SONA JOBARTEH - KORA MUSIC FROM WEST AFRICA

KORA MUSIC FROM WEST AFRICA

SONA JOBARTEH & BAND

Songwrither: sona jobarteh

Country: u. k. x gambia

Album: afro acoustic sound

Label: African guild records

Instrument: kora

Genre: acoustic west africa

Year: 2008

 

         Sona Jobarteh is a unique and pioneering musical icon of her time whose renown has been rapidly flourishing globally. Born into a Griot family from the Gambia, a tradition that dates back 7 centuries, she is the first female within this tradition to become a professional virtuoso on the Kora. Her music is uniquely poised between the preservation of her rich cultural heritage and an accessible, modern style that relates to the current era and to audiences from all over the world. At the heart of her success as an artist is her dedication to humanitarian activism in the areas of social development and educational reform on the continent of Africa.

             Sona Jobarteh is a multi-instrumentalist and composer from the Gambia. She was born in 1983 into one of the five principal kora-playing griot families from West Africa – she is the first female professional kora player to come from a griot family. She is the cousin of the well-known, celebrated kora player Toumani Diabate as well as the sister of the renowned diaspora kora player Tunde Jegede.

           She gave her first performance at London's Jazz Café when she was four years old, and performed at festivals several times in her early childhood.

        When still a music student she worked on several orchestral projects including the "River of Sound" with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, featuring Evelyn Glennie, and other collaborative works including performances with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Milton Keynes City Orchestra and the Viva Chamber Orchestra.

        In 2002 she performed in Vienna with the renowned jazz vocalist Cleveland Watkiss, also forming a part of his support act for Cassandra Wilson at the Barbican in London. She also featured on Damon Albarn's Mali Music Project which was later performed for Jools Holland.

           She has collaborated on stage with Oumou Sangaré, Toumani Diabaté, Kasse Made Diabaté and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Jobarteh is a regular member of her brother Tunde Jegede's African Classical Music Ensemble, which has toured England, Ireland, Africa and parts of the Caribbean. She has contributed to his albums Malian Royal Court Music and Lamentations, for which she composed two pieces, one of which also featured on the album Trance Planet Vol. 5 (released on Triloka records, Virgin in the US). She also works with the distinguished spoken-word artist HKB FiNN as an instrumentalist, co-writer, singer and producer. For her solo work, such as her performance at the 2014 Festival Internacional Cervantino, in Mexico, she has a band with members Kari Bannermann on electric guitar, Kyazi Lugangira on acoustic guitar, Mamadou Sarr on African percussions (as calabash or djembe), Alexander Boateng on drums and Andi McLean on the bass.

           Her debut album was Afro-Acoustic Soul, containing songs about bittersweet love and social themes. The influences on this album are mixed with some that could be played on more conventional European radio formats. Her second was Fasiya (2011).

Jobarteh also teaches the kora in London. She worked with her father, Sanjally Jobarteh, in setting up a formal music school in the Gambia, named after her famous grandfather.

             She is English-born of African heritage, and strongly identifies with the latter. Spending significant time in both England and the Gambia, she blends different musical styles, from both the European and West African traditions. However, unlike her contemporaries, she explores and expands on traditional African roots rather than trying to fuse them with contemporary hip-hop and jazz. Instead, she looks to reinterpret traditional music. In addition to the kora, she also sings and plays the guitar.