This was one of those moments when you find yourself watching something that you never expected.
The Como Mamas were a bit of a surprise support for tonight.
They are 2 sisters, Angelina Taylor & Della Daniels, and their cousin Ester Mae Smith from Mississippi.
Performing their own brand of Gospel music with some deeply personal lyrics and stories of loss and of their faith., they are three voices with a guitarist and a drummer.
Each song was introduced with a little story to give context.
Stories of losing family members and of their communities and of one of them meeting Elvis in the 1970s.
They got the whole place going with their infectious enthusiasm which got everyone clapping along.
They even came out and did an encore.
Now I confess that I wouldn’t go and see something like this.
It would never be my choice.
Yet tonight is one of those times when I see something and feel grateful for it.
I didn’t expect to be here but glad that it happened.
The Como Mamas will probably end up on all the TV coverage of the festival and no doubt will end up as one of the surprise stars of the whole festival.
There’s been about a million Kora players at Celtic Connections over the years.
There are even other Kora players on this year.
All of them exclusively male.
Straight away that sets Sona Jobarteh out from the crowd.
Her backing band is exclusively male.
They take the stage before her and start playing before she emerges to applause and then wows us with her virtuosity and her voice.
None of her songs are in English and I wish I knew what the words said but you could feel what the words meant, if you catch my drift?
Her voice is warm and sensuous, sometimes gentle and soothing, sometimes powerful.
Her songs are more based around her voice. The instrumentation adds to that without ever being overpowering.
“People tell me I talk too much at my shows,” she proclaimed after the first song and told us what that song was about.
Each song she gave a little insight into what the songs were about or how they came into being – dedicating a song to her grandmother and telling of the influence on her musical career and the regret that she never got to share her success with her.
Her song ‘Gambia’, written to celebrate 50 years of Gambian independence and the first song off her three years overdue new album.
She dedicated it to her fellow Gambians and suddenly two hands go up in the audience.
On the stage there was an instrument called the Balafon.
It’s like a xylophone and she explained that it was meant to be played with the Kora in the Griot tradition. They have the same amount of notes.
“Africa is changing”. She said.
“Tradition is important and it’s important to teach that or else you may lose those traditions”
I set up a school to teach those traditions, and in that school we teach children these traditions.
I want to keep those traditions alive but I want to make it different too”
“I’d like to introduce one of my students to play Balafon with us now (who just happens to be my son)…”
Perhaps a long way of introducing someone but the story and context made it worth it.
They performed an instrumental together. At first it started slwoly and was pretty simple.
Which had me questioning if this kid was very advanced in his learning.
Spoke too soon.
It had almost a call and response thing going on with a little bit of Kora then a little of Balafon.
And then it got faster, and more complicated and faster and then each did a solo and then played together and then duelled like two lead guitarists but without trying to outshine each other.
It would not surprise me at all if this kid is the headliner in a decade or so.
Sometimes it feels like a real honour to be able to photographs and watch different artists.
This was one of those moments where it felt like witnessing something special.
And my God, that woman met Elvis!
Who knows where Sona Jobarteh could end up?
She has all the ingredients to become a genuine world music superstar.
Or she will if she ever finishes that third album?