The Republic of Gambia is an extremely narrow country on the West African coast, completely surrounded in the interior by Senegal. It was once part of the union Senegambia. Both are predominantly Muslim countries.
This is their country and their people:
Here is an interview with the musician on 60 minutes. She is the first ever legacy-kora female player as it was always traditionally a man's instrument. https://www.cbsnews.com/video/sona-jobarteh-video-2022-12-25/
Gambia is a fairly popular tourist country for the British, as it is a former colony. The Gambia River runs through almost the entire length of the country, as the river was settled by the British. With just under 2.5 million people and a per capita GDP of about $746, it is an extremely poor country and mostly supports itself on cash crops like nuts, where wages are low so that production is high and profits can be exported to wealthy countries.
Between self-government in 1963 and today (58 years), there have been three leaders. A British-educated veterinarian who headed an Independence Party from self-government in 1963 to the military coup by Yahya Jammeh in 1994 (31 years), the latter ruling until 2016 (22 years) and initially refused to step down when he lost the election to current Adama Barrow in 2016 (7 years). Jammeh has been accused of stealing up to a billion dollars from the impoverished country,
but everyone left him alone and he held good relations with Britain. https://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/article/outgoing-british-envoy-meets-president-jammeh
Comments