Jizzle’s “Finally” concert has become the first Gambian concert to sell over 15,000 tickets before the day of the event causing organizers to print out more ahead of the night. On Saturday, November 23rd , thousands of Gambian music lovers converged at the Independence Stadium in Bakau to attend the long anticipated “Finally” concert.
In August 2019, Jizzle launched his debut album, “Finally” and the eleven track album was produced by some of Gambia’s top producers like Endy Official, JLive Music and Shyboy, as well as some international producers.
Since its release, the album has managed to make it to the top charts on international music platforms such as iTunes Gambia Top 100. This was a clear manifestation of the good music created by the multiple award-winning artist and paved the way for the anticipation that surrounded the concert.
The “Finally” concert will be remembered for many things which include the largest turnout so far in Gambia’s burgeoning music industry. Jizzle performed flawlessly despite the sound system issues faced by the organizers, the wild crowd and poor stage management among others.
Awa Suso from Jizzle Kingdom, Jizzle’s official fan club, wrote on her Facebook page after the show that, “There is one thing that disturbs us Gambians, everyone wants to be noticed and relevant. We are just a group of young people trying to raise the bar high, we have struggled and dreamed of this day for a long time and we’ve worked hard with little or no help from all of those that messed up the stage,” stressing her disappointment.
“We were fine on the stage with the opening acts and when Jizzle came on stage, it was like a notice was posted for all Gambians to be on stage, for what?”
She continued to write “If love is what you’re trying to show, please sit on those pavilions and watch, watch us finish what we started. This is someone’s career and it’s like someone comes to your office and distract you while working, the frustration you feel is what you made Jizzle feel last night”.
On a telephone interview with Abdoulie Yuvaa, Jizzle’s Public Relation officer, he told The Chronicle that this show meant a great deal to Jizzle and his entire team. “This show means greatness to us, it shows hard work really pays off. It means Gambians really support good Gambian music.”
In relation to the flaws of the show like the sound system, he told us that without giving excuses, everything has a starting point and this being their first time they can only learn from this.
Mamadou Bah, a fan of Jizzle who attended the show told The Chronicle that Jizzle’s performance was perfect and he enjoyed it. However, he urged Jizzle to consider improving on the organizational settings of the show as what fans saw on the night of the event was not satisfactory when it comes to that.
Jizzle is one of the fastest growing artists in The Gambia music scene. In March 2019, he signed a distribution deal with one of the world’s biggest music labels, Universal Music Group International.
