Amadu Bansang Jobarteh
musician and kora virtuoso
Amadu "Bansang" Jobarteh (sometimes spelled Jabate or Diabaté; 1915 – April 8, 2001) was a Gambian musician and virtuoso player of the kora. He performed and popularized the traditional music of Mali and was one of the most respected masters of kora before his death.
Early life and education
Jobarteh was born in 1915 in Tambasansang, a small Wuli District village on the Upper River Region of the Gambia river, in what was then the British Gambia. His father was originally from Mali (administered as French Sudan) but settled in Tambasansang, where Jobarteh's grandfather Amadou was born. Jobarteh was named after his grandfather. After his father's death, the family moved to Bansang, and Jobarteh was raised there. He later moved to Essau, where he was given the nickname "Bansang" to distinguish him from others, and later to Bakau on the coast.
His family originated in Brikama and belonged to the griot (Manding: jali) caste of oral and musical storytellers. Jobarteh came from a long family tradition of players of the kora, a 21-string west African harp-like instrument. He was introduced to music by his father Fili Jobarteh, a jali who played kora, although he was taught to play kora by his elder brother Bala Jobarteh, who was the father of Sidiki Diabaté and grandfather of the renowned Toumani Diabaté.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q452248. VIAF identifies the subject as 261762384. The Library of Congress control number is nr94025745. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1915 and 2001.
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This entry incorporates text from “Amadu Bansang Jobarteh” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.