tonight on this special edition of "60 minutes" presents -- eat, frank and be merry. >> over the years i perfected it, made it easy to cook. >> ina garten, also known as the barefoot contessa is a best selling author with impressive culinary chops. >> you can use stock. >> she told us she wants to help people relax in their kitchens. while following her recipe for a good life. >> julia sold french food. right? martha sold perfection. you're slinging fun. >> well, i just think if you're not having fun, what's the point, really? in a changing britain, nostalgia can reside at the bottom of a glass.

in the oh-so-english village of aldworth in berkshire, you'll find just a cricket green, a church, a few houses and a pub resistant to time. the bell inn has been in the family of heather mccauley for 200 years. we talked to some pub owners felt this pressure to evolve and they're trying gourmet food and deejays and technology. >> i don't even have a mobile phone. ♪ take a listen, as we did, to sona jobarteh as she plays the kora. ♪ with its 21 strings played by just four fingers, two on each hand, it has a sound both foreign and familiar. ♪

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make with pillsbury. good evening, i'm jon wertheim. welcome to "60 minutes" presents. in this season of celebration, we have three stories that offer opportunities to eat, drink and be merry. we'll enjoy a pint or two in the storied pubs of england and be entertained by a virtuoso of an african instrument seldom heard on this continent. but we begin tonight's menu with ina garten, known as the barefoot contessa. her cookbooks sold millions of copies.

her weekly television show has run for two decades, earned seven emmys, three james beard awards and millions of devoted fans who tune in as much for the cooking lesson as the cocktail party that typically follows. and when sharyn alfonsi first met her in october, we learned that ina garten isn't quite as free wheeling as you might think. as impressive as her culinary chops may be, ina garten's success hinges on hard work, shrewd business sense and leaving nothing to chance. >> this is just a great weeknight meal. it's so easy to do. do the first stage. have yourself a glass of wine. do the second stage and dinner is ready. >> reporter: whether she's whipping up one of her signature chicken dishes, slinging cosmos for her real life friends or scooping ice cream, ina garten is a calming presence in the kitchen. taking the mystery out of cooking. >> how easy is that? >> reporter: she's built a culinary empire by making it all look effortless.

>> i know people don't believe this but i'm really a nervous cook. i'm sure every recipe will turn out wrong. rr:ve even w. ly precise. i'm thwiookbook going,lfean or e teaspo aou reay? >> i have to follow my own recipes exactly because i spent so much time getting the balance of flavors and textures and everything right, i'm really not a confident cook. >> reporter: i would think that you were swigging wine and -- >> yeah. >> reporter: tossing -- >> keep that image going. how is that? so this is my commute to work. >> reporter: oh. awful for you. >> i know. >> reporter: at 74, the image of ina garten with her denim shirt, chic scarves and signature bob is as reliable as the tried and true recipes she built a reputation on. those recipes are a road map for home cooks from a home cook. >> people like bobby flay worked in restaurant kitchens all his life. he can just throw things together. i watched him. he's a brilliant cook. i'm not that person.

i didn't have that experience. >> reporter: when you say you're first and -- how many times do - you have to make something before you -- >> sometimes ten times. sometimes 25 times. >> reporter: really? >> and then i'll print out a page and give it to one of my assistants and watch them make it. and it so surprises me what people do. i was making lentil salad, warm french lentils. and she was putting in garlic in it. i said, what are you doing? she said, well, it said cloves. cloves of garlic in it. i was like, no, it's cloves. snot not cloves of garlic. i thought, i never would have made that mistake, but somebody else at home is going to make that mistake. i want you to feel like i'm right there beside you just kind of guiding you through the recipe. so this is the secret garden. don't tell anybody about it. >> reporter: garten has been guiding viewers from her home in east hampton new york for 20 years. >> i love these tomatoes. >> reporter: do you really do the gardening? >> well, i point.

