Musician Sona Jobarteh is building Gambia’s first cultural academy for children to study their own culture

Original Story Published by: Mildred Europa Taylor, www.face2faceafrica.com
Photo Source: Atamari

(Above) Sona Jobarteh is building Gamiba’s first cultural center for children to study their own culture.

Since 2011 that respected kora player, vocalist and instrumentalist Sona Jobarteh dropped the album Fasiya, the world-renowned musician has not released any other album. Instead, she has been placing all her finances and energies into the Gambia Academy of Music and Culture she opened in her home country, The Gambia, in 2015.

The school is the first of its kind in The Gambia that teaches music and academic studies as an integrated course of study. In other words, the Academy educates children in their cultural traditions and heritage alongside the mainstream curriculum “My ambition was to teach children an innate sense of pride in their own culture and history. It became my ambition to make sure I contributed to this change,” said Jobarteh, who is from a long West African tradition of Griots and kora players from Mali and The Gambia.

At just five years old, Jobarteh was already playing the kora, the 21-string instrument which is traditionally reserved for men. Today, she is known as the first professional female kora player in The Gambia, and throughout her performances, she has shown that one does not have to conform to outside influence to be successful in the music industry.

“You can actually represent your tradition, you can even sing in your own language without having to bend to pressure not to do so,” she said.

It is against this background that she founded the Academy dedicated to the social and economic development of the country. To Jobarteh, African children, when given the kind of education her Academy offers, will be motivated to take up roles in building and harnessing the resources of their own countries rather than thinking of leaving their country.