For other people named Suso, see Suso (disambiguation).
Foday Musa Suso in 2017
Foday Musa Suso (born 9 December 1953,[1] in Sarre Hamadi, Wuli District, in the Upper River Division of The Gambia) is a Gambian musician and composer. He is a member of the Mandinka ethnic group, and is a griot.[1] Griots are the oral historians and musicians of the Mandingo people who live in several west African nations.[1] Griots are a living library for the community providing history, entertainment, and wisdom while playing and singing their songs. It is an extensive verbal and musical heritage that can only be passed down within a griot family.
Suso is a direct descendant of Jali Madi Wlen Suso, the griot who invented the kora over four centuries ago. He spent his childhood in a traditional Gambian village, in a household filled with kora music. Though his father was a master kora player, in griot tradition a father does not teach his own children the instrument. When Foday was nine, his father sent him to live with master kora teacher Sekou Suso in the village of Pasamasi, Wuli District. He trained with Sekou Suso until the age of 18. Suso's primary instrument is the kora, but he also plays the gravikord and several other instruments.
Suso emigrated to Chicago, Illinois, United States in 1977, being one of the first jali's to relocate to North America.[1] Once in Chicago, he formed the Mandingo Griot Society with local percussionists Hamid Drake and Adam Rudolph,[2] which played fusion music around the world. He has performed with Bill Laswell, Philip Glass, Pharoah Sanders, Jack DeJohnette, Ginger Baker, Paul Simon, Yousif Sheronick, and the Kronos Quartet (Pieces of Africa). He has contributed to music for the Olympic Games in 1984[1] and 2004.
His electrified kora can also be heard on several tracks on Herbie Hancock's 1984 electro-funk album Sound-System.[1] The following year, Suso and Hancock came out with another album, Village Life, that consists entirely of duets between them, Hancock on synthesizer and Suso on kora, talking drums, and vocals.
^ abcdefColin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 2424. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
^
Guthartz, Jason (July 7, 2013). "Hamid Drake Discography". Restructures.net. Retrieved September 25, 2017.
Herbie Hancock and Mandinka griot FodayMusaSuso. It was recorded in Japan and released in 1985. Hancock and Suso had worked together as part of a larger...
its inland frontiers completely. Among its prominent musicians is FodayMusaSuso. Mbalax is a widely known popular dance music of the Gambia and neighbouring...
a live album by keyboardist Herbie Hancock and Gambian kora player FodayMusaSuso. The recording took place in Los Angeles, California's Wiltern Theatre...
album by American drummer Jack De Johnette and Gambian kora player FodayMusaSuso. It was recorded in January 2002 in New York City, and was released...
Merchant and Nils Petter Molvaer), Material (with Pharoah Sanders, FodayMusaSuso, Hamid Drake, Aïyb Dieng and Abegasu Shiota) and Praxis) (with Buckethead...
which was produced by Bill Laswell, Sanders is joined by kora player FodayMusaSuso, guitarist Dominic Kanza, violinist Michael White, keyboardists William...
FodayMusaSuso "to do the score [for Jean Genet's The Screens] in collaboration with a western composer". Glass had already collaborated with Suso in...
Saho FodayMusaSuso Malamini Jobarteh Yan Kuba Saho Papa Susso Musa Ngum Bai Konte Amadu Bansang Jobarteh Dembo Konte Jaliba Kuyateh Jali Nyama Suso Sona...
Screens for chamber ensemble (1989/1991, from a collaboration with FodayMusaSuso) Passages for chamber ensemble (1990, from a collaboration with Ravi...
N'Goma Patience Dabany Annie-Flore Batchiellilys Sona Maya Jobarteh FodayMusaSuso Sona Tata Condé Sekouba Bambino Les Ballets Africains Balla et ses...
music by Egyptian composer Mohammed Abdel Wahab. Gambian virtuoso FodayMusaSuso recorded an album of dance music with his electric Kora, and Turkish...
Australia has recorded original solo music on the Gravikord. Gravi-kora FodayMusaSuso featured an early version of the Gravi-kora in recordings with Herbie...
CD, Download, LP, Tape 71 34 7 — — — 51 — 48 — — Village Life (with FodayMusaSuso) Recorded August 1984; Released 1985 Label: Columbia Format: CD, Download...
Minneapolis, with Jesse Borrego as Said, and music by Philip Glass and FodayMusaSuso. Frechtman (1963). Dichy (1993, xxv) and White (1993, 547). White (1993...
the Jams" Manu Dibango Electric Africa Producer — Herbie Hancock and FodayMusaSuso Village Life Producer — Ronald Shannon Jackson Decode Yourself Producer...
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