>> reporter: so, yes? >> yes. >> reporter: it may seem like she grew out of the rich long island soil. she did not. born in brooklyn, new york, ina rosenberg grew up in stamford, connecticut. her dad was a doctor, her mom a dietitian. as a teenager, she was instructed to stay out of the kitchen and excel in school. she did both. she met her future husband, jeffrey garten, while she was 16 years old and four years later they were married. jeffrey, a lieutenant in the 82nd airborne later took her backpacking through france. she came home with an ambitious mission. >> so i got julia childs mastering the art of french ooking and i worked my way through those books. which were very complicated recipes. they were ingredients in each recipe that was another recipe in itself. and i loved that challenge. >> reporter: you never went to cooking school? >> never went to cooking school. >> reporter: was julia childs book your cooking school? >> julia chiles was my cooking

school, yeah, exactly. >> reporter: her actual degree was in economics. at 26, she had a job at the white house analyzing nuclear energy policy for the ford administration. jeffrey worked around the corner at the state department. each weekend ina says they devote their time to less bureaucratic pursuits like making a great dinner party look simple. >> to this day i thought i never made something for a dinner party i hadn't made several times. so i would -- on monday, i would make the roast leg of lamb with tomatoes with minced mushrooms for jeffrey for dinner. >> reporter: lucky man. >> make it again on wednesday. then by saturday, i knew how to make it. and the poor guy would go, oh, this is delicious. what is this? >> reporter: after 1,000 dinner parties and two administrations, at 30 years old, ina had burned out of life inside the beltway. 1978 she saw this ad in the back of the new york times for a 400 square foot specialty food store in west hampton, new york,

called the barefoot contessa. but you had never been to the hamptons. you didn't know anything about running a store. >> i knew how to make 12 brownies for my friends. but i didn't know how to make 100 brownies. i didn't know how to cash out the register. slice smoked salmon. to me brie was a foreign language. >> reporter: so was it confidence that allowed you to do that? or was it that you were being naive? >> i have a very low threshold of boredom. i was really bored with my job. i thought this is really exciting. this is what i do for fun. and now i can do it professionally. and so i thought, i'm just going to jump in. thinking, how hard could this be? oh my god. >> reporter: it was really hard. the gartens say they double mortgaged their house. ina told us she was working 20 hours a day to keep up with the crowds who came to gawk at the goods and load up on lobster salad. soon she opened a bigger shop in east hampton. >> it's very deliberate. i was always doing research.

looked like i was having a good time wandering around having a party. but it was all careful and deliberate. eved thee sod niy n clieel n,ar lling erto he bareot conssa cat their weddings or thanksgiving. >> every year we would pack up the orders wednesday night so people could come in thursday morning, and i would use the van out next to the store as a refrigerator. one year it was 33 degrees when i was going home, and i thought, nobody wants frozen thanksgiving dinner. so i drove the van home. and i set my alarm for every single hour all night to turn the heat on for a few minutes and then go back to sleep. >> to keep the turkeys warm. >> well, the turkeys we roasted in the morning, the vegetables and the sides and all that stuff. >> reporter: after 18 years, garten decided to sell the barefoot contessa in 1996. >> so one minute i'm making

1,000 baguettes and the next minute i had nothing to do. >> reporter: how was that? >> it was horrible. i thought, i'm 50. ybf my er. >> reporter: hardly. the lull lasted nine months before garten started writing the barefoot contessa cookbook, the first of 13 cookbooks, ten of which have become "new york times" best sellers. crushing big name chefs by remembering the lessons learned at her specialty food shop. >> i realized later what i knew was what people wanted to eat at home, which is roast chicken and roast carrots and chocolate cake and coconut cup cakes and things i knew from the store people bought and took home. >> reporter: you weren't trying to say, here is everything i know. you were saying here is what you need to know. >> yeah. here is what will make you happy at home. >> reporter: her latest cookbook, "go-to dinners" was inspired by the pandemic. and again, ina is in every detail. one of the things about the book that is not by accident is that you can put it on the counter

