Musician Sona Jobarteh is building Gambia’s first cultural academy 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.
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| Sona Jobarteh is building Gambia's first cultural center for children to study their own culture. Photo: Atamari-Wikimedia Commons/thegambiaacademy.org |
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.
Jobarteh, a scholar in traditional West African Mande music, came to the
above realization during her studies at SOAS University in London, CNN
reported. “[SOAS] has one of Europe’s largest libraries containing African
literature and resources — an absolutely amazing place,” she told CNN. “But why
should Africans leave Africa to go and study their own culture? This is
something that didn’t sit well with me.”
So with 21 students, Jobarteh started her Academy in a makeshift
facility in Farato, a rural town in western Gambia. The number of students has
increased to 40, with many being orphans from rural communities who lacked
access to education. Jobarteh pays the fees of all the students, using the
earnings from her international touring and album sales.
With more students hoping to join the Academy, it is now expanding to
Kartong in southwestern Gambia. Jobarteh purchased 50 hectares of land in
Kartong in 2017 toward the construction of a new campus that will support about
300 students as well as the Academy’s Senior department for those above 18
years old.
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| Jobarteh purchased 50 hectares of land in Kartong in 2017 toward the construction of a new campus. Photo: thegambiaacademy.org/ |
The Academy campus, which hopes to become a “centralized hub for African
cultural and academic excellence”, will offer courses including general and
specialist musical education to both national and international students, all
of whom will benefit from on-site accommodation. The new campus comes with
facilities such as a dance studio, a concert hall, recording studio, a library,
screening room and a multi-media suite, according to its website.
Sustainable, locally sourced materials will be used for the project but
what really excites Jobarteh is the location of the campus. The Academy campus
is not only a ten-minute walk to the beach but also closely connected to the
rural community, giving Jobarteh and her team “a bright, natural setting that
blends African tradition, arts and culture with academia.”
Multi-instrumentalist and composer Jobarteh is currently seeking
external funding in order to complete the pioneering institution.
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