Music-Gambia - Gambia's First International kora festival gathers pace - Organisers of the much-anticipated maiden Gambia International Kora Festival have been speeding up preparations to stage a successful and historic cultural Kora renaissance meant to showcase The Gambia as the place where the 21-string musical instrument originated from. Scheduled to take place in the cultural town of Brikama, the administrative seat of the West Coast Region, the organisers confirmed to the Daily Observer Thursday that the event will now take place from 16-29 April 2012.

Conceived and pioneered by Gambian-born international music producer and promoter, Oko Drammeh, organiser of the Africa Music Festival in Holland for many years, the festival is expected to attract many Kora players within and outside the country such as Europe, America, Asia and so on. Meanwhile, Oko Drammeh has confirmed the participation of artists such as the nation's Kora maestro Jaliba Kuyateh, Sona Jobarteh, the only female Gambian Kora-playing musician who is based in the United Kingdom; Alhagi Malamin Jobarteh, Dembo Conte, Sekou Saho, Momodou Susso, Tata Ding Ding, Jali Kebba, Neneh Suso, Sambou Suso, Lamin Saho, and Alhagi Mbye, amongst others.

The renaissance of the Kora in the form of a festival to showcase its origin has been described by the organisers to be of immense national significance. It is backed by the fact that the 21-string instrument is the key musical instrument that is identical to The Gambia and has its roots in the country as mentioned in the TV series and Movie "Roots" by American author Alex Haley. It came to America via the slaves from the "Gamby- Bolongo", meaning 'River Gambia' in the Mandingo language.

"The Festival will be a historic event attracting Kora players from around the world from different cultures different countries and from all the continents: Asia, North & South America, Europe, Australia and Africa," Drammeh said. "The Kora griots (traditional troubadours and historians known as the Jalis) of The Gambia will be the focal point of the festival and the role of Kora Elders as the staff-bearers of the legacy of the Kora instrument and the history and the empires behind the instrument.

Jali Malamin Jobarteh, Dembo Conte and Kawsu Kuyateh known around the world in the world tours and festival appearances and in the recordings in the UK with album titles like Jali Roll" and Jaliology will be present in hosting the Kora Festival as the emblem of the occasion. The main attraction and headline of the festival is Gambia's most popular and the world renowned maestro Jaliba Kuyateh," He explained.

The Kora festival, according to the chief organiser will cover a two-week programme including a conference, seminar, traditional music performances, film night, lectures, symposium, workshop, festival stage and art-market place. The festival, Drammeh further stated will be organised in different locations including the University of The Gambia, the Gambia College, the Jerma Hall, the Gambia Museum, Arch 22, Brikama Stadium and the Alliance-Franco Gambien. "This event will become an annual event in The Gambia attracting tourists and adventurous travelers to The Gambia during the festival to boost our economy and the tourism industry with a lasting value," he added.

Purpose of the festival

Further expatiating on the reasons for staging the festival in the country, Drammeh reiterated that the Kora originated from The Gambia and has become a worldwide phenomena played and copied by many other nationalities from all over the world. He averred that this programme will be geared towards cultural and eco-tourism development.

Drammeh opined that the Kora is becoming an endangered species like the "rainforest" that is disappearing fast, thus stressing that they have a duty to exhibit it in all avenues of culture in The Gambia and make it a national music symbol in the country. "The legacy of the Kora has been a transfer of knowledge from father to son for generations. These traditions must be preserved for future generation. The children of Kora players are now engaged in finance and trade and other instructional work and have walked away from playing Kora because they do not see the financial benefits and the respect for being a Kora player. We want to restore the pride and dignity of kora griots and bring to the front their role and importance to society," he stated.

He further explains: "The Kora is the library of our history (the remembered oral history and storytelling), our heritage, artistic and intellectual wisdom but with it's demise the oral history and knowledge of our ancestors is gradually disappearing. The towns and villages where the Kora used to be found known as ancestral Kora capitals are extinct from the map. This has to be restored through regional festival and local Kora events to teach the youth.

