Ground-breaking musician. Educational pioneer. Dedicated humanitarian.
These are just some of the words to describe accomplished multi-instrumentalist Sona Jobarteh – the Gambia’s first professional female kora player.
And for the first time, her inspirational journey has been captured in the documentary An Evening With Sona Jobarteh, welcoming its exclusive global Youtube premiere on 10th April 2021.
Read on for a peek at the musical powerhouse who broke with generations of tradition, her mission to empower youth through education, and which surprising kitchen utensil she makes music with.
Revolutionary woman of the kora among men
For a woman who determinedly broke from a centuries-old, male-dominated musical Griot tradition, Sona Jobarteh positively glows among the men she regularly shares the stage with in several exclusive performances.
“I have countless uncles and cousins… in the Griot tradition, so there’s a lot for me to live up to,” she discloses.
Her (entirely male) band consists of guitarist Derek Johnson, bassist Andrew McLean, and drummer Westley Joseph, who reveals she is “a hard task-master… very meticulous.”
But all are unafraid to let Sona shine onstage, as it is revealed it was a “challenge” to find humble band-members willing to step back to do her music justice.
We also meet her 11-year-old son Sidiki, already an accepted Griot, and who these days often plays as part of her shows as a gifted balafon player.
Blood relatives or otherwise, they are part of the Sona Jobarteh family, and it’s brilliant to see her fearlessly pave the way in what was once exclusively a boys’ club.
Growing alongside The Gambia Academy
From her band, to legendary grandfather Amadu Bansang Jobarteh and father Sanjally, to son Sidiki, the men in her life have played a huge part in shaping Sona Jobarteh.
But it is through her educational reform passion-project, The Gambia Academy, where she acknowledges that she has truly blossomed into her life-purpose.
“To be a musician is to be an ambassador… there is a natural connection between performing and being a force for change in the community,” she says.
“The reason I am here is to accomplish whatever I can with the next generation… it is the reason I do what I do.”
She harnesses her inimitable force for positive change by providing a holistic, proudly Africa-centred curriculum, and by hand-selecting children with potential who otherwise might never have attended even regular school.
The ‘sliding door moment’ for its existence? Studying at London’s SOAS, and gaining access to archival material on her own family in its vast library.
Questioning why academic authority for African music resides in foreign hands was the catalyst to building a centre with the power to arm its youths with knowledge and know-how from within Africa.
And by reforming the very fabric of the educational curriculum for Africa’s next generation at The Gambia Academy, her raison d’être looks to be well on its way to fulfilment.
Plans for 2021 – and unlikely kitchen inspiration
As Sona tenaciously balances the duties of unfolding The Gambia Academy alongside live performances and touring, it has been six years since fans heard any new music.
But her new album is due out in a matter of months – and each carefully-crafted song will centre on a theme that she wants to shine a light on.
A renowned multi-instrumentalist, when Sona is recording music she plays mostly everything from the guitar, cello, and the kora herself.
And this dexterity even extends to the kitchen, a place where there are no rules as she confesses “everything is an instrument… including a cheese-grater!”
Imagining celebrated musician Sona Jobarteh in the kitchen riffing on her cheese-grater certainly lends a humorous side to her gentle yet guarded exterior.
And as the world cautiously reopens from the Covid pandemic, she will be touring again too.
We discover that although she has huge followings throughout Europe and the States, her band wish to take her music and message further into Africa, and also the Caribbean.
Which makes sense when you ponder the global musical legacy she carries everywhere from Hong Kong to Russia, India, and even Latin America.
Leaving an indelible mark with her music
Sona often doesn’t know what she does or says but she often moves her fans to tears during performances, and they often don’t understand the Mandinka language she sings in.
Her outstanding ability to move people within is clear from interviews with her band, and she is clearly shifting revolutionary mountains with The Gambia Academy too.
Ultimately, if you already know about Sona, An Evening With… reveals nothing brand new, and is more of a ‘story-up-to-now’ than anything else.
But you might find some titbits that add a personal perspective to information already out there, giving a more intimate dimension to a legendary story stretching back thousands of years.
And if you had never heard of Sona Jobarteh and her remarkable life and music until today, well, now you have.
You can watch the trailer for An Evening With Sona Jobarteh here.
And you can find out more about the work of The Gambia Academy here.
Sources:
https://pan-african.net/meet-sona-jobarteh-the-kora-playing-changemaker/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KknY1TeGsQ
https://newafricanmagazine.com/19208/
