![]() The only word there I’d question is “timeless”. They still sound powerful and raw, evocative and timeless.” Dembo Konte was the musician who opened my ears, and he made these recordings with Kausu Kuyateh soon afterward. “Nothing is ever quite the same after the first time you hear a kora played live in a West African setting. The trailblazing world music presenter Charlie Gillett wrote: His recordings with Kausu Kuyateh are true African classics. The most successful of Bai Konteh’s many children was Dembo Konteh, who lives in the family compound in Brikama to this day. Though less well-known internationally, the prestige and influence of Amadu Bansang Jobarteh in the griot community was second to none. There the son started to learn the kora instrument, his first teacher being his elder brother Bala (grandfather of the great Malian jali Toumani Diabaté). Jobarteh’s father was Fili Jobarteh who emigrated from Mali taking his family with him and settled in the town of Bansang. In the 1970s Bai Konteh became well known across the Gambia for his radio broadcasts, and also made a real impact on the world scene, touring the USA and Canada several times, appearing at the Newport Jazz Festival, the New Orleans Jazz Festival, and the Philadelphia Folk Festival. Two important masters of the kora instrument are Alhaji Bai Konteh (born 1920) and Amadu Bansang Jobarteh (born 1915).īai Konteh’s father, kora player Ibrahima Konteh, brought up his family in Jambur, where Bai Konteh lived for many years before relocating his family to the nearby town of Brikama. Gambian Music: Exploring West African Storytelling & Oral Traditions Click To Tweet Masters Of Griot Music In Gambia Culture Griots see themselves not just as performers, but as teachers to the next generation. They’re inheritors of a tradition which has run in their family for centuries, and the knowledge of this instills in them a humbleness and a sense of responsibility. The poets, singers, and historians of the Mandinka people. Master kora players, or jalis, are a world apart from rock stars. ![]() What Is A Griot & Why Are They Important To Gambian Music? Psst – Don’t forget to pin this post for later! The beauty of this music is due in no small part to the magical sound of the 21-string harp, the kora.Īnd nowhere is the art of kora music more revered than in Brikama, a small town in the smallest country on mainland Africa. Gambian music and West African storytelling traditions no doubt play a huge role in why travelers are drawn to this of the Earth. This is an edited excerpt from Nick’s book, “ Around the World in 575 Songs: Africa: Traditional Music from all the World’s Countries – Volume 2“. ![]()
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