Mandinka Griot Al-Haji Papa Bunka Susso performing songs from the oral tradition of the Gambia on the kora
Alhaji Papa Susso (Suntu) is a griot or jeli, master kora player, and director of the Koriya Musa Center for Research in Oral Tradition. He was born 29 September 1947, in the village of Sotuma Sere in the Upper River Division of The Republic of Gambia, West Africa. The Susso family represents a dynasty of traditional oral historians and praise singers. His father taught him to play the kora, a 21-stringed, lute-like instrument, when he was five years old. Papa Susso's ancestors were instrumental in the creation, as well as the development of the instrument for over two centuries.