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Transitional Times

by Dawda Jobarteh

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    All photos by Azul Serra
    Design by concept60seven

    Includes unlimited streaming of Transitional Times via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £10 GBP or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £7 GBP  or more

     

1.
2.
3.
Efo 04:49 video
4.
Kaira 05:14
5.
Transition 05:33
6.
Mba Sina 06:15
7.
All One 04:51
8.
9.
10.
Mama Sawo 03:43
11.
12.
Kanoo 00:48
13.
14.
Dalua 03:45

about

Although to meet him it might not be obvious, Dawda Jobarteh takes his griot heritage very seriously, and as the grandson of Alhaji Bai Konte and son of Amadou Bansang Jobarteh, he is at the epicentre of Gambia’s musical aristocracy. Bai Konte was responsible for some of the classic kora repertoire still played today, and one of the first players to tour the USA as a solo artist. Amadou Bansang Jobarteh was the favoured musician of Gambia’s first president, Dawda Jawara, after whom Dawda is named. But hereditary musicians from West Africa are not exactly uncommon, so what is it about Dawda that distinguishes him from his peers?

Dawda’s home is now firmly in Denmark. Here he has married and set up house. Here he has swapped the wedding and circumcision ceremonies that his uncles Malamini Jobarteh and Dembo Konte performed in rural Gambia, for educational tours of Scandinavia with bassist Moussa Diallo, or free-jazz perfomances with drummer Stefan Pasborg. Here with his own group he has appeared at rock festivals such as Roskilde, and from here he has ventured around the world onto stages in East Africa and clubs in New Delhi, India.

Necessarily, Dawda’s world view is modern and open-minded. His concerns are not the geneology of a local elite, but the impact of global economics on us all. Bright Sky Over Monrovia arose from a commission to write music for a theatrical production about blood diamonds. Efo concerns the frustration of nationally imposed border policies as they affect individuals. Yet his picture is never solely polemic. Whilst still a critic of polygamy, in Mba Sina, a song in homage to his mother’s co-wife, he is able to voice nuances that allow a more gentle interpretation.

Today it’s perhaps more common for some of these issues to be expressed by the new generation of African and South American hip hop artistes. But Dawda’s music is still firmly rooted in a tradition and when it looks outward, it does so to the more organic realms of jazz. It’s no accident that the album’s title reflects that of one of its tracks, a version of John Coltrane’s Transition, or that Jamming In The Fifth Dimension is a free-wheeling improvisational duet between percussion and treated kora.

But ultimately Transitional Times, Dawda’s second on Sterns Africa, is intensely personal. As Dawda himself notes, with most vocals and kora instrumentals recorded at home over several years, this “recording has been the soundtrack of my children and wife's dreams for many nights.” We commend it to you.

credits

released October 14, 2016

Dawda Jobarteh: Kora, vocals & percussion
Preben Carlsen: Guitars
Jakob Dinesen: Saxophone
Nana Osibio, Preben Carlsen, Etienne M'Bappe, Alain Perez, Moussa Diallo: Bass
Niclas Campagnol, Francis Kweku Osei: Drums
Salieu Dibba: Percussion
Jullie Hjetland Jensen: Additional vocals

Recorded by Dawda Jobarteh, Mikkel Nordsø and Preben Carlsen
Mixed by Mikkel Nordsø, Preben Carlsen and Dawda Jobarteh
Mastered by Antony Ryan, RedRedPaw Mastering

All photos by Azul Serra
Design by concept60seven

(P) 2016 Sterns Africa
(C) 2016 Sterns Music
Issued under exclusive licence from Dawda Jobarteh

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Dawda Jobarteh Copenhagen, Denmark

Reflecting both his new home and life in Denmark, and his birth and history in The Gambia, there is a quiet confidence to Dawda Jobarteh's third album. His music ranges from original kora instrumentals and social-commentary songs, to Gambian and Scandinavian tunes hundreds of years old. Unique and compelling. ... more

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