Alhaji Suntu Suso, Gambian kora player

Suntu introduced me to the kora and gave me my first lessons. We met in Sierra Leone in 1965 when I was teaching music as a Peace Corps volunteer and he was beginning his career as a professional jali. I continued my studies with Suntu in Gambia in 1970 and later recommended him for a teaching post at Northwestern University in 1973. Today Suntu lives in Paris and is one of the leading traditional musicians in the Mandinka community there.

Suntu is featured in a performance with my other kora teacher, Jali Nyama Suso, in a videotape entitled Music of the Mande, Parts I and II, produced by Original Music and available direct from me. Please see VIDEOTAPES for further information.

To hear Suntu Suso playing, click here.

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