ABSTRACT
This chapter examines issues of vulnerability, agency, and the ways in which music is shadowed by death. The association of music with expressing health and celebrating life contributed to the power of Fatou’s message challenging HIV-related stigma. Fatou, as a confident, beautiful young singer, would immediately challenge the stereotypes about AIDS. The Teriyaa album was the product of collaboration between Fatou and her husband Musa, the Allatentu Support Group, the National AIDS Secretariat, Action Aid International, and The Gambia Family Planning Association. Yahya Jammeh’s eccentric, authoritarian style of government made it easy to dismiss his HIV/AIDS treatment program as just another example of an idiosyncratic president’s delusions of grandeur. The space of the launching concert foregrounded the voices of people with HIV/AIDS in powerful ways, but it also provided a platform for others to insert their own narratives.