and it doesn't flop shut. >> i'm so glad you noticed that. >> reporter: early on, garten sought out a printer in japan so her cookbooks would lie flat, wouldn't close while cooking. she designed them to have white space for notes and pictures for guides. simplicity is a non-negotiable. do you ever throw something out because it's too difficult to make? >> absolutely. if i get to a point in a recipe and i go, i'm never going to make this recipe again, everything goes in the trash. and if you're exhausted by the time you finish that, it's not good for the party. >> reporter: you're thinking about the party above all things? >> always thinking about the party. >> reporter: the party got real big, real fast after ina was invited to be on martha's stewart show. outtake caught the eye of a food network executive. >> she said i was making something and i took a spoonful of it and tasted. this is really good. and martha stewart crews said, cut, you can't talk with your mouthful. i was like, why? it's a cooking show. >> reporter: garten told network

executives she didn't want a show, but eventually gave in with a caveat. instead of an adoring studio audience, she insisted more intimate affair in her kitchen. she directed the cameras to come closer so it felt like a dinner party. one of the things i'm fascinated by, there are a lot of people who watch your show who don't cook. what do you think the appeal is? why are they watching you cook? >> i think there was a time when mom was in the kitchen cooking for us. i think people feel like they're hanging out with me and i'm cooking for them. >> reporter: when you're cooking, it's not about look at me. >> it's never about look at me. i'm like don't look at me. i'm just the opposite. it's funny. i have a friend who said everybody else is like look at m. look at me. pay attention to me. i'm like, well, this is what i do. you can do whatever the [ bleep ] you want to do. and i'm just having fun here. >> reporter: the fun came to a

screeching halt for ina and everyone else during the pandemic. unable to film her show or cook for her friends, garten turned to instagram, offering practical advice to home cooks. >> it's really important to keep traditions alive. >> reporter: and stirring up some fun. >> you never know who is stopping by. wait a minute, no one is stopping by. >> reporter: two cups of vodka and more than 3 million views later -- >> delicious. >> reporter: with the lockdown over, we wanted to make sure ina didn't have to drink alone. you do this, jeffrey arrives. >> hi, sweetie. >> hi. >> you know sharon, right? >> i know sharon. hi, sharon. >> we made a red grapefruit paloma for you. how is that? >> reporter: mr. garten had a successful career on wall street and served as the dean of yale's business school. but millions of viewers know him simply as jeffrey. ina has called you her muse before. what is she to you? >> well, she's the center of my life. she's actually the font of

enormous amount of fun. and she is the center of a home. that's what she is to me. >> thank you. that's not bad. >> reporter: the couple has been married for more than 50 years. is this a typical day at the house? >> oh, yeah. we have cocktails all the time. >> couple times a day. >> reporter: and that's the secret to a happy marriage. >> exactly right. >> just delicious. >> thank you. >> reporter: the next morning, we went looking for carbs, but in the hamptons, the corner shop doesn't sell donuts. >> this is carissa's. >> reporter: so cute. >> isn't it wonderful? >> reporter: garten took us to her favorite local bakery, for a taste of the good life. what is it that you love about this spot? >> well, first i love carissa's because it's two local women. the two have built this extraordinary place with great quality food. they use local ingredients in almost everything. they're here everyday. it just feels like what i used to do. feels like coming home.

look how fabulous that is. >> reporter: that is fancy. this is just what i would typically have for breakfast. >> exactly. >> reporter: this is all lovely, but the bacon, egg and cheese sandwich is like $20. a lobster roll is 38. >> first of all, it's organic, it's local and things are expensive here. but it's not just a piece of white bread. it's on a roll that carissa made. one of the luxuries of being here is that you can make a really good quality product. >> reporter: garten's life isn't all french pastries and rose colored cocktails, but we thought it's pretty dang close. she still may be a nervous cook, but ina garten has nailed the recipe for a good life. >> i want to do what i love doing and i want to do it really well and have a life. >> reporter: julia sold french food. right? martha sold perfection. you're slinging fun. >> well, i just think if you're not having fun, what's the point? really? it's nice to unwind after a long

