Jeremy Siegel: This is GBH's Morning Edition. The musical instrument called the kora has been played almost exclusively by men since the 13th century, strictly passed down as a family tradition in West Africa. But one musician has changed everything: Sona Jobarteh is the first woman from a Griot family to become a professional kora player. And tomorrow, during the final weekend of Women's History Month, she's bringing her music to Somerville. I sat down with Jobarteh ahead of the performance to discuss her journey towards breaking barriers with her instrument.

Sona Jobarteh: So the kora is often likened to a harp in some senses. I guess you could use that reference point. It sounds a little bit like that in the structure of the instrument is a little bit similar to that. It's a tradition which is hereditary, meaning you have to be born within the families to play this instrument, along with others that belong to these particular families. So I started learning with my older brother when I was around 4 or 5 years old, so quite a while ago. However, I started studying with my father when I was around 17 years of age, and that was really the beginning of the journey in terms of taking this instrument as my profession.

Siegel: What was that moment like, when you knew that playing this instrument was going to be your career and the rest of your life?

Jobarteh: Well, I mean, I wouldn't say it's a moment. It's a period of time in my life when I realized that this was something that I wanted to do professionally, as opposed to just something that I was doing alongside other musical adventures. But I think what was more meaningful was the acceptance from my father to teach me. I think that was really an important turning point in that journey.

Siegel: Was your father always supportive of you playing this instrument, given the fact that traditionally it was not something that you would be able to do?

Jobarteh: He actually lived and worked in Norway through my younger years. So this was actually something that I went to find him myself in Norway and studied with him there. And then we continued back in Gambia as I was going through that journey.

Siegel: Historically, the kora is not something that is played professionally by women. You were a barrier-breaker in taking this on as a career. Was that difficult inside of your family at all?

Jobarteh: I had my own ways of going about that, and it's something that I was not open about until I was really ready. So my learning experience, my journey through that, was not something that I shared with anyone else apart from my father and very immediate family. When I was around 26, I think, or something like that, was the time when I really took that to another level. But I did that through holding a performance in The Gambia that was attended by most of my extended family and obviously the wider community. So that really was the beginning, I would say, of the journey that I'm now still on. [Previously recorded] This next song we're gonna perform is entitled "Mamamuso." This is for my grandmother.

Siegel: Were you conscious of the fact that you were breaking barriers as a kora player, being 17 years old and coming to find your father after learning from your brother, and then at 26 years old, hitting the stage and becoming and proving that you can be a professional kora player? Did it feel natural, or was it a conscious decision of, I'm going to change things?

Jobarteh: And the first instance, no, it wasn't a conscious decision for me to be going about becoming a kora player because of the fact I'm a female. It was an instrument that I was very much connected to and felt a huge affinity to. I think that it's very hard for people to kind of fake. So it was more of a hindrance being a female in the earlier years, because of the fact that I was not able to take that journey as every other player in my family was able to, I had to go about it a different way. Later on, when I was already at a stage where I could perform on the instrument competently, that became the moment I needed to embrace the fact that I was breaking, in some ways, the tradition, and to be able to navigate that in a different way very consciously because of the implications that it had.

Siegel: Sona Jobarteh, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me.

Jobarteh: Thank you.

Siegel: Sona Jobarteh performs Saturday night at the Somerville Theatre. This is GBH News.

The musical instrument called the kora has been played almost exclusively by men since the 13th century, strictly passed down as a family tradition in West Africa.

But one musician has changed everything: Sona Jobarteh, the first woman from a Griot family to become a professional kora player.

“The kora is often likened to a harp in some senses,” said Jobarteh, who is performing at the Somerville Theatre on Saturday. “It's a tradition which is hereditary, meaning you have to be born within the families to play this instrument, along with others that belong to these particular families.”

She told GBH's Morning Edition that she started learning how to play with her older brother when she was 4 or 5 years old.

“However, I started studying with my father when I was around 17 years of age, and that was really the beginning of the journey in terms of taking this instrument as my profession,” Jobarteh said.

A woman poses with a strong instrument.
Kora player Sona Jobarteh with her instrument.
Slawek Przerwa Courtesy

Traditionally only men can carry on the role of griot — storytellers, historians, musicians and praise singers. Jobarteh said her realization that she wanted to carry that role as well was not confined to a single moment.

“It's a period of time in my life when I realized that this was something that I wanted to do professionally, as opposed to just something that I was doing alongside other musical adventures,” she said. “But I think what was more meaningful was the acceptance from my father to teach me. I think that was really an important turning point in that journey.”

When she sought her father’s teachings, he was living and working in Norway, she said.

“I went to find him myself in Norway and studied with him there. And then we continued back in Gambia as I was going through that journey,” she said.

Her first big public performance, she said, happened when she was 26.

“I did that through holding a performance in The Gambia that was attended by most of my extended family and obviously the wider community,” she said. “It wasn't a conscious decision for me to be going about becoming a kora player because of the fact I'm a female. It was an instrument that I was very much connected to and felt a huge affinity to. I think that it's very hard for people to kind of fake.”

Being a woman playing kora professionally was more of a hindrance in her early years than it is now, she said.

“I was not able to take that journey as every other player in my family was able to, I had to go about it a different way,” she said. “Later on, when I was already at a stage where I could perform on the instrument competently, that became the moment I needed to embrace the fact that I was breaking, in some ways, the tradition, and to be able to navigate that in a different way very consciously because of the implications that it had.”