Pa Bobo Jobarteh, the popular singer of ‘Peace, Love and Unity’, Pa Bobo Jobarteh, is one of Gambia’s foremost musical artists and band leader of the Kaira Band.
The Kora star hails from a family whose musical tradition in West Africa began many generations ago, in the eighteenth century. His father is Malamini Jobarteh (formerly manager of the Gambia National Troupe, now retired from music), his grandfather was Kelung Jobarteh and his great grandfather Wandifa Jobarteh, all renowned masters of the Kora.
In an exclusive interview with Gambia Daily’s Life & Entertainment, Pa Bobo gave a brief description of his career. He started playing the kora when he was 6 years old. In1988, at the age of 11, performed at Womad in the UK to large audiences both in Cornwall and Reading.
In 1988, he formed the Kaira Band, which featured his two younger brothers, Bai and Dembo, on drums and kora and the wonderful voice of his sister, Siffai Jobarteh. Together, they began to play at naming and wedding ceremonies throughout The Gambia.
He noted that when he was only fourteen-years-old, he was selected to take part in the World Music Arts and Dance (WOMAD). The Kora star’s rapid rise to stardom in the country came as a result of his adaptations and progression with the musical traditions of his birth. He had performed with the renowned guitarist, Tom Toomey, who was running a music school in South Africa. He did a song with him called African Sunset, which was included in his CD.
Pa Bobo has continued the Jali tradition of his ancestors, a tradition of hereditary musicians and poets, providing music, official praise, oral history and social advice to the rulers of the Mandinka people.
He was cited, along with his elder brother Tata Dindin, in the Rough Guide to World Music (vol. 1 p 618) as spearheading ‘a revival in Mandinka music’, a ‘relentless tumbling dance music’. He had since then been recommended by former President of The Gambia and the Arts Council and was a natural choice to represent The Gambia with his song Peace, Love and Unity, which hit the airwaves when it was released some years back. It became an unofficial national anthem, played daily on Gambian Radio and Television.
