Biography:
 Jali Nyama Suso
(born Mohamadu Lamin Suso), the legendary Manding music Kora
player was born around 1925 & died in 1991 of tuberculosis
which he which he was infected with in 1986. He was famous
in The Gambia for his weekly show on Radio Gambia & is is acknowledged as one of the
greatest kora players of the 20th century. By the time he
was 8 years old he was already proficient with the lute.
As a youth the first song he learned was "Kelefaba," about the
19th century Kelefa Saane who was a warrior of the
aristocracy of Kaabu.
As his career progressed he travelled widely to
play at weddings and social functions, but his peripatetic
employment was severely curtailed when, aged 16, he lost a
leg after a bad fall. He concentrated instead on
establishing a career in radio, beginning in 1956. His
popularity rose with these appearances, and by the mid-60s
he was a nationally celebrated figure, enjoying the
patronage of President Jawara's first wife. Jawara
apparently
appointed him as arranger to the Gambian
national anthem, "Fode
Kabba'. Afterwards he would be critical of the government
(following Jawara's divorce). Later, after two
musicologists visited the region he took the opportunity to
travel back with them to the USA instead.
While he was a resident artist at the
University of Washington (between 1971 - 1972) he recorded
his first solo album, released on the OCORA label titled
Gambie: Mandinka kora par Jali Nyama Suso. He was
back at the university between 1972-73.
He additionally penned the song "Kinte's Tune" for Alex
Haley's "Roots" television adaptation. Significantly, this was
the show which first acknowledged black America's tidal wave
of empathy with the African experience and the moral debt of
colonialism. In the 80s he he toured in England, Germany,
France, and Sweden.
Jali Nyama Suso is famous for being the first
Kora player to teach
the kora outside of Africa!
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Links & Website:
Album & Video (Oberlin College)
Professor Roderic Knight
Discography:
• African Journey: Roots Of The
Blues (SNTF 1973)
• The Griots: Masters Of The
Spoken Word (FE 1975)
• Songs From The Gambia (SNTF
1977)
• Kora Music From Gambia
July
1984, Berlin
• Gambie: L'Art De La Kora
expanded reissue of Mandinka Kora (Ocora 1996)
• "L'art de la kora" (Ocora
1997)
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