Sona Jobarteh at Nalen

She is Africa’s first female kora player and mixes traditional West African and Gambian music with Afropop and blues.

When Sona Jobarteh arrives on Swedish soil, it is the Stockholm Jazz Festival and Nalen that have the great honor of opening the gates for this magical singer and kora player.

Sona Jobarteh was born in London into one of Mandinka’s five kora-playing griot families. Sona’s grandfather Amadu Bansang Jobarteh and her cousin Toumani Diabaté are both legendary practitioners of the 21-stringed instrument traditionally played by men. Sona Jobarteh is breaking that tradition.

Jobarteh has been playing the instrument since she was three years old. As an adult, she has studied cello, piano and harpsichord alongside the kora. Her second album, Fasiya, released in 2011, launched her reputation as a kora player. It was not until 2022 that her second full-length album Badinyaa Kumoo was released.

Sona Jobarteh has played with Oumou Sangaré, Ballaké Sissoko and Toumani Diabaté, written film music and invented a new instrument, a mix between the large kora and the smaller ngoni, which she calls the Nkoni.

Sona Jobarteh’s stage presence is electric, and with her Mandinka playing and singing, she has won over audiences around the world with her powerful message of equality, love and respect.

Tickets: Tickster

Place: Nalen, David Bagares gata 13, Stockholm
Price: 395 SEK
Date: 19.10.2024
Time: 20:00

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