Artist Profiles: 17 Hippies
17 Hippies’ history parallels the progression of Berlin’s music scene since the 1980s; beginning with acoustic unplugged concerts and changing lineups of up to 20…
Artist Profiles: The “Rustavi” Company
The “Rustavi” Company was founded in 1968. Art of “Rustavi” has roots in the past of Georgia’s folk music and folk performing arts. It is…
Artist Profiles: Lela Tataraidze
Lela Tataraidze grew up in a family of musicians from Tusheti, the mountainous region of Georgia. With her sad eyes but a happy face, she…
Artist Profiles: Hamlet Gonashvili
Hamlet Gonashvili was born June 20, 1928. He was considered the voice of Georgia. He was an outstanding soloist, influential teacher and brilliant performer of…
Artist Profiles: Sherrifo Konteh
Sherrifo Konteh is the son of Alhaji Bai Konte and the brother of Dembo Konte, Sherrifo learned from both and has become an outstanding musician…
Artist Profiles: Seikou Susso
Seikou was born in 1964 in Sukuta Nanie in The Gambia. He is directly descended from a long line of jalis. As a boy he…
Artist Profiles: Salieu Suso
Born into a family of traditional African jalis (musician-historians), Salieu Suso began training on the 21-stringed kora at the age of 8, and began his…
Artist Profiles: Papa Susso
Papa Susso is a master kora (African harp/lute) player and jali (oral historian, also known as griot) from The Gambia, West Africa. He hails from…
Artist Profiles: Malamini Jobarteh
Malamini Jobarteh was a jali and one of Gambia’s greatest musical and cultural icons. In the late 1970s Alhaji Bai Konte and Malamini Jobarteh toured…
Artist Profiles: Ifang Bondi
For more than twenty years the Gambian roots band Ifang Bondi (‘be yourself’) had a leading role within West African popular music. It was one…