work it requires I hope your ready for this. I spoke honestly when I said I can’t do that kind of work anymore. I took over my family business and I would usually be in bed right now in peace [11pm]. When I was in the music industry this was the time, I would leave home”.

Speaking about his new way of life since COVID-19, Waagan explained that “my children have grown up now and I get home and watch movies with my kids. I don’t want to sacrifice that again. The time that I got to spend with my children in the past five years I don’t want to lose that anymore. The legacy I would love to see that. But the passion to do the required work I’m not saying it’s not out there but, me personally, that person hasn’t approached me yet to work and revive this, the way it should be”.