I Met Her By The River

The stately and elegant opening title-track of Jobarteh's latest album suggests we can expect a solo kora record rooted deeply in tradition, in the style of, say, Toumani Diabaté's Mande Variations. Yet as the album unfolds, it becomes clear that nothing could be further from the truth. We can only marvel at a spectacular version of Mongo Santamaría's ‘Afro Blue’ played on an electrified kora with a throbbing jazz bass and skittering percussion; swoon to a lovely solo interpretation of Adele's multi-million selling hit ‘Hello’; and wonder at ‘Jeg Gik Mig Ud En Sommerdag’, a jazzily experimental setting of an old Scandinavian folk song. We also get a brace of Jobarteh's own compositions, including the social commentary of ‘Begging Boys’, featuring the deeply resonant voice of Souleymane Faye, and a cover of Touré Kunda's ‘Sidi Yela’, which Jobarteh sings himself.

Now resident in Denmark, as the scion of a famous family of Gambian kora players dating back generations, Jobarteh has absorbed all the virtuosity and values of his ancestors. But on I Met Her By The River he takes his griot heritage into bold new territory on a kora adventure that is both audacious and thrilling.