Introducing... Gambiana

Gambiana is a trio of young West African musicians put together by Gambian kora player Sona Jobarteh. They recently supported her at a packed-out gig at London’s Barbican Centre. It was an exuberant, energetic occasion with Sona’s 17-year-old son Sidiki proving himself to be a spectacular balafon player, even breaking one of his sticks as he clashed them together above his head in an attempt to rouse the audience. The Barbican’s stage manager smartly took the beater off to repair. “In future I’m going to take dozens of sticks with me,” says Sidiki. “That’s never going to happen again.”

Accompanying Sidiki is guitarist Carllo YABOY (23) from Ghana, and Musa Filly Jobarteh (23) from Gambia, on percussion. YABOY is a constant whirr of motion, nimbly jumping around, while Sidiki races up and down the xylophone and Musa Filly switches between djembé, calabash and congas. The biggest applause comes after a duet of djembé and calabash played by Musa Filly and Sidiki. The Barbican reception for this one-year-old band was spectacular.

The name Gambiana stems from its members’ Gambian-Ghanaian heritage. Sidiki has a Gambian mother and Ghanaian father, while Musa Filly is Sidiki’s cousin. Carllo YABOY is son of one of Ghana’s most famous jazz pianists, Kwame Yeboah. “My frame of reference is mostly from watching my father play highlife music in Ghana, specifically at the club called +233 where he would play nearly every Friday,” says YABOY.

Their song ‘Gambiana’ begins with a spectacular balafon solo, but is fully representative of the fusions they create. “The original song is from the Mande tradition, which I’ve practiced since I was very young,” says Sidiki. “Then Carllo started playing the guitar and he knows the Ghanaian style more than the Gambian one, but it worked and that’s when we thought let’s try and mix these two traditions.”

Musa Filly started playing djembé at three and performed with his father when he was just five. For the last five or six years he’s been teaching at The Gambia Academy, a school set up by Sona. This is also where Sidiki started balafon training; he has been performing in Sona’s band for years.

Gambiana received a great reception at Celtic Connections in 2023, while their performances at Shrewsbury Folk Festival and Shambala were also deemed a success (hence return visits planned to both this year). “We want to share our musical history while giving people an amazing, danceable yet educational, musical experience,” says YABOY, “There’s this feeling of joy, of letting loose inside this space where we can invite people to join us.”

Gambiana will perform at Shambala (August 22-25) and Shrewsbury Folk Festival (August 23-26)

This article originally appeared in the August/September 2024 issue of Songlines magazine. Never miss an issue – subscribe today