"The Kora is now being studied and taught in American, European and Asian schools in the curriculum of musical education. The future is that, time will come when we will have to go to these countries to study the Kora unless we start an institute of Kora education as a sense of owner belonging and pertained through international copyright law for the further exploitation of the resources the Kora legacy can bring to The Gambia and the manufacturing of the kora instrument for export to musical stores all over the world.

The manufacturing and the export of the Kora will in future be coming from China or America, well designed and packaged for us to buy and study. There will be an assembly plant in Brikama managed by the keepers of the Kora legacy for centuries and blueprint the trademark the manual and the operation module."

Drammeh also pointed out that the list of forgotten and abandoned Kora legends is immense, stressing that it is important to remember and associate the names of Alhagi Amadou Bansang Jobarteh, Alhagi Bai Conte, Jali Nyama Suso, Jali Bakary Jobarteh, Wandfeng Jobarteh, and Jali Madi Weleng Jobarteh with the Kora and Gambia as the true source.

He continued: "The Female Jalis known as Jali Musso are no longer playing side musician for the Kora players. This was what made Kora popular after its ritual passage with singers like Sujulou and Makawa Kouyateh, Sekou Saho and Ramata, Lalo Kebba and Kura, etc. The duos and the duets of the formation was a pillar in keeping the legacy alive. The most popular Kora songs were sang by the Jali Mussos' and we have a duty to restore their role through this festival and keep it alive for emulation by younger griots." "The Standard practice of one Kora player performing alone is the unusual common practice today. There has never been a time that a Kora player would leave a balafong player behind and a Jali Musso attempting to play alone in a show. Most solo performances were ceremonial.

The ritual is that a Kora show is an ensemble including a balafong background, a backing singer and hand-bell percussions. The Balafong is from Mali and can be traced to the time of King Sumanguru Conte, a Tilibonka from Eastern Mali. The instrument has always been a partner to the kora for making epic songs with a cast of noble griots fiord national purpose." Still on the reasons for the festival, Drammeh emphasised that the initiative can support tourism, saying it will be a wing to popularise Gambian tourism to become an economic impact and bring in artistic employment to the artists and makers of instruments.

Benefits for the host town

Commenting on the benefits for the host town, Oko Drammeh said the initiative has the potential to make Brikama the Kora "capital of the world" by erecting a giant size Kora player at the entrance gate of the town as a historical monument. The festival, he added will generate sufficient income for small-scale businesses in Brikama during the event to allow natives of the town to capitalise on the event period in showcasing and selling food items and cultural products to the festival visitors.

While underscoring that the event will promote the Brikama tourist market as a tourist shopping center for Gambian cultural and local music instruments, Drammeh stated that Brikama Kora players will eventually become well known Kora musicologists and teaching Kora lessons to students at the institute of Kora whenever it is established. Drammeh added: "A film about the Kora will soon be lunched for filming in The Gambia and the Brikama Jalis and Jali Musso will be the main actors/actresses to play the center role in this Gambia movie. The griots will be well paid in this project and all their original song copyrighted and protected for posterity.

"The Annual Kora festival will bring together to Brikama all historians and musicologists on this subject in a convention each year to Brikama for educational purposes and research for scholastic purpose for the preservation and conservation for the history of the Kora. The material gathered from the conferences and convention will be transferred in books and reading material as well as study material for school use and for information guide about the Kora and the griots known as Jalis.

The wives of the Jali's mostly Female Jali Musso will have their own annual programme which will highlight their role and educate about the instruments i.e: the Kelengo and the hand percussion but above all their voices, the songs and glamorous stage gestures and flamboyance in presenting the role as counter-artist to the male Jaliba as different but equal."

Drammeh opined that this initiative could have the potential to provoke the establishment of a Kora institution in Brikama where students from all over the world can come to learn the Kora. "The institution will be a boarding school whereby students will pay a fee to live on campus while studying. There will be a Kora factory employing youths in the area for assembling the Kora instrument, packaging and exporting the Kora to all corners of the globe, just like the Guitar, Keyboard and other musical instruments," he concluded.

Hatab Fadera

The Daily Observer/03/01/2012