Bai Konte

In 2019, Bai Konte's grandsons, Jali Bakary Konteh and Pa Bobo Jobarteh asked Marc Pevar to bring them to the USA as he had brought their grandfather and fathers Dembo Konte and Malamini Jobarteh. Their "Following The Footsteps" debut North American tour was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

1982 - with Dembo Konte & Malamini Jobarteh, Kora Music and Songs from the Gambia, recorded/produced Ken Day & Lucy Duran, 1982, Virgin Records

Raised as a hereditary griot, Bai Konte played the 21-string kora and is believed to have been the first kora player to perform and tour in the United States as a soloist, playing at the 1973 Newport Jazz Festival. (Les Ballets Africains, a dance and music group from Guinea, had first performed in the U.S. in 1959, and featured a kora player.) Bai Konte also followed his father's religious vocation as a Marabout, a Muslim spiritual and Koranic advisor. Bai was fluent and literate in Koranic Arabic, spending part of most days studying Koran, praying with visitors seeking his advice and guidance and copying portions of the Koran for amulets and other matters. He sent a son, Alieu, to live with and study Koran from his own Maribout, Sherrifo Hydra of the central mosque in Nouakchott, Mauritania.

Bai Konte was the first Gambian griot to introduce the kora and Mandinka musical culture to the world audience. In 1973, Bai Konte introduced the kora to audiences in North America. He performed at some of the largest festivals in North America, appeared multiple times on National Public Radio and Television, was interviewed and reviewed by many newspapers. Appearances included the Newport Jazz Festival, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, the National Festival of American Folklife in Washington, DC, Mariposa Folk Festival in Toronto, CA, Fox Hollow Folk Festival, the Alternative Center for International Arts, the American Harp Association, Franklin and Marshal College, Lincoln University, venues in Boston, Philadelphia, appearances on NPR's Fresh Air hosted by Terry Gross; KYW-TV in Philadelphia; WBAI-FM in combination with Pete Seeger; Clearwater Folk Festival and fund raising events; The University of Pennsylvania; house concerts, newspaper interviews and reviews and more.

About a year before Bai Konte toured North America in 1973, a close friend of Bai Konte, Jali Nyama Suso, was invited to the USA for a residency at Oberlin College Conservatory by Dr. Rodrick Knight, who created a kora ensemble and produced valuable books, recordings, articles and videos, and who elevated the visibility of the kora in international academic circles, as did Dr. Erik Charry.

While in Gambia, Marc sent Bai's music to Folkways and Rounder Records, which both offered to release the album. Back in the USA, in early 1973, Marc brought the music to the attention of Gene Shay, USA's leading folk DJ. Through a rapid sequence of referrals, phone calls and meetings, the spectacularly successful first performing tour of a kora soloist in North American was organized within two months with crucial support by Paula Ballan (curator for the Philadelphia Folk Festival), and Toshi Seeger (Pete's wife).

Just as George Wein had helped open the gates by inviting Bai to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1973, Quint Davis did the same and invited the grandsons to perform at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 2020 appearing as stars, headlining on the Blues Tent stage.

In 1970, Harold Gunn, an anthropologist specializing in West Africa, traveled in Gambia, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Mali to collect handcrafted physical artifacts. In Gambia he unexpectedly crossed paths with Dr. Anthony King, who told Gunn of his unique and groundbreaking project to record and interview kora musicians. Shortly afterwards in Dakar, Senegal, Gunn encountered a kora musician, purchased his instrument and recorded some music. Marc and Susan met Harold Gunn at the airport where Marc Pevar first saw a kora. Marc liked the cassette recording's harp-like yet Piedmont blues style sound, but found the kora impossible to tune or play.

Alhaji Bai Konte (1920–1983) was a jali (praise singer) from Brikama, Gambia. His father, Burama Konte, composed the anthem of the 19th century Senegambian hero Mansumaneh Yundum, Yundum N'ko. It was from that piece that the anthems of Sheriff Sidi Hydara and Nyansu Mbasse originated. Burama Konteh was a well-known kora player of his generation. Bai Konte was a regular on Radio Gambia and Radio Senegal's joint program called Chossani Senegambia (the history of Senegambia) in the 1970s. He and other griots such as Jali Nyama Suso and Alhaji Abdoulaye Samba (on xalam) used to play live music during the show. Bai Konteh had narrated many epics on that show including the epic of King Abdou Njie and his griot and advisor Ibra Faye. Prominent broadcasters of that show included Alhaji Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof, Alhaji Assan Njie and Alhaji Mansour Njie.