Gambian artiste Black Thunder. Black Thunder, Switzerland based Gambian afro-Reggae dancehall artiste and his Basic Foundation Band will perform in Opensee Festival band contest on 6th April, 2024 at Kulturladen Konstanz Germany.
Black Thunder & Basic Foundation Band, is a Multinational band that plays afro-reggae and dancehall with the sole aim of making music that educates, entertain and unify the world with positivity. They will be competing with Barconara & Band, Wild Garden and Die Firma Dankt, for 30 minutes live performance while the best two band performers will qualify for the Open See Festival, on 17th – 19t May in Konstanz at City Garden.
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Organiser Kulturladen Konstanz said: “We are organizing a live music contest as part of our Open See Festival, where newcomers can get the chance to play alongside Established greats to be able to play at our festival. The contest follows online voting, which takes place at the beginning of February. After the voting, the 8 acts with the most votes from the voting will have a musical battle in our Kulturladen on two evenings. The two best acts of each evening will then get a gig at our Open See Festival, which takes place from May 17th to 19th in the City Garden”
About Black Thunder
Born in the northern part of The Gambia, Saikou Kanteh, popularly known as Black Thunder, is a songwriter, afro- reggae and dancehall artiste based in Bern, Switzerland.
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His passion for music began when he was seven years old in a village where poverty was widespread. Due to lack of water, electricity and proper school system, he was determined to use music to speak for the voiceless and for better conditions. At that age he had already started a band with his friends. He later decided to consider music as a career of choice.
Shortly afterwards, he met a popular local producer called Papis who brought him to the studio. In 2002 he recorded his maiden single called “Liberate From Action” at TJrecord. In 2004 he relocated to Milan, Italy to pursue music studies for two years. After completing his studies, he went into the studio to record more music and later founded a band. His musical journey began taking shape and saw him touring Europe with his band.
In 2009, he left Italy for Bern, Switzerland where he launched a solo career and signed a contract with Likkle Lion Record in Geneva. While in Bern, he continually made music, working with different producers and gained recognition as a revolutionary and humanitarian artiste.
In 2014, Black Thunder signed another contract with Atomic Dog Record in Bern. In 2015, he toured The Gambia where he had eight concerts. All the proceeds were donated to schools, hospitals and youth development projects. In 2016, he made his debut performance at Flag Flow High Senegambia in Austria, a musical platform meant to showcase Senegambian artists in Europe where he was awarded as the best stage performer.
In 2018, Black Thunder formed ‘Movementality’ as his performing band across the world, now renamed Basic Foundation Band. The band has staged shows in different European countries including Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Malta and Austria.
Black Thunder always holds that world peace and stability can be attainable with equal rights and justice for all.