Last night, Jaliba Kuyateh, a famous Gambian Kora player, gave a concert in Koba Kunda, a surburb of Basse.
Jaliba is known as the "King of Kora." The Kora is a 21-string traditional instrument, a lute-bridge-harp to be exact! It dates back over 1000 years and belongs to the Mandinka people of West Africa. It's made from a hollowed-out calabash (type of gourd) and covered in cow skin.
I showed up with some friends around 9pm. We were told he would start around 9 or 10pm. In true African fashion, we found out upon arrival that he wouldn't be starting until closer to 11pm or 12am.
We went to my coworkers house to wait. She is apart of the community associate that arranged for him to perform. The African Cup of Nations soccer tournament was on and we caught the end. Pretty exciting... Ivory Coast and Ghana were in the finals and after a goaless draw, the match ended on penality kicks! Ivory Coast won 9-8 on penalities with the keeper saving a penality and then immediately afterwards, scoring the final kick.
Around 1130pm we headed back to the concert. Tickets were 50 Dalasi (roughly $1.25). It was outside in an empty compound. Plastic chairs were set up on three sides of a square with a plastic tarp covering the ground in the middle and the band and speakers set up on the fourth side.
We found seats and Jaliba started 20 minutes or so later. It was really nice. Everyone was dressed up in their best attire. After he starting peformings, group of people would dance up to him and place money, small bills, in a bucket for donation, showing their appreciate and love of the music.
My friend dragged me up. I think he was amused to see a white fan dancing before him. I was able to get a picture with him. He was really kind and invited me to stand next to him as he's peforming!
We left a little after 1am as it was quite chilly and we were ready to go to bed. The power in the town had also gone out. A few light bulbs lit up the performance area that were running on a generator. So we had a nice walk home in the moonlight and listened to the music in the background. Jalibah continued to play for serveral more hours into the late night.
