GAMBIAN CULTURE

GAMBIAN CULTURE

Gambia can be a delightful place to visit, to vacation, and to experience, learn, study and to play music. For those who speak English as a first language, it is easy to feel at home. Many people learn to speak English in school, and the tourism industry is highly developed.

If you come as a tourist, everything you want is there: fresh and savory foods, modern accommodations, easy transportation, cultural diversity of dance, music and more, pleasant excursions on The River Gambia, the archeological puzzles of Gambia's stone circles, hand-made and dyed and woven cloth, intricately machine embroidered clothing, and of course, miles and miles of open and unspoiled beaches of soft sand lined by inviting shady trees.

There is no lack of opportunity for tourists and students to enjoy their private time. If your passion and field of study is music, you will find that Gambia has a smorgasbord of instruments, experiences, exciting melodies and rhythms.

Jali Bakary Konteh at his school with some of his traditional

griot music teachers, entertaining tourists and Gambians

If your goal is to expand your ability with stringed instruments, with xylophone-like balafons, or with the family of many types of wood-bodied drums that you will find in Gambia, well, this is the place to be to hear, relax, to get hands-on experience, and make some new music to carry back home.

The democratic government of The Republic of The Gambia has excellent WWW sites filled with information and even serving as a source for streaming radio and television in English as well as Mandinka, Wolof and other major languages you will hear spoken around you.

If your quest is music, the more time you spend with the traditional professional musicians, the Griots, the more fulfilling and educational your experience will be. In truth, just spending time interacting in a traditional family environment is a great cultural experience.

Jali Ba Bobo Joberteh teaching a student.

Jali Yankuba Conteh with some of his griot teachers at his music school.

Gambia has many African linguistic and cultural groups living in harmony in the modern era. Membership in these groups, also called "Tribes," is not strictly heriditary. The kora is played by the Mandinka People but is widely enjoyed by members of the other Tribes, which in Gambia include, among others, the Wolof (who are the majority in neighboring Senegal), Fula, Serachuli and Jola. Many Gambians know multiple languages, with both English and Wolof often being "trade" langues, used in commerce.

Jali Bakary Konteh performing

for tourists at his music school.

Jali Ba Bobo Joberteh performing

for tourists at his music school.

The three grandsons of Alhaji Bai Konte are Mandinka. tracing their ancestry to Mali through specific ancestors. The history of the Mandinka has been studied by scholars, and is memorialized in epic poems and stories that themselves are 800 years old.

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Gambian traditional culture includes many handicraft technologies that are seldom found in modern Western societies. These include hand work such as: making traditional musical intruments; spinning cotton and wool; weaving cloth strips in intricate patterns; cloth dying techniiques such as tie-dye and batique; machine embroidr; wood carving of stools, tools and more; smithing of iron, silver and gold, cooking; beautification with henna dye and hair styling; farming; etc.

It is possible to arrange to learn some of these hand crafts from people who have learned these traditional skills, passed down from generation to generation.

GAMBIA is a delightfully welcoming place to visit and also to learn and enjoy music, mouth-watering fresh foods and a thought-provoking different way of life.

FOLLOWING The FOOTSTEPS TOUR

BOOKING INQUIRIES:
Marc Pevar
610-470-0093
mpevar@verizon.net

MANDINKA HERITAGE PERFORMING ARTISTS

Proudly Performing and Teaching Music and Culture

GROWING THEIR GAMBIAN SCHOOLS BY SHARING TRADITIONS WORLDWIDE