Gambian great Jali Alhaji Mbye passes on

He died at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital in Banjul on 12 December after a brief illness. The news was confirmed by the Musicians Union of the Gambia (MUSIGAM), where he served as vice-president representing cultural and traditional artists.

Regarded as one of the Gambia’s greatest and finest musicians, Jali Alhaji Mbye was born in Jarra Barrow Kunda to Sutaring Mbye and Aja Jabou Jange. He was born to a griot (jali) family and his father, grandfather and uncles were well-known praise singers, history reciters and kora players going back several generations.

His birth was probably in 1965 but he said his mother didn't own a calendar. He went to Barrow Kunda Primary School and later Mansakonko Junior Secondary School. He was sent to study the kora with griots, including Jali Nyama Suso, who was asked in the late 1980s by Norwegian musicians to recommend a kora player. He chose Mbye as one of the most talented young players. Subsequently, Mbye made the first of many trips to the Scandinavia.

Upon his return, he started working as a kora teacher in the now-defunct Eo'len Centre of West African Arts in the Gambia, which had many Scandinavian music students. At Eo'len, he met Scandinavian kora enthusiasts who invited him to return to Norway and Sweden, where he performed once or twice a year since 1990.

He played with Knut Reiersrud and was a guest on his 1993 album, Tramp. In Sweden, Mats Edén and Groupa were his first contacts, and he played concerts with the group in the early 1990s. Swedish musician Ale Möller was fascinated by Mbye's abilities and his "totalness" in music and invited him to be a member of the Stockholm Folk Big Band project. Theb and was composed of 14 musicians representing 11 countries from around the world. Mbye was the only one not a resident in Sweden.

Around the turn of the millennium, he got the opportunity to make a solo album in Sweden. He recorded pure kora songs in the tradition and all of the album's songs were in the Mandinka language.

With the help of his Swedish friends, Mbye was able to realise his dream of a music school for Gambian children, as part of his efforts to preserve the tradition of his homeland. Even non-griot children are welcomed to study there. He was a member of the International Society of Music Education (ISME) and attended its conferences in Pretoria in South Africa and Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Before his death, Mbye was producing a programme on the history of the Manding Empire for the Gambia Radio and Television Service with Alhaji Sarjo Barrow. His death, said MUSIGAM, "has closed another great historical manuscript containing important records of our past as people from the great ancient Manding Empire".