{"id":2153870,"date":"2025-11-13T11:33:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T11:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2153870"},"modified":"2025-11-13T11:33:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T11:33:25","slug":"gambian-kora-singer-suntou-susso-shares-new-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/gambian-kora-singer-suntou-susso-shares-new-album\/","title":{"rendered":"Gambian kora singer Suntou Susso shares new album"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The 10-track album, launched independently and internationally on 7 November, explores themes of identity, heritage and cultural preservation. Recorded between Senegal and the United Kingdom, the project features 24 musicians from 10 countries, including Malian guitarist <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicinafrica.net\/node\/6888\">Vieux Farka Tour<\/a>\u00e9, Ghanaian artist K.O.G., and Susso\u2019s sister, vocalist Binta Suso.<\/p>\n<p>Rooted in the centuries-old Mandinka griot tradition, <em>Jaliya Silokang \u2013 The Path of a Griot<\/em> presents original compositions that combine Afro-Manding rhythms with elements of folk, jazz and funk. Sung primarily in Mandinka, the album\u2019s lyrics address issues of cultural continuity, social responsibility and environmental awareness.<\/p>\n<p>The first single, \u2018Yirolu Bala\u2019 (Within the Trees), highlights the importance of environmental protection. The song draws inspiration from Green-Up Gambia, an organisation focused on climate education and reforestation initiatives. Its title is taken from a Mandinka proverb meaning \u201cThe Earth\u2019s wellbeing is within the trees.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Susso, who comes from a long line of griot musicians that includes <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicinafrica.net\/node\/7750\">Seckou Keita<\/a>, Solo Cissokho and Mamudou Susso, said the album reflects both his heritage and his hopes for the future. \u201cWith this album I wanted to communicate to the young generation the importance of our culture and the environment, and to recognise the griot\u2019s role during these crises,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>A griot or jali is a West African storyteller, historian and musician whose role is to preserve and transmit cultural knowledge through music and oral tradition. The kora, a 22-stringed harp-lute played by Susso, is central to this tradition and has been passed down through generations of his family.<\/p>\n<p><em>Jaliya Silokang<\/em> received support from Arts Council England and Help Musicians through public funding from the National Lottery.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Suntou Susso - YIROLU BALA ( Within The Trees )\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2oDs3x2od84?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.musicinafrica.net \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 10-track album, launched independently and internationally on 7 November, explores themes of identity, heritage and cultural preservation. Recorded between Senegal and the United Kingdom, the project features 24 musicians from 10 countries, including Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Tour\u00e9, Ghanaian artist K.O.G., and Susso\u2019s sister, vocalist Binta Suso. Rooted in the centuries-old Mandinka griot tradition, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2153871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2153870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Gambian-kora-singer-Suntou-Susso-shares-new-album.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2153870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2153870"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2153870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2153872,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2153870\/revisions\/2153872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2153871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2153870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2153870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2153870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}