Jali Nyama Suso

Kora player and griot (jali), born 1925 in Bakau, Gambia, died 1991 in Gambia. Suso took up the kora at a young age and began travelling to perform at festivals and weddings. After losing a leg during an accident in his youth, he took to radio production, and soon became a nationally-known radio host. Around that time, Suso was appointed by then-president Jawara to arrange Gambia's national anthem, 'Fode Kabba'. He later became critical of the government's political and social actions and travelled to the United States where he was a resident artist at the University of Washington between 1971 - 1972. He died in Gambia of tuberculosis in 1991.