 Mae'r Prôl. Mae'r ddweudio. Mae'n gweld ei wneud fy mod i'r gwaith yng Nghymru, yma'r ymgyfydig yn ymgyfydig a'rames. Rwy'n gweithio gwirio Loretrae, a'r eistedd Lenedigol yng Nghymru, o'r ardal yn Llywodraeth Cymru, o'r Grio. ac rydyn ni'n meddwl i'r Mali, y gweithio yng Nghymru, ac rydyn ni'n meddwl i'r meddwl i'r hyn. Rydyn ni'n meddwl i'r Cora, y 21rhyw hwnnw, o'r hwnnw, o'r hynny'n meddwl i'r Mali yn y 13rhyw. Rydyn ni'n meddwl i'r 70rhyw, y Cora wedi'u meddwl i'r region, ond mae'n meddwl i'r meddwl i'r meddwl. Rydyn ni'n meddwl i'r meddwl i'r meddwl i'r meddwl i'r Masgrunius, rydyn ni'n meddwl i Africa yn gwneud hynny, ond mae'r meddwl i gyfnodd gyd. Rydyn ni'n meddwl i'r memydliad arallau yma, rydyn ni'n meddwl i'r memydliad, pe bwysig, cymdeithas, elechzeniad, ac yn gallu llpo blaenydd o'r meddwl i gweithio. Rydyn ni'n meddwl i'r Cora wedi'u meddwl i'r meddwl i'r meddwl i'r meddwl i'r meddwl i'r hynny. Our awardee has more than 15 solo albums to his name with two Grammy awards, two Grammy nominations and many prestigious international prizes and accolades. No one can quite match his astonishing dexterity and lyricism with the possible exception of his son, whom we also welcome amongst us today. Despite his many collaborations with the likes of Damon Albarn and Bjork, our awardee is a traditionalist. Grio music receives very little official support from the Malian government so he does what he can to pass on his knowledge and skills to the new generation. This combination of conservation and boundary pushing is rooted in his family history. Both his father, the late legendary Siddiqui Jebate, who in his time was known as the king of the Korah, and his great uncle, Amadou Bansang Jebate, were among the first Korah players to attract international attention to this unique harp. And it all started here at SOAS. SOAS has a long history of cutting edge scholarship on Mande culture, languages, oral history, architecture and music. The first international manding studies conference was hosted right here at SOAS in 1972 and it was opened by the president of Senegal, Leopold Sedar-Senghor. The list of the some 300 scholars, writers, politicians and musicians who took part reads like a who's who of 20th century African scholarship. One of the notable musicians who participated was none other than the father of our awardee, Siddiqui Jebate. He even had the honor of performing at number 10 Downing Street for the prime minister of the time, Edward Heath. And I'm fairly sure that this was the only time the Korah has ever been played live in number 10 Downing Street. But if you know otherwise, do let me know. In tracing the international trajectory of the Korah, I must give a special thanks to one of my predecessors, the late Dr Anthony King, who taught African music here at SOAS. In 1970, under a scheme that was very enlightened, alas no longer exists, but it was called the familiarization scheme, he was sent off to the Gambia for a year to study the Korah. And this was at a time when very few people outside West Africa had even heard of the instrument. It was thanks to Dr King's exquisite recordings that entirely by chance I was introduced to this music. And particularly to the wonderful playing of the father and great uncle of our awardee. Absolutely utterly bewitched, I abandoned everything, I went to the Gambia and eventually onwards to Mali, where I had the good fortune to meet our awardee. Nothing could have prepared me for this encounter. Our awardee was only 21 years old at the time, one year for every string on the Korah. But I knew immediately that he was destined to become a great star. In his hands, sublime and dazzling melody poured out of those 21 strings with soul and fire. I managed to get him into a recording studio, where in a single afternoon he put down the tracks of Kyra, the first ever solo Korah album, and it's still a bestseller. This marked the beginning of the Korah's ascendance into the realm of world-class instruments. On his latest Grammy-nominated album, our awardee performs instrumental Korah duets with his son, also named Siriki Jabate. Revisiting the old forgotten classics of the Jabate ancestors, but in a new contemporary voice. The music department of SOAS is indeed privileged to have forged such a long-lasting connection with the Korah and with this Korah player who's done so much to bring the beauty and timelessness of African music to the world. We're honoured to bestow on this world-class musician an honorary doctorate in music. To the best of my knowledge, the only other African musician to receive an honorary doctorate in the UK is the great veteran South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela, and that was last year. SOAS, for that matter, has only ever presented one honorary music degree doctorate before, and that was two, none other than Daniel Barrenboim. So our new Doctor of Music is in Auguste Company and once more at the forefront of African culture. Madame President, it is my privilege now to present for the award of honorary doctorate in music and to invite him to address this assembly. Tumani Jabate! As-salam-a-lai-koum. I'm very happy. I normally speak French, my English is really bad, so she's here to help me. Mami, thank you very much. Alhamdulillai Rabbilalamin. Congratulation to you. Ok, for me, it's for the whole world, since SOAS today, I just noticed that the whole world is here. This prize is for him and for the whole world because he's just seen today that SOAS comprises the whole world. Thank you. I want to speak of education. In the Holy Book, the very first thing that is said is Ikra, which means you must read. Education is extremely important and also the transmission of knowledge from father to son through the family. One thing is very clear. Wherever your own knowledge ends, that's the point of departure for someone else. Which is to say that one can never learn, one can never know everything so one has to continue to learn to study and to be educated. No one forgets today without ignoring what's going on in the world today. The advice I give them is that they must be a good example. This great ceremony with all the families, with all the good old people, the personalities, must not be just a ceremony that takes place here. We have paid to come and teach, to come and learn at SOAS, but the world needs a good example today, since no one knows what's going on in the world. He hopes that today's ceremony is just one part of something that will continue because everyone knows what's going on in the world today and you have a very important role to play to set an example. The tradition is how to look at it because today we have put in the world the economic situation in front, we have put education behind teaching. It's a wonderful tradition of Cora music because today, in nowadays, we put economics before we place the importance of economics before education. We have to reverse the trend and I would like this generation to come, this group that will come out and lead a movement that will bring this change together. So he puts his trust in you, in this generation, in you graduates to create a change in the world. Merci beaucoup à SOAS. Merci, thank you very much for putting the Cora here. It's your first time. Thank you so much.