Jali Alhaji Papa Susso
Griot, Master Kora Player

Photo credit: African Musical Arts, Inc. (email: info@africarts.org)

World renowned for maintaining traditional techniques of kora-playing, Papa Susso gives performances, demonstrations, and lectures on praise-singing, and the oral history traditions of the Mandinka people. Alhaji (his Hajj title) Papa Susso has earned much acclaim as both exponent of the kora (a 21-stringed lute-harp), and authoritative guardian of ancient traditions.

Griots have survived from before the time of Ibn Battuta to beyond the time Alex Haley. They probably existed for a millennium before the Berber traveler crossed the Sahara to Mali, and it is likely that thanks in part to Roots they will be flourishing for centuries to come…They represent an enduring synthesis of word, music, and human dynamics…" -Thomas Hale, from Griots and Griottes.

Alhaji Papa Susso, Master kora (African harp-lute) player and oral historian from The Gambia, West Africa, is available for visits to schools, university campuses and cultural centers in the United States and Canada. Papa Susso hails from a long line of Griots (traditional oral historians) of the Mandinka people. He was taught the kora by his father and has been playing since the age of five. For booking arrangements, please contact Alhaji Papa Susso directly.

In the United States and Canada:
Alhaji Papa Susso
333 East 181st Street, #G
Bronx, NY 10457
Tel: (347) 259-8828
Email: papasusso@hotmail.com

In West Africa:
Alhaji Papa Susso
18 Samuel Forster Street
Old Jeshwang, The Gambia
Tel: +220 439 4441
Email: papasusso@hotmail.com