Welcome to the Kora King's blog

Hello and welcome! Jali Mbye is a leading UK kora player who performs and records his music both solo and with his band Nematolye. Jali was born in the Gambia and has travelled extensively throughout the world playing his music and promoting Gambian culture

Jali also hand crafts bespoke kora instruments and djembes as well as runs school workshops and exchange programs.

This blog is dedicated to the Gambian way of life and endeavours to promote this wonderful culture through education and music.

By all means follow us on our musical odyssey and keep up to speed with new news and events.

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Wednesday, 21 April 2010

Jali records first album


Hello all and welcome to Jali Mbye's blog.

A couple of weeks ago Jali recorded his first album and EP at Ghost town recording studio in Leeds.  If you haven't already be sure to check out the website on recordings and you can hear the full work.  What you will find is eight beautiful kora instrumentals on the album and 4 mesmerising vocal performances on the EP.

Ross, the auditory wizard responsible for Ghost Town was blown away when Jali sat down and recorded the first album in one take.  It's understandable that some may consider this highly unusual, improbable even, but maybe not when you consider that Jali comes from a long line of hereditary griots and has made the kora the centre of his life since he started learning the instrument at the age of 7.  Indeed since picking up this instrument Jali's passion and purposeful development of his skills have seen him travel all around the world playing festivals and private bookings.

If you go to koraking.com and look in the galleries you can also see some pictures that I took to document this posthumous moment.

Thanks for dropping by to check out this new blog - please feel free to follow us for more news and events around subjects such as...

Nematolye recording session
Djembe workshops
Kora workshops
Gambian adventures
Exchange programmes
and loads more besides.

See you soon

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