Manding Morry

Born Haruna Touray in Bakau New Town around the mid 80s, Manding Morry is the grandson of the famous traditional and folklore musician Jali Foday, so his involvement in music now is hardly a surprise and his inheritance of the culture and traditional music from his linage is something he has grasped fully and he is also the sibling of the renowned Gambian Afro-Reggae superstar Jalex aka Akuntu.

Manding Morry who despite coming from a rich musical background and related to a more established musician, started his music career at a very early age and has been making his own progress underground especially through the monthly Open Mic events staged monthly around neighbourhoods where artists go up against each other musically and compete through their revered punch lines and performances and Morry is recognized as the most energetic even among his peers.

If there is one confirmed characteristic style of Afro-Manding Hip Hop then you look no further than Manding Morry. A personal choice of music genre and not for the lack of ability to speak and sing in other languages but the sheer audacity to be refreshing and completely new.
In 2004, he recorded his first single titled ‘Kelema’, a song with a high level of Pan-African feel calling for the unity of all Africans. Since his debut single, Manding has worked on more cuts and featured on collabos and ‘Riddims’.
Still in his early 20s, Manding Morry again in 2009 featured on a mega collabo with nine other artists including Trobul Smallz (his label mate), Royal Messenger, Junior Sam and Sir X to name a few. The joint titled ‘Jambarr’ was produced by Feepu Squad in dedication to the victorious Gambia U-17 national football team. In the same year, the young but extremely articulate native of Bakau again portrayed his Pan-Africanism by spitting on another song titled ‘Be One’ (calling for African unity and peace), produced by Ann One at State Of Mic studios.

With 2009 gone and despite the relative success since he’s only young and upcoming, Manding decided to strive for more and better. Early 2010, he cut two new super hit singles ‘Kuleh Ka Dinyeh’ featuring American-based Gambian singing sensation Amie Dibba and a solo effort on ‘Felle Ko Tele’ an airwaves street music dominator, if there’s such a word. Because of his insistence of not settling for less, Manding Morry is working on videos for these singles and also cutting more songs for his much anticipated debut album.

The forthcoming album will be produced and released under the auspices of Music-O Records (Gambia’s premier music label) who just snapped up the super talented Afro-Manding Hip Hop star.

Watch this space and brace yourself for something ironically fresh but positively ruff and energetic. The young man has fitness levels of Usain Bolt and rapping skills and stage performance ability to rival the very best.