Tata Dindin Jobarteh

Just had a wonderful dinner with Lamin- one of my favorite dishes here in Gambia. Its called Domonda- its chicken, peanut sauce, and rice. Pretty simple, but delicious. The only downside about it is that its hot food being served on an extremely hot day. It didn't feel quite as hot as yesterday, but close. Maybe 95 today?

Today....started out by waking up relatively early. I was interested to find some cassettes of various Kora players. There is a small shop in Brikama market that Moriba frequents, and I picked out eight cassettes featuring about 5 different performers. The only names I can remember off the top of my head are Lalo Keba Drammeh from Casamance (Senegal) and Jaliba Kuyateh from here in Brikama. The shopkeeper put each tape into his player, which broadcast out quite a ways from his little shop, out into the greater market area, where many people frequent throughout the entire day, buying, selling, lounging, etc....I bought each tape that we listened to. Each tape was about 25 dalasi, which totalled 200 for all- equivalent to about $7.50.

From here, we went to the office of Dr. Bojang. This is the family doctor of Moriba and family. I was curious to talk with him about the difficulties that I've been experiencing in my gut since I first travelled to Gambia in 2008. I've seen a few different folks in Olympia to try to sort through it all. The most success has come through visits with Jana Wiley, an actupuncturist in Olympia, Bob Levine, a homepath in Berkeley, CA, and Jennifer Martin, a naturopathic doctor in Olympia. There have been visits to others as well, but the situation has not been fully resolved. It is assumed that I am dealing with a parasite, although not certain. By visiting Dr. Bojang, I was curious to find out if he had any suggestions that might lead to a solution that my doctors in the states were unfamilar with. Unfortunately, we did not find Dr. Bojang...there was a long queue of patients in a room which made it seem like we'd be there for hours. One of the other Doctors at the clinics came into the room and immediately recognized Moriba, which for whatever reason, put us at the front of the queue. I felt kind of bad, because my guess is that everyone else in that room probably needed the attention more than me. The consultation was only a few minutes long. I explained what had been happening for the past few years, the doctor said he would prescribe me a weeks worth of medication for my gastrointestinal tract. Nothing extraordinarly was revealed, although I'm curious about some of the medications. Three of the four prescribed I've never heard of. The one that I am familiar with is one that I've used before. I've decided that I'm going to consult with Dr. Wiley and Martin before taking any of these upon my return home. One of the most noteworthy parts of this visit with Dr. Bojang's assistant was the bill....the consultation was free and the weeklong supply of four different medications came to 325 dalasi, about $12.

After the visit at the clinic, we walked back to the compound in Brikama. We walked into Moribas room, and sat for a couple of hours, staying out of the hot sun. I had wanted to make one more recording before leaving to Jambanjelly. I wanted to record Tata Dindin Jobarteh, Malamini's first son, playing Kora. He is the leader of the Salaam Band, playing Kora, with about 8 people accompanying on various local and North American instruments. The music that Salaam Band plays isn't all that appealing to me in general, but I will say that there is a lot more happening for the band with Tata on the lead Kora. Quite a bit more than I witnessed in 2008. The play mostly his own compositions, and he is very well regarded here in Gambia. After about an hour of relaxation with Moriba, I arranged to record Tata in the back of his own room in the compound. I asked him to play only traditional pieces, and I was quite happy with the recording. I got about 6 songs. It was probably my next favorite recording behind the one I received from Jali Mady Susso in Gunjur a few days ago. Tata's singing voice is strong, and really came out well.

Shortly after completing the recording, I sat with Malamini for one last time, bid farewell, and went off with Moriba toward Jambanjelly. Here, I was dropped at Lamins, and Moriba continued on down to Mama Santchaba to continue with his students. I may see Moriba again, but I'm not sure at this point. Honestly, I'm not quite sure how the next week will look, and I am fine with that.

Until next time...