The Musicians’ Union of The Gambia (MUSIGAM) deeply regrets to announce the demise of one of The Gambia’s greatest and finest musicians, Master of the Kora, Composer and Actor, Jali Alhaji Mbye on Wednesday 12th December, 2018.
He died at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital in Banjul on this fateful day, after a brief illness. The veteran prior to his demise is the Vice President presenting the Cultural and Traditional artistes in the Executive Board of MUSIGAM.
Jali Alhaji was born in Jarra Barrow Kunda to Sutaring Mbye and Aja Jabou Jagne. He went to Barrow Kunda Primary School and later Mansakonko Junior Secondary School but went in search of his tradition and learnt playing the Kora, then started his research on Manding history and travelling across West Africa to gather facts about Manding.
Then he travelled abroad to Norway and Sweden, where he stayed for a while before coming back to The Gambia. Alhaji lectured traditional music at various universities across Scandinavia and built a school for teaching Kora and he has educated lots of people to boost the Mandinka culture.
Jali Mbaye is currently producing the famous history of the Manding Empire on The Gambia Radio and Television Service [GRTS] with Alhaji Sarjo Barrow. His demise has closed another great historical manuscript containing important records of our past as the people from the great ancient Manding Empire.
Biography
Alhaji Mbye (also spelled M’Bye) was probably born in Jan 1965, but it was apportionated not surety. (He says his mother didn’t have a calendar.) He comes from a griot (jali) family and his father, grandfather and uncles were well known praise singers, history recitals and Kora players, as an ancestral inheritance.
Alhaji was sent to study Kora with some of the great Gambian masters at very early age, including the legendary Jali Nyama Suso.
In the late 1980s some Norwegian musicians came to Gambia and asked Jali Nyama, which Kora player he would be recommended to come and play in Norway, and he named Alhaji Mbye as one of the most talented young players. Alhaji made his first of many trips to Scandinavia.
On his return, he started working as a Kora teacher in The Eo’len Centre of West African Arts in The Gambia, which had many Scandinavian music students. (Unfortunately this centre is not active any more.)
At Eo’len, Alhaji met many Scandinavian enthusiasts who invited him to return to Norway and Sweden, where he has performed once or twice a year since 1990.
He played with Knut Reiersrud and was a guest on Reiersrud’s CD’s Tramp. In Sweden, Mats Edén and Groupa were his first contacts where he played and performed concerts with the group in the early 90’s. Swedish musician Ale Möller was fascinated by Alhaji abilities and his totality in music thus invited him to be a member of the Stockholm Folk Big Band project 1998-99.
The Big Band was composed of 14 musicians representing 11 countries all over the world. Alhaji was the only none resident of Sweden.
Alhaji greatest concerned was the future of The Gambian Traditional Music. Many places now have no griot heritage to care for the continuity of the tradition.
From 1999-2000 he got the opportunity to make a solo album in Sweden, a recording of pure Kora and Songs in the tradition. Yiribameans, The Big Tree, which symbolizes the roots, stem, branches and leaves of the West African griot heritage. All the songs were in the Mandinka language.
His Swedish friends have helped him to realize his longtime dream of a music school for The Gambian children, part of Alhaji efforts were to preserve the tradition of his homeland. Even non-griot children were welcomed to study there. Alhaji is a member of the International Society of Music Education (ISME) and has taken part in their conferences in Pretoria, South Africa and Amsterdam in Holland.
Author: Bakary Ceesay