Usifu Jalloh is a highly experienced, talented award winning performer and educator who has been working in arts education for over 20 years. His roots in multicultural Sierra Leone, and his long standing and close association with artists and audiences from a wide range of cultures, have lead him to develop a storytelling style which encompasses international languages, music, dance and story themes. He was born in Kamakwie in the Karene District of northern Sierra Leone.

 

Usifu has a passion for motivating young people to educate themselves within the context of their culture. Along with Storytelling and music, he has established Maambena Fest and National Storytelling Festival in Sierra Leone as the vehicles he uses to accomplish this laudable goal.

 

 His production Africa’s Cowfoot and The Cowfoot Chronicles serves as a platform for promoting Sierra Leonean and African cultures as a whole by embodying them within the rich Oral heritages of his ancestry.

 

A keynote speaker at various UK Universities and often quoted in a variety of genre  and publications including authors such as Frank Wynne (2006). He  has co-written and co-published an epic play ‘Sweet Peter’ representing  the experience of slavery, colonialism and war in Sierra Leone. 

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His latest film/documentary The Cowfoot Prince the film is a collaboration with director Bex Singleton and the National Film and Television School. His recent role in theatre includes the award winning play The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives, at the Arcola Theatre, with acclaimed director Femi Elufowoju Jnr. He has performed at the Scottish International Storytelling festival and the ReImagined Storytelling festival in Kenya amongst others. His latest production is One Cowrie Shell. An epic story Usifu developed and produced over a four years period. 

 

With extensive radio programs for BBC World Service as a judge for the African Play writers competition and BBC Radio 4 as a presenter and storyteller Usifu Jalloh paves the way for future Storytellers to emulate. He presented the successful radio program Pikin To Pikin Tok with the NGO Child to Child, designed for children in Sierra Leone addressing the issues of health, sanitation and teenage pregnancy. 

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One of the highlights of Usifu jalloh's diverse talents was curating This is Africa exhibition together with The Highlife Centre in Coventry as part of the Coventry City of Culture 2021 celebration.

Usifu Jalloh has worked extensively globally, performing his stories and delivering workshops throughout the educational and entertainment sector. Countries include Argentina, Mexico, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Nigeria, India, Bahrain, Germany, Jordan, France, Italy, Spain, Peru, Colombia, Kenya, China, South Korea, Poland and South Africa. 

 

Clients include the Obama Foundation, British Library, BBC, WHO, Zintsomi Festival South Africa, NHS Trust Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Restless Development, Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary, British Council Sierra Leone. 

 

 

 

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