Jarabi Sona Jobarteh Gambia

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Sona Jobarteh hails from a long West African tradition of Griots and kora players; her grandfather was the master Griot Amadu Bansang Jobarteh.

Creating her own history, she has broken from the male-dominated kora tradition to become the family's first female virtuoso of the instrument.

Here Sona Jobarteh performs the traditional Malian song, Jarabi, accompanied by Femi Temowo on guitar and percussionist Robert Fordjour.

Sona Jobarteh is the first female Kora virtuoso to come from a west African Griot family. The Kora is one of the most important instruments belonging to the Manding peoples of West Africa (Gambia, Senegal, Mali, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau). It belongs exclusively to griot families, and usually only men who are born into these families have the right to take up the instrument professionally. Sona Jobarteh combines various genres of African Music and western musical elements.

Sonah Jobarteh – Acoustic Guitar/ Kora/ Vocals
Maurice Brown – Acoustic Guitar
Andi McLean – Electric Bass/ BVs
Mouhamadou Sarr – Djembe/ Congas/ Calabash/ BVs

[jeanniegichigi]

Absolutely love Sona and this song! I will dance to it next time!