Event
Jali Bakary Konteh & Sarah Deere-Jones playing Kora & Harp
Jali Bakary is the grandson and son, respectively, of the legendary Gambian kora players Alhaji Bai Konte (who helped to bring kora music to the wider world with his iconic album Kora Melodies from the Republic of the Gambia, West Africa in 1973) and Dembo Konte. Born into this remarkable musical lineage and steeped in Gambia’s griot tradition, Jali Bakary is the latest torchbearer for his family’s kora legacy on the world stage. He has performed extensively throughout West and North Africa, as well as in the UK and the rest of Europe (WOMAD, Roskilde Festival). Like his father and grandfather before him, Jali Bakary brings his own personal touch and innovations to traditional songs with unique melodic and rhythmic arrangements. A hugely versatile musician. “It is difficult to overstate the regal, nearly divine, stature” of the Konte family in the echelons of West African music – Banning Eyre.
Sarah studied classical harp & singing at the Royal Academy of Music where she gained her LRAM and LGSM diplomas in harp performance and was awarded the Julia Leney prize, & in 2015 she was elected an Associate to the Royal Academy. Sarah performed in London for years with professional symphony, opera and ballet orchestras, and now performs her own arrangements and original music for harp & voice at music festivals & clubs and traditional music venues across the UK. Her compositions and performances on traditional harp have been broadcast in UK, Europe and America, and she has done guest interviews on Classic FM, BBC Radio Four and appeared many times on television. She has been invited to lecture and perform at the major harp festivals of the world, Big Sky and Somerset harp festivals USA, Harp Holiday Australia, Dinan & Lorient harp festivals in Brittany, and the Medieval ‘Music in the Dales’ festival, Welsh International harp and Edinburgh harp festivals in UK.
Suitability: Adults
www.jalibakarykonteh.co.uk
Friday 17th October 7.30pm
Bosley St Mary the Virgin Church, SK11 0NX
07927 024328