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we were nearing last call on the grandest of british institutions, the pub. were going the way of morning newspapers, afternoon tea and the whole idea of empire. a range of factors undercut the kind of neighborhood joint where everyone knows your name. then came covid which kept most british pubs closed for more than a year. but in the summer of 2021, the uk reopened and not unlike an overserved patron, the pub story started to stagger and lerch in an unexpected direction. and, as we first reported last year, maybe it's not quite closing time after all. 1,200 plus years old? >> yes. >> a man walks into a pub, of course, he does. in this case, it's a very old pub.utondon.

its landlord is christo tofalli. so your pub is one of dozens in this country that claims ss to the oldest ever. make your case. >> it turns out there's a bit of misconception what is oldest pub is. which one is the oldest. we're the oldest pub, the first brick was laid in 793. and the oldest inhabited building in europe. vikings invaded england in the same year, the first brick was laid in 793. >> reporter: i suspect vikings would like this place. >> they would love this place. >> reporter: before we go further, let's define our terms. we're not talking about mere bars, or for the love of god, sports bars. these are pubs, short for public houses. they exist as much for conviviality as for what's on tap, cold lager, and to the shock of first timers, warm ale. they've been cornerstones of the culture here for cenes the writer slash comedian al

murray believes the value proposition goes well beyond beer. >> it's a community place. it's a communitarian place in a way that sitting in your front room watching television just isn't. >> reporter: what is it about this culture that has such appeal to you? >> to sound sort of idealistic about it, princes and paupers are equally welcome in here. and given that britain is a class-ridden society, there are very few places where, you know, you stand at the bar and your money is as good as anyone else's. >> reporter: you sound like a pub romantic. >> i'm completely romantic about the idea of pubs. >> why? >> there is something genuinely beautiful about the idea of somewhere where anyone can go at any time and sit in the corner with their own thoughts and drinks. it's a beautiful notion. >> reporter: you don't go to turner's old star for quiet contemplation. one of the last of the so-called boozers in london's east end, it's the heartbeat of the proudly working-class community here. put in a day of work. you work hard. you come in and then you -- >> yeah, absolutely. you work hard all day.

and then you kind of like -- it's like having a mental shower after a hard day's work. kind of wind down. ite a ree , flcome. u're fily. you're family. >>r:and rnic drew have run the old star for 17 years. they met across the street, got engaged here. they live upstairs. the pub is their livings room. the regulars their oldest friends. when you say regulars, these are really regulars? >> oh, yeah everyday. >> everybody. everyone from naught to 90 enjoys themselves. there's a core of people, i suppose, 10, 15 people that come in every day regardless winter, summer, when ever. >> they all come, have their couple of beers, have a laugh. chew the wag, as they say, and just like everyone else, they're having a go at each other. >> reporter: i hear you say with real pride, thips a proper pub. >> it's a pub. >> we call it a pub pub.

>> reporter: for centuries pubs have been as much salon as saloon as they have taken to stools and watched history and myth unfold. in london's soho the french house is where bohemians would rub shoulders with resistance leaders. after paris fell to the nazis in 1940, charles de gaulle written his famous speech to the french free forces here in exile. a little further east, legend has it that the 17th century judge jeffries would watch those he sentenced hang as he lunched and sipped ale at the prospect of wimpy. there's the cholera epidemic that gripped london in 1854, killed 550 people in two weeks. a local doctor john snow figured out the problem. contaminated water from a well was spreading the disease and simply removing the handle from the pump effectively ended the epidemic.

john snow wasn't knighted but he did receive what might be the next highest british honor. >> christening a pub after someone is an exception. many pub names read like drunken mad libs, random adjective plus randomn mal. the ape and apple. the snooty fox. the drunken duck. the black dog. for pete brown, britain's leading writer on beer and pubs, these names offer a clue to every establishment's story. what's going on here? >> it's become one of the quirky aspects of the british pub. starts off in a practical way which is that most of the population who went to pubs until recently were illiterate. so you couldn't put a name sign up, you have to have a pictorial sign. pick a picture of something that has some resonance with people. then some of the ones that you just mentioned the pub

