Dembo Jobarteh

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Dembo Jobarteh was born on June 7, 1976 in Niani Kayai, The Gambia. In the past African griots were court musicians, singing praise of their leaders and thereby telling the history of the region.  Dembo was brought up in the traditional griot way. He worked in the groundnut and rice paddies, studying kora and drums in his spare time. At the age of 18 Dembo was a professional koraplayer and singer. He went to Dakar, Senegal and played in restaurants and tourist markets. After two years he came back to The Gambia. Here he founded the Gambian Griot School of Music and Dance.

Dembo Jobarteh is a nephew of Amadu Bansang Jobarteh, the famous kora-player and teacher of world music specialist Lucy Duran. Amadu Bansang became well known for his album Tabara. Another famous family member is Malamini Jobarteh, father of Tata Dindin.

In 2003 Dembo Jobarteh recorded Listen All. The CD contains eleven songs. Four are traditionals from The Gambia, the others were written by Dembo. It's the first recording on which he is accompanied by female singers. Sirra Suso, Fatoumata Suso, Majo Sakiliba and Jessy Jobarteh are all in their twenties and well known in The Gambia. 
Over the past few years Dembo Jobarteh has made three albums. He also recorded with the Dancehall Masters, one of The Gambia's most popular groups.
This is his first CD that is released worldwide through the internet. 

Dembo hopes that Listen All will get him in touch with music lovers and musicians from around the world. "I'd like to live in the U.S.A. for a while like Foday Musa Suso" he says. "To hear Cajun in Louisiana, the Blues in the deep south and Hip Hop in Chicago. To go to Cuba and beat the drums to a hot Salsa. To record with other artists, like Youssou N'dour. To bring my music to all those people outside my country. That's why I named this cd Listen All."
Listen All is a beautiful CD with african griot music. Music that is guaranteed to take away the stress of everyday life and make you happy. For more information about the cd please visit http://www.listenall.com. Listen All is for sale at http://www.cdbaby.com/dembo.

Recently Gambia Banko was released. The cd has five own compositions and six traditionals. Some of the tracks are in English. On this cd Dembo is accompanied by Mandinka drums. For more information and soundsamples please visit http://www.listenall.com.