Sona Jobarteh

Sona Jobarteh is the first female kora player to come from a Griot family, as well as a vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and composer from the Gambia and the UK. She was born in 1983 into one of the five principal Kora-playing Griot families from West Africa. She is the granddaughter of the Master Griot of his generation, Amadu Bansang Jobarteh, and cousin of the well-known, celebrated Kora player Toumani Diabate and she is also the sister of the renowned Diaspora Kora player Tunde Jegede.^[1]

Biography

Sona Jobarteh is a member of one of the five principal Kora-playing (Griot) families from West Africa. She is the granddaughter of the Master Griot of his generation, Amadu Bansang Jobarteh, and cousin of the well-known, celebrated Kora player Toumani Diabate. She has studied the Kora since the age of three, and gave her first performance at London’s Jazz Café when she was four years old.^[2]

She attended the Royal College of Music, where she studied cello, piano and harpsichord, and soon after went onto the Purcell School of Music to study composition. During this time she was involved in working 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.^[3]

In 2002 Jobarteh travelled to Vienna to perform 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.

As a performing musician she has collaborated with musicians from around the world, and is a regular member of the African Classical Music Ensemble, which has toured England, Ireland, Africa and parts of the Caribbean. Jobarteh has contributed to the well-established composer/musician Tunde Jegede’s albums Malian Royal Court Music and Lamentations, for which she composed two pieces, one of which also featured on the album Trans 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.

Having completed her degree at SOAS, University of London, Jobarteh divides her time as a performer and teacher of the kora, sharing its repertoire and history with a new generation of people interested in learning about this most exquisite instrument. In 2008 Jobarteh completed her debut album entitled Afro Acoustic Soul, which expressed and explored the many facets of her unique musical heritage. In 2010 she made her debut as a film composer^[4] for the documentary film Motherland, directed by Owen ‘Alik Shahadah, which has won awards in both America and Africa.^[5]

Film composer

Sona Jobarteh made her debut as a film composer in 2009 when she was commissioned to create the soundtrack to a unique documentary film on Africa entitled Motherland.

The score was an innovative exploration into the cinematic representation of a classical African sound world. While much of Jobarteh's score drew primarily on the West African Griot tradition, she also had to reinvent it in order to accommodate for the demands of the visual realm.

In order to create this film score Sona explored instruments in different ways to that of their traditional setting. She has used the Kora as a bass instrument as well as tuning it to an "Arabic" scale. She has used the Guitar to emulate the sound of an African lute, as well as being influenced by the West African Griot style of playing.

She invented a new instrument called the Nkoni for use in many of the compositions in order to capture a unique sound. This instrument is a cross between the Kora and the Donso Ngoni, expanding the tonality and mood of the African musical sonic. Jobarteh's vocal style draws on the West African Griot style, although there are aspects that also lean towards East African influences.

Factored into the creation of a unique African aesthetic was Jobarteh's avoidance of two crucial paradigms; first, the reliance on the cinematic familiarity of western stringed instruments, and secondly the stereotypical predominance of drumming as a signature of African musical representation.^[6]

Discography

• Producer and guest artist on Spoken Herbs - (2006)
• Music of the Diaspora (500 Years Later Soundtrack) - Souljazzfunk (2006)
• Guest Artist on Nu Beginin' (Ty2) - (2007)
• Afro Acoustic Soul - Sona Soul Records (2008)
• Producer and guest artist on Light in the Shade of Darkenss (HKB FiNN) - (2008)
• Motherland: The Score - African Guild Records (2010)
• Fasiya - African Guild Records (2011)

Film credits

• 500 Years Later (Kora player) ^[7]
• The Idea (Actress)
• Broken Embraces (Kora player)
• The First Grader (Singer)
• Motherland (film)' (Composer)

References

External links

• Sona Jobarteh Official Website