self -- >> reporter: and it's not just pub names that veer toward the colorful and eccentric. just behind london's behind the bar, you'll find the owner, chef and star performer of the seven stars pub, the talented mrs. roxie. your husband is american. >> yes, yes. >> how do you explain what you do to his family? >> when i was first introduced to them about 30 years ago, his mother asked me what i did. i said i'm a public. she said what? and my husband dove in and said, no, no, no. not a republican, a tavern keeper. >> what is it about this job that clearly feeds something in you? >> i'm good at it, darling. i'm good at it. i cook. i have a passing interest in the product that i sell myself. i love it. >> reporter: for the last 25 years -- >> cheers, good health. >> comedian al murray loved playing the figure behind the bar. , opnateblowo on stahe

hae cas thpu w. we never put man on the moon. no, no, the moon was never part of the british empire, no. no one to give it back to once we're done with it. is it? >> reporter: what is it about that archetype? >> a know all who knows nothing. it's a guy who has power but no authority. it's a guy who is writing intellectual checks he can't possibly cash. >> it's the whole swirl of what happens in a pub. public is the conduit, the confessor, the sort of high priest in a space like this. so all goes through him. >> reporter: it's all good fun, but as his character suggests, pub culture is if not eroding undergoing considerable change. for generations, the number of british pubs has been declining.

gh beer duty, a sm cheap supermarket lagger, people drinking less. perhaps the biggest culprit, venture capitalist and developers more interest in a pub's real estate than what's on tap. and then in march, 2020, came the hammer blow. covid-19. what was it like when this closed for the first time? >> so destroying. i mean, in business terms, lethal. i still haven't gotten any words for it, jon. we have a passion to open the door every single day. >> reporter: this wasn't just change the sign on the door. this sounds existential. >> terminal for a lot of pubs. >> reporter: even in the worst of times, the napoleonic wars, spanish flu, pubs did not close. despite the bombings and the

blitz, churchill insisted pubs remain open. how bad cain still pull ps is just ait story to show the spirit of the pubs is excellent. they carry on outside. >> reporter: the lockdown gave britain a glimpse of a future without pubs. for months, the cobbled streets where dickens once walked silent. the taverns where shakespeare might have drunk, empty. millions of barrels of beer literally down the drain. what does this country stand to lose if pubs diminish? >> it's part of its identity. we celebrate our nationality in a very quiet way, in a very modest way. and the pub is the perfect example of that. we're proud of the pub. if it was taken away from us, i think we would lose something of what defines us as a nation. >> reporter: it's not flag waving, but coming in here is sort of an act of patriotism, you're saying?

>> it's coming in and saying -- yeah, i'll have another pint. thank you. ♪ lodown, the pint-wielding patriots believed more than ever that the pub is an institution worth saving. >> saving the traditional pub, is nostalgia for a britain that may no longer exist? >> oh, so many britains that may no longer exist, but the one worth saving is the pub surely. we don't need a navy anymore. do we? we need pubs. >> reporter: in a changing britain, nostalgia can reside at the bottom of a glass. in the oh so english village, you'll find just a cricket green, a church, a few houses and a pub resistant to time. the bell inn has been in this family of heather mccalley for

200 years. she was born in the pub and now at age 85 runs it with her son hugh. how many generations in these 200 years? >> james and hugh and thomas and ronald and then me, five, i suppose. >> reporter: we talked to some pub owners felt this pressure to evolve and they're trying gourmet food and deejays and technology. >> here, no. we are plain, simple, that's how we survive. that's how we're going to survive. i don't think we'll ever be putting tvs in here. >> oh, no, no. >> no. >> i don't even have a mobile phone. >> reporter: pubs like the bell inn and the old stars done what they always done, served their community. but where does the rest of the country fit in? nigerian born, proud owner of the prince in south london. he has taken the magic of the pub and adapted it to multicultural 21st century britain. you hear the word pub, 20 years ago and what are you thinking?

