Norway memorial service for Senegal’s Solo Cissokho

A memorial service will be held in Cissokho's honour on 10 May in Norway.

Solo Cissokho, a jazz and mbalax musician was born in 1963 in Ziguinchor, Senegal. He was born into a family that has played the kora for several generations. He was also adept at playing the djembe, guitar and bass.

In a statement by the Gambia House, an establishment created to foster relations between Gambia and Nordic countries, “deepest condolences” were expressed about the “death of Ibrahima Solo Cissokho commonly known as Solo, a kora icon who had a significant impact in shaping the modern kora and culture in Norway.”

Cissokho had performed at the opening ceremony of the Gambia House’s 1st Nordic Gambian Diaspora Investment Forum in October 2018.

“We pay tribute not just to what he gave us while he was here, but what he left us to discover over and over and over again, a new experience each time we listen and watch him play," the founders of the Gambia House said in the statement. “The most important thing to him was his people, their cultures and traditions. And this is what he represented. A brilliant and unique kora player, alive in his music, he was thoughtful, inquisitive, gracious and, above all, pure.

“An extremely gifted performer and kora player, he was larger than life, larger than the stage, larger than the kora. We will always remember Solo’s supreme talent through the music he left behind. Our deepest condolences to his family both in Norway and Senegal, the Gambia and Senegalese Community, the African Community and the Norwegian community as a whole.”

Cissokho was said to have built his first kora at age seven and found a home in Norway and traveled extensively with his instrument. He received a BBC World Music Awards and was nominated to the Nordic Council’s Music Prize. Among his collaborators were celebrated acts Youssou N’Dour and Ali Farka Touré.