MySpacea place for friends

Here is a photo montage of the highlights of the tour of England by Jali Sherrifo Konteh in 2004 and 2005 followed by some photos taken back in The Gambia. The music that accompanies the photos is Sherrifo singing and playing "Jariba"

On February 9th 2006,Jali Sherrifo Konteh moved into the compound that he is building in Brikama. A party was obviously called for with lots of music and dancing. The opening song of many hours of partying was "Alla La Ke" and you can hear and see four jali musicians.
Jali Sherrifo Konteh - (kora and singing)
Suntou Kouyate -(balafon)
Makoy Jobarteh - (singing)- wife of Suntou
Kankou Kouyate - (singing)- wife of Suntou's brother

The songs that are presented here were recorded in my compound in Brikama in the Gambia. Douto Koto is an instrumental recording with my great friend Suntou Kouyate playing the balafon. I recorded a studio album, CHESANO when I was in England in 2004

and my first album MANSALOU was recorded in the Gambia in 2002.

Both these albums are available from my website at www.compoundsounds.com

I will be returning to Europe in the autumn of 2007 and the details of all my appearances will be on that website as they are finalised.

Here is may background:-
I started to learn the kora when I was six years old. My father, Alhaji Bai Konteh, was the one who taught me but he died when I was twelve. Then my teacher was my uncle; Lamin Gom. I am the youngest son. I was born in Brikama and I have always lived there. Here I am shopping in Brikama market

All the griots are from the same family so we learn from one another, give one another lessons and so it goes on. My family is a griot family and my father is a very famous kora player in The Gambia. He made a record for Virgin in London in the early 1970's. (This album has been released on CD in America on the Rounder label) From the start, I was playing traditional music and songs. After some years I started to compose my own music and songs. I am really trying to develop my music. When I write my own songs, I write them in a way that uses the traditional forms. My family came originally from Kankaba in Mali. My great-grandfather's name was Jali Ndaba Konteh. My grandfather's name was Ebrahami Konteh. My three elder brothers all play the kora. Their names are Mamadou, Dembo and Bakiba. Dembo, of course is very famous. He has played all over the world and he has played in England many times.
I mostly write my songs in the Mandinka language though I have written some in English. The subjects of the songs vary. I can write about how things are changing between the generations. I have written songs about my friends who have been good people and about things that have affected my life. I wrote about a good friend Ousman Njie who died very young. I had been away playing and when I returned I found that he had died. I took my kora to his compound and played the song for his family.
I never went to High School. I practiced the kora for many hours each day. Because of the kora, my schooling was spoiled. My aim has always been to play kora. I stopped my schooling in the primary sixth, but I can write my letters for myself and make all my own arrangements.
Griots would play for marriage celebrations, naming ceremonies, birthdays and other parties and festivals. We would have to go around the town to play for the people. Not so much of this goes on now, the generations are changing. Some people want traditional music but some do not. Most of my work now is in the hotels, but that is only for the tourist season frorn October to April. Usually, I play on my own but sometimes I play with a djembe player. I used to play with my band. Roots Manding and now play sometimes with the Bantang Band. We just used African instruments, balafon, flute, tam tarn, djembe etc. I teach the kora, but I have only had a few western students, only African students. My aim 100% was to be able to play in Europe like my brother and my father and I came to England to tour in 2004 and 2005.

I make my own koras. It is a difficult job; it takes about two week's work to make one.lt cannot be done during the rainy season. It needs a large calabash sawed across.The volume of the kora will depend on the size of the calabash. A mahogany wood pole is fitted through the calabash as the neck and the skin of a cow across it. Now three different thicknesses of nylon fishing wire are used for the strings but in my grandfather's day it was made from cows' skins, cut into thin strips and then twisted. The sound was different and it was quieter. Plaited loops of cow skin are used to attach the strings to the neck and they are pushed up and down the neck to tune the strings. An iron ring is attached to the bottom of the pole to make a tail piece. Two other thinner poles are set across the top of the calabash and the player's hands will rest on these. Another pole of the same thickness acts as a horizontal brace. The high wooden bridge has notches on both sides for the strings. A sound hole, or sometimes two, are cut from the calabash Brass headed pins are used to attach the skin to the calabash, normally in the maker's distinctive style or pattern or sometimes with the name of the player. Sometimes two thicknesses of cow skins are used and the brass pin pattern can be extended. I have made more than ten koras, mainly to play myself but also for other people, all to a standard where they can be played professionally. My father was recognised as the best kora maker in The Gambia. There are many people making koras now, mostly to sell to tourists, They will have a smaller number of strings. If you want a kora that could be played professionally, you must go to a griot family. The kora will have 21 strings or sometimes a couple more. There are four different ways of tuning the kora. First of all you have Siliba, you start with Siliba as you start to learn. Then there are Sowta.Tamora and Hardino. Different songs fit into different tunings. Tamora is very common in Manding music.