>> i'm thinking i'm not going there. >> play that out for me. you walko in weern movie. everyone looks at the door swinging. who is that guy? that's how i felt in some pubs i walked in. >> piano stops playing. >> absolutely. absolutely. >> reporter: four years ago he bought up a neighborhood joint, destined to be turned into an apartment block or a mini market. >> pubs play a massive part in representing the communities, representing the marginalized, the underrepresented and giving them a space, giving them somewhere where they can be, they can congregate, they can share ideas. >> reporter: when kids today hear the word pub, what do you want them to think? >> i want them to think that's a space for me. that's a space where i can be. that's a space where i can celebrate. that's a space where i can hang out. i can laugh. i can mourn. >> that's what you're going for when you opened this place? >> yeah. i love seeing the melting pot that is london reflected in this pub. ae inht

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old stinstrument, the kora. it's a string instrumentm part to son, man to man, in a special set of families ever since. as lesley stahl reported this fall, sona jobarteh was born into one of those families called griot, the daughter of a gambian father and a british mother. after hundreds of years of men, she is the first woman to master the kora. in her performances around the world, and in her work off stage, she says she is keeping tradition alive through the very act of breaking it. ♪ take a listen, as we did, to sona jobarteh as she plays the kora. ♪ with its 21 strings played by just four fingers, two on each hand, it has a sound both foreign and familiar.

to mit's like a harp. what do you compare it to? >> i don't actually compare it to anything because it's normal for me. i compare other things to the kora. ♪ >> reporter: the song sona played for us called jarabi is a traditional love song. ♪ sung in the mandinka language. ♪ the tradition goes back to the 1200s when a kingdom called the mali empire reigned over a large swath of west africa, the territory of several modern day

in the empire were men called griot who counselled kings, resolved conflicts and passed the legends down orally through the centuries. women in griot families were singers, but it was only men who were allowed to play the instrument. ♪ that is until sona jobarteh. at 39, she has become one of the foremost kora players in the world. ♪ performing with her band across europe, west africa, and here in the united states, as we saw in this packed theater outside boston. ♪ >> when you hear this music, it still to this day carries the feeling of the empire at its greatest. you get that feeling of royalty. you get that feeling of something that you're so proud about. >> one, two, three.

♪ >> reporter: what i think about with you is that you have broken tradition. >> it's not the way i see myself mainly because of the fact of belief in the tradition has to evolve. traditions are not stagnant. they are things that grow with humanity, with society and they always have. at one time this instrument was not around. then it became invented and became something modern. yet now it's considered traditional. in terms of me being female, this is a very central and important adaptation the tradition must take in order to be able to be relevant to our new society. >> reporter: sona jobarteh comes to the griot tradition as both insider and outsider. her mother is a british artist. her father, the son of a legendary gambian kora player whose griot family pedigree traces back to the 13th century. though her parent's relationship

didn't last, sona grew up in both worlds, the uk and her grandfather's family compound in gambia where she says her grandmother urged her to embrace the griot heritage which has a e to sing. i never wanted to sing. i hated singing with a passion. >> reporter: why? you have the perfect voice. >> didn't like it. never liked it. >> reporter: but your grandmother knew you had a great voice. >> i don't think she heard it much because i refused. i was a very stubborn child. >> reporter: but she was drawn to the kora. as a little kid, no one seemed to mind her learning some of the basics. she thinks her grandmother may have even liked the idea. in the uk, though, she studied a different musical tradition, classical cello. and she excelled. winning a scholarship at age 14 to a prestigious music boarding school. were you one of the very few biracial kids in the school? >> the only person of color in the first school.

>> reporter: therson? >> yes. i was incredibly shy as a student. i never talked. that's my only way of surviving those years i would say. >> reporter: were you sad? was it a tough time? >> yes, it was a very tough ti >> reporter: but she did find one point of connection to her life in the gambia. >> the library in the school had a kora there hanging on the wall. so i would be always looking at this thing. and then one day i decided to take it off the wall. it was a total mess you can imagine. so what it started doing is every time i get a little time when the place is quiet, take it off the wall, fix a string, put it back. i was doing it hoping no one would notice. i kept taking it off the wall. there was one lady a late night worker said why don't you take it to your room and keep it there and work on it. >> reporter: she's your hero. >> i had her permission. it became my sanity. >> reporter: and her calling at 17 she decided she needed to

