The character arc of Sona Jobarteh

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born 17 October 1983 in London, to a Gambian father from one of the five principal kora playing griot families of West Africa and an English mother. Between then and now sit a childhood on an instrument that had passed only from father to son, a classical training at the Purcell School and the Royal College of Music, the album Fasiya in 2011, and a school founded in The Gambia in 2015 and funded from her own concert income. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Sona Jobarteh?

It passed from father to son for centuries, and then to a daughter.

She was born in London in 1983. Her father comes from the Jobarteh family, one of the five principal kora playing griot lines of West Africa, and her grandfather, Amadu Bansang Jobarteh, was one of the great players of the instrument. Griot families carry the history and the music of their societies, and the kora, a twenty one stringed harp, was handed down exclusively from father to son. There was no tradition of a woman playing it professionally at all, and not because anyone had argued about it.

She played anyway, from very small. She also took a Western classical training that most West African musicians never get: composition at the Purcell School, cello, piano and harpsichord at the Royal College of Music, and a degree at SOAS. Either half of that would make a career. She used both, and became the first professional female kora virtuoso to come from a griot family, which is a sentence about six hundred years of practice rather than about a chart.

Afro Acoustic Soul came in 2008, Fasiya in 2011, which is the record that carried her internationally, and Badinyaa Kumoo in 2022. Then she did the thing that costs. In 2015 she founded The Gambia Academy, a school that teaches the national curriculum alongside Gambian music and culture rather than treating the second as an extra, and she pays for it out of her own touring income, tour by tour. She played more than a hundred concerts in 2024. Her line is worth reading because the money goes back into a building with forty children in it.

The moments

Sona Jobarteh's timeline.

The 1980s

~1987

A girl with a kora

Everyday, and it changed everything. The instrument was in the house. Nobody had planned for a daughter to pick it up.

The 1990s

~1995

The instrument passes to sons

Setback, and it changed everything. Six hundred years of practice, and no argument to win, because nobody had thought it needed making.

The 2000s

~2001

Western training, in London

Milestone, and it changed her direction. A conservatoire training on top of a griot inheritance, which almost nobody has both halves of.

1 Jun 2007

The conservatoire, or the kora

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: play the kora professionally, taken, or take the classical career. She became the first professional female kora virtuoso from a griot family, released Fasiya in 2011, and funds a school in The Gambia from the touring it made possible.

~2008

Afro Acoustic Soul

Milestone. A first album, and the beginning of a recording career of her own rather than as an accompanist.

The 2010s

~2011

Fasiya

Milestone, and it changed everything. The record that took her internationally, and established the first professional woman kora player from a griot family.

~2015

She founded a school

Milestone, and it changed everything. Not a music project bolted onto a school. A school where the country's own culture is a subject like any other.

~2016

She pays for it herself

Everyday, and it changed everything. Tour by tour, concert by concert, the money goes to a building with forty children in it.

The 2020s

~2022

Badinyaa Kumoo

Milestone. A fourth album, eleven years after Fasiya, with the school running throughout.

~2024

A hundred concerts that year

Everyday, and it changed everything. More than a hundred nights on stage in twelve months, because the school runs on it.

29 Aug 2026

Still touring, in Brussels

Milestone. Still on the road at forty two, with dates booked across three continents.

The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is in a small building in The Gambia with forty children in it, learning their own music as a subject rather than as a hobby, paid for by a woman playing an instrument she was never meant to hold.

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Hers broke a rule that nobody had ever written down, and then built a school with the proceeds. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.

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Sona Jobarteh: frequently asked questions

What people ask about her line.

What is Sona Jobarteh's character arc?

A daughter in a family where an instrument passed only to sons, who played it anyway and used the proceeds to build a school. Born in London in 1983 into a griot line, she released Fasiya in 2011 and founded The Gambia Academy in 2015.

What were the turning points in Sona Jobarteh's life?

Picking up the kora as a small child, in a family where no woman had played it professionally, set everything. The classical training in London gave her a second craft, Fasiya in 2011 carried her internationally, and founding the school in 2015 gave the touring a purpose.

Why is Sona Jobarteh playing the kora significant?

Because the twenty one stringed instrument was passed down exclusively from father to son within a handful of hereditary griot families of West Africa. She is the first professional female kora virtuoso to come from one of those families, which breaks a practice centuries old.

What was Sona Jobarteh's biggest setback?

An inheritance that was not offered to her. There was no tradition of a woman from a griot family playing the kora professionally at all, and no argument to win about it, because nobody had thought the question needed asking. She had to establish the possibility herself.

What is The Gambia Academy that Sona Jobarteh founded?

A school she founded in 2015 that teaches the national curriculum alongside Gambian music and culture, rather than treating the second as an extra. It has around forty students, some travelling hours each day, and she funds it from the income of her own music career.

What music has Sona Jobarteh released?

Afro Acoustic Soul in 2008, Motherland: The Score in 2010, Fasiya in 2011, which is the record that took her internationally, and Badinyaa Kumoo in 2022. She performed more than a hundred concerts in 2024 across Europe, North America and Africa.

How is Sona Jobarteh related to other kora players?

Her grandfather was Amadu Bansang Jobarteh, a celebrated player, and she is a cousin of the kora player Toumani Diabate. Her family is one of the five principal kora playing griot lines of West Africa, which is why a daughter taking up the instrument mattered.

Where does this timeline of Sona Jobarteh's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Sona Jobarteh isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to her.

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Sources

Sona Jobarteh, English Wikipedia biography.
Sona Jobarteh, official site (sonajobarteh.com), including the Gambia Academy.
The Gambia Academy (thegambiaacademy.org), about us.
Sona Jobarteh: Beyond the Kora, Rewriting African Futures, Afropop Worldwide.