 Biography:
Foday Musa Suso
is an internationally recognised Kora playing Mandingo griot
who was born in 1950 in the Gambian village of Sarre Hamadi, a
village in the Wuli District, in the Upper River Region. He is a
virtuoso master kora performer and composer from a
hereditary lineage of other Jalis.
After spending his childhood in Banjul, the capital, he was sent to Pasamasi Village where he was taught by Saikou Suso, his
uncle, when he was nine years old. He would sometimes be
under the tutelage of another of his uncles Falimada Suso.
After 7 years of rigorous formal
training he became an accomplished player of the kora,
balaphone
(African xylophone)
and the tama. Such an apprenticeship is a standard feature
of learning music in Manding because it is considered
important for achieving proper discipline and concentration.
Unlike most musicians in Manding society, Suso's talents are
shared among many instruments. When he had finished his training he had now
put to memory past tribal conflicts, family lineages, the
epic oral histories of the Manding people and its cultural
heroes from the great Sujatta onwards.
Foday Musa
Suso made trips to a number of European, Asian and
African countries teaching, and performing, as well as
learning from others. He spent two
years at the Institute of African Studies, University of
Legon, Ghana, as a resident instructor of the Kora.
In 1977, Suso flew to Chicago in the US where he began his
recording career as well as forming a group, Mandingo Griot Society, with
the percussionist Adam Rudolph. The group have appeared at
New York's Carnegie Hall and Central Park Summerstage, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San
Francisco, Frankfurt International Jazz Festival in Germany
and at the Cultural Center in Ulan Bator, Mongolia.
Since then, he has taught and recorded with many well known
jazz artists, including the trumpeter Don Cherry, and Herbie Hancock, with whom
he recorded the album, Village Life, while on their tour of Japan.
The group opened new ground in what is known as World Music
in numerous other collaborations, such as with Ginger Baker
using Suso's skillful and heavenly playing of the West
African lute in a number of pieces.
After the band
broke up they Suso re-united with its members Rudolph and Hamid
Drake in 1984 to create the album Watto Sitta.
The album was produced by Bill Laswell, and was a milestone
of modern African music, skillfully and effortlessly merging Suso's
cutting-edge kora playing with an effortless equilibrium of
natural and synthesised tunes.
Since the early 80's
his various collaborations and work has included working
with Pharoah Sanders, Philip Glass and the Kronos
Quartet an ensemble who commissioned him to compose five
works. They collaborated at venues ranging from New York's
Lincoln Center and California's Institute of the Arts to the Staatsoper
Opera House in Vienna, Austria and the Royal Festival Hall
in London In traditional,
contemporary, minimalist, classical and avant-garde settings
he's cast the kora in both lead and supporting roles where
its emotive, shimmering sound finds ever new levels of
beauty and boldness.
Record Labels:
Island, Lyrichord, Folkways, Axiom, CBS, Sony, Flying Fish,
Celluloid, CMP, Point Music/Philips Classics, Ellipsis Arts,
Rhizome Sketch, Polygram, and Elektra Nonesuch.
Career High Points:
Foday has also
performed on several film soundtracks including Roots, Powaqqatsi, and Mountain of the Moon. Other high-lights
of his career include working as a performer and consultant for a
Japanese documentary film on African music and the book/CD,
Jali Kunda: Griots of West Africa and Beyond.
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Links & Official Website:
www.fmsuso.com
Contact Details:
Email: fodaymusasuso[a_t]netzero.com
Discography:
• Kora Music
from the Gambia
• Sounds of West Africa
The Kora & The Xylophone
• Mandingo Griot Society
With special guest Don Cherry
• Mighty Rhythm
Mandingo Griot Society
1981, Flying Fish Records FF 269
• Mansa Bendung
Foday Musa Suso,
Tamba Suso and Jarju Kuyateh
• Mandingo
New World Power
• The Dream Time
Foday Musa Suso
• Hand Power
Foday Musa Suso
• Julu Kemo
Foday Musa Suso
• Mandingo Watto Sita
Featuring Foday Musa Suso
• Jali Kunda
The Griots of West Africa and Beyond
• Ancient Hearth
Mandinka and Fulani music of The Gambia
• Village Life
Herbie Hancock & Foday Musa Suso
• Jooka
Foday Musa Suso
• Pieces of Africa
Kronos Quartet
• Jazz Africa
Herbie Hancock, Foday Musa Suso,
Aiyb Dieng, Adam Rudolph,
Joe Thomas, Hamid Drake, Abdul Hakeem
• Music From the Screens
Philip Glass and Foday Musa Suso
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