study the kora properly which meant taking a personal risk, appealing to her father to pass the tradition down to her, his daughter, as his father had to him. ths head beespent much time and performing mostly abroad. for years and years and years, kora playing was passed father to son. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: father to son. >> exactly. >> reporter: and along comes your daughter. >> yes. >> reporter: sona. did she say, dad, will you teach me? >> yeah. she said what i really want to learn is the kora. >> reporter: but girls didn't play the kora at that point. >> what i told her i said, if i close my eyes i don't have to know the difference, a man or -- >> reporter: oh. >> if you can do that for me. >> reporter: you immediately said okay. >> i immediately said okay. >> reporter: you never hesitated. >> i never hesitated, no. >> i don't want you to get distracted with this whole idea of being female. don't let it get in your head. don't let it distract you. your ambition needs to be a good

kora player, not a female kora plju >> rteow work?>>orked ry, ard. reporter: performing, sometimes with her father, and then with her own band. she got acceptance first in europe. ♪ and then back in the gambia with a song and video she released in 2015 to celebrate 50 years of gambian independence. it's become the country's unofficial national anthem with more than 24 million views on youtube. minus the dancers, we found the gambia much as sona's video depicted it. a tiny country on africa's west coast, it's a former british colony that's predominantly muslim, precolonial culture runs

deep here. sona jobarteh's name heritagear. and she's leaninto thaiot le of ader tvocaorshe calls her purpose in life outside music, creating a new model of african education. she has founded a small school called the gambia academy, where students study dance, drumming, kora, of course, and another traditional griot instrument called the balafon. >> the music gets the most attention because everyone sees it and likes it and enjoys it. but they're learning all the same subjects as any other school, math, science, geography, history, all these things. however, how is that imparted to you? >> so this means what? >> reporter: sona believes most education in africa has been so

deeply rooted in colonial models that its message to children is that their own legacy is somehow backward. >> so they fail to do things improper. so they'll do it this way. this way is very much a european way. my challenge is now can you get the same output, successful output, if we actually create, change the cultural orientation at the heart and center of the education system. >> from your elbow to your finger should be a straight line, huh? >> reporter: so the students here wear traditional african uniforms. >> the hand, okay. seven, eight. ♪ >> reporter: and gambian culture is celebrated. rohi and bori have been coming to the school since it opened seven years ago. here there are no restrictions by gender or pedigree. rohi is learning to play the kora and bori is in the advanced balafon class. >> i like it. it makes me feel very happy when

i'm playing. >> reporter: are you griot? >> no. >> reporter: are you griot?r:e e because you know what i'm talking about. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> reporter: won't that be awfully difficult. >> you know what a man can do, a woman also can do it. so i'm not from a griot family, but i love to play kora. when you love something, you can do it. >> reporter: are you getting pushback from within the society? >> yes, of course. especially from the older generation, but it doesn't matter. ♪ >> reporter: sona's first album was a mix of traditional and new songs. her latest, which we saw her rehearsing with her band, is all original music. she writes all the parts herself, including songs about education, women and her own

identity. and she sings them in mandinka. ♪ >> for me, when i sing in my own language, the language that belongs to the gambia, there is -- i'm giving you a sense of pride that you never have before. that your language is as valuable. ♪ when i can go to an international audience and c have the whole audience in germany, spain, america, all over the world, and they're singing mandinka -- ♪ >> reporter: the power she says of music. >> it becomes a universal language. i can talk with anybody from anywhere in the world using music. i can't do that in any other form. ♪ >> reporter: and she's doing one more thing. ♪

passing the tradition down to her 15-year-old son sidiki, a talented balafon player. and next link from the griot past to its future. you had said to her, when i close my eyes, i don't want to hear a female -- >> no. >> reporter: kora player, i want to hear a great -- >> kora player, yeah. >> reporter: close your eyes and tell us what you hear. >> i hear a great, great, great kora player. ♪ >> i'm very, very proud, definitely. >> thank you so much. the complexities of playing the kora -- >> reporter: how challenging is it to play that instrument?

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(speaking german)