Copenhagen-based Kora master Dawda Jobarteh explores yet another road on his musical and personal journey featuring Norwegian trumpet player Gunnar Halle in a unique quartet setup. The concert is a part of this year’s Copenhagen Jazz Festival at ALICE at Stairway.

Lineup:
Dawda Jobarteh
Gunnar Halle
Jens Leonhard
Jakob Grønborg

Dawda Jobarteh is a Gambian kora player decenting from a long line of Mandinka griots. Unlike other boys in the family, he played percussions rather than the kora and did not begin to learn playing the 21-stringed harp before moving to Denmark in his early 20s. His music is an expression of the oscillations between tradition and modernity, old and new, different cultures and different genres. It is a more or less constant movement between opposites followed by waves of feeling lost and finding a way. It is Dawda’s story, but it is also the story of many other people in today’s world. In his own words he somehow lost tradition at a young age by not playing the kora and by leaving his birth country. In Scandinavia he found a way connecting to the tradition he left behind along with evolving it by exploring the possibilities of the kora.

On his 2022 album ”Do you know a place called Flekkerøy?”, Dawda explores yet another road on his musical and personal journey featuring Norwegian trumpet player Gunnar Halle. The two of them are backed up by Gambian percussionist Sal Dibba, Danish drummer Stefan Pasborg and Malian bass player Elisée Sangare.

The album is jazzy with a lot of space for improvisational parts for both the kora and the trumpet. It is very dreamy and Gunnar Halle’s trumpet contributes with a distinct Nordic vibe that emphasises Scandinavian landscapes. With the kora reminding the listener of its Westafrican roots, Dawda Jobarteh plays across time and space creating a unique room of elements from different cultures, centuries and continents.

The album title refers to a small Norwegian island which, to Dawda, is associated with beauty and contemplation – a state of mind, a place for reflection. The eight tunes are a blend of Jobarteh’s own compositions, a rearranged traditional West African tune and covers of ”Togo” by Don Cherry and ”Jackie-ing” by Thelonious Monk.

Do you know a place called Flekkerøy is released by the prominent Swedish record label Ajabu! – home to Antonis Antoniou, Raf Vilar among others.