Janka Nabay

Ahmed Janka Nabay (born January 5, 1964 in Sedu , † April 2, 2018 in Kambia ) was a Sierra Leonean singer , composer and band leader . He was considered an influential representative of the Bubus , the traditional music of the Temne .

Life

Ahmed Janka Nabay grew up in Sedu, a small town in eastern Sierra Leone, the son of a miner and fish seller. Nabay was a member of the Temne and Mandingo .

Janka Nabay became known through his participation in the television show SuperSound in the mid-1990s, an African variant of Pop Idol , where he played a modern, electronic variant of traditional Bubu music. He mixed the music traditionally played on bamboo flutes with synthesizers and drum computers . According to his own statements, his greatest influences were " Michael Jackson , Bob Marley and God ". His popularity in Sierra Leone peaked during the 11-year civil war in Sierra Leone , during which his music was also misused several times. So he and his band were kidnapped by the rebel general Sam “General Mosquito” Bockarie and forced to appear before his army.

He left his homeland Sierra Leone in 2003. He fled to the United States, where he worked in various restaurants and fast food chains in Washington, DC .

After a few years, during which he performed mainly in front of other refugees from Sierra Leone, radio producer and journalist Wills Glasspiegel discovered some old recordings of him from Sierra Leone and made contact with the world music label True Panther Sounds, which belongs to the Beggars Group . In 2010 his EP Bubu King was released there , which became the first Bubu release in the United States.

Janka Nabay formed a band and released the two albums En Yay Sah (2012) and Build Music (2017) on David Byrne 's Luaka Bop label . In 2017 he toured Europe. When he tried to travel back to the United States, he was turned away and his green card was withdrawn. He returned to Freetown , where he settled with his wife.

Janka Nabay died on April 2, 2018 at the age of only 54 from an unknown abdominal disease in Cambodia.

Discography

Albums

2012: En Yay Sah (Luaka Bop)
2017: Build Music (Luaka Bop)

EPs

2010: Bubu King (True Panther Sounds)
2012: An Letah (True Panther Sounds)

Web links

Janka Nabay at Discogs (English)

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Janka Nabay: Musician who Brought Sierra Leone's bubu to the worldternationally . In: The Independent . ( independent.co.uk [accessed October 1, 2018]).
↑ ^a ^b Kate Hutchinson: Janka Nabay: musical evangelist who took bubu to the world. April 3, 2018, accessed October 1, 2018 .
↑ Janka Nabay: Musician who Brought Sierra Leone's bubu to the worldternationally . In: The Independent . ( independent.co.uk [accessed October 1, 2018]).
↑ ^a ^b ^c "Bubu Music" Pioneer Janka Nabay Has Died . In: Spin . April 2, 2018 ( spin.com [accessed October 1, 2018]).
↑ The Patriotic Vanguard: Sierra Leone's Bubu King is gone . In: The Patriotic Vanguard . April 5, 2018 ( thepatrioticvanguard.com [accessed October 1, 2018]).

personal data
SURNAME	Nabay, Janka
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Sierra Leonean singer, composer and band leader
DATE OF BIRTH	5th January 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH	Sedu, Sierra Leone
DATE OF DEATH	2nd April 2018
Place of death	Cambia

[:0-1] Janka Nabay: Musician who Brought Sierra Leone's bubu to the worldternationally . In: The Independent . ( independent.co.uk [accessed October 1, 2018]).

[:1-2] Kate Hutchinson: Janka Nabay: musical evangelist who took bubu to the world. April 3, 2018, accessed October 1, 2018 .

[3] Janka Nabay: Musician who Brought Sierra Leone's bubu to the worldternationally . In: The Independent . ( independent.co.uk [accessed October 1, 2018]).

[:2-4] "Bubu Music" Pioneer Janka Nabay Has Died . In: Spin . April 2, 2018 ( spin.com [accessed October 1, 2018]).

[5] The Patriotic Vanguard: Sierra Leone's Bubu King is gone . In: The Patriotic Vanguard . April 5, 2018 ( thepatrioticvanguard.com [accessed October 1, 2018]).