Raised whit music

Ahmadu Jarr (Jah) was born in Gbinti, Port Loco, in the West African country Sierra Leone -"Lion Mountains"- was named by pourtuguese sailors in 1400. Some people say that the portuguese thought that the mountain viewed from the Atlantic coast line, reminded them of lions resting after a succsessful meal.

The other version was that they thought the sound of thunder beyond the mountains reminded them of roaring lions. Sierra Leone,with a population of 4 1/2 million people, was for a long period a British colony until 1961 when the country became independent.

His mother, who was one of the best singers in the area,raised him with music from the very beginning. He was brought up in a society where music plays an important role in both everyday life and festive occasions. Ahmadu has taken it up on himself to preserve the traditional rythms of his childhood and together with The Highlife Orchestra spread them to other parts of the world.

Before Ahmadu Jarr left Africa to study in England, he had also studied African music and culture at Legon University for one and a half years. After completing GCE advanced level and architectural studies in England, he settled in Sweden in 1963.Ahmadu begun his musical career by playing at home - and in his first audience were his daughters Neneh Cherry andTitiyo Jah. It was through them that he became interested in playing for children and began to play occasionally in schools.

In 1970 he developed a musical program suitable for schools and other institutions, in which he continues to spend much of his time touring. But it wasn´t only children who took a liking to Ahmadu Jarr´s music, his drumplaying and rhythms have backed up many musicians. He has produced radio and TV programs and participated in many festivals and music conferences. He teaches courses in African rhythm, dance and song, and has toured extensively for the Swedish National Theater. He is also in demand as a teacher on the international level and has participated in the Creative Music Studio (CMS), Woodstock, USA. He is an active member of ISME, the International Society of Music Education, which holds it´s conference in different countries every other year.