Ibrahim S. Bangura commonly known as I-Bangs, a multitalented musician in the east of Freetown, on Saturday June 29, 2024 will release a new song titled, ‘Temeh Fa Fa’, which means in Susu Baby Come Now.
He features Double King, one of his voice tutors at the Ballanta Academy of Music and Performing Arts (BAMPA). Double King is also a multi-talented musician, with many songs like ‘Mama Loving,’etc. He is a teacher of many musical instruments, including piano, etc. He is the director of the Groovy Colours Band, the premier band of BAMPA.
I-Bangs said that being proud of his tribe and having little or no Susu artists in Sierra Leone who can proudly sing in Susu, he decided to sing in his tribe.
According to I-Bangs, he was inspired to write the song after one of his colleagues at University had expressed how much he missed his fiancé who had travelled abroad on an errand. “Love is something which no man can tell how it is made. It hurts you when you don’t have one; it hurts you even if you are lucky to get a beautiful one.” “The way and manner in which my colleague was expressing how much he missed his fiancé got me thinking about the power of love. Despite the fact that his fiancé is thousands of miles away from him, he always feels her presence around him. They usually make video calls, look at each other’s pictures but nothing seems okay with him. All he wants from his fiancé is that she comes back. My friend told me that he had never felt such loneliness in his life,” I-Bangs narrated.
I-Bangs stated that with the state of mind of his colleague he started begging his lady friend to come back, for nothing was well with him and nothing would ever be fine with him without her. “This is how the title of the song Baby Come Now came about ,” explained I-Bangs.
The melodies used in the song are catchy. The verse and chorus structure, repeated many times throughout the song, unifies the song so that it is easily remembered. The main message ‘Temeh Fa Fa’ is within the chorus which has a much higher range than the verse. This allows the chorus to stand out and contrast with the rest of the song and is quite a common technique of RnB music. As the song develops, the texture begins to build, especially at the pre-chorus section, approaching the chorus sector when new instruments are introduced such as the violin, piano and kick drum. This keeps variety and interest in the music and gives the verses and choruses a freshness on each repeat. During the outro, Double King layers up melodies on top of each other which perfectly complement each other.
Joshua, aka Joshubeatz, produced the music. As a product of BAMPA he has produced many hit songs for some of the renowned artists in Sierra Leone, including Emmerson, Rahim D. Wizard, among others.
I-Bangs started a career in music at the Ballanta Academy of Music and Performing Arts (BAMPA) in 2015 as a voice student. He further went on to study other musical instruments like the keyboard, guitar and flute.
He has had five certificates in music: a Merit in grade 5 music theory from the Associate Board of Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2019; a Distinction in grade two flute practical in 2021 and a Merit in Flute grade three flute practical in 2023 from Music Teachers Board (MTB) in the UK, a Certificate in Music Performance from BAMPA in 2023 and a Certificate in Audio-Video Production from Nafora-Ba from the Ivory Coast in 2023 .
He is a singer-songwriter who has contested in national and international singing competitions. He holds a Diploma in Mass Communications from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. He is a third year student at FBC pursuing a BA in Mass Communications (Broadcast Journalism).