A Look at Princess Fatu Gayflor: Liberia’s Legendary Traditional Singer

Princess Gayflor in performance at World Cafe Live; photo by JJ Tiziou, 2015. Source: Philadelphia Folklore Project

Princess Fatu Gayflor is an African, born in 1966. The legendary musician from Liberia was born in the city of Kakata, the northwestern part of the country. She is a member of the Lorma ethnic group and also a member of the traditional Sande society in Liberia. 

Daughter of King N’Jollah, Princess Gayflor took pleasure in listening to her mother sing and dance to traditional music as a child; this gave her the foundation and love for Liberian folk music. Her recruitment in Kakata at an audition at the age of 12, was the beginning of a life-changing career opportunity. Her passion and love for traditional music and her versatility in various Liberian languages are noticeable throughout her albums.

Since she was discovered in 1978, Princess Gayflor’s career shot to stardom after taking on the lead of the National Culture Troup in Keneja (the nation’s art village). Her impressive vocal range and her creative talent cannot be denied. No wonder the late Liberian President William Tolbert call her “princess”.  

Source: Facebook | Princess Fatu Gayflor

Princess Gayflor’s first two solo albums in Liberia were dropped in the mid 1980; she migrated to the Ivory Coast in 1989 due to the first Liberian civil war. There she made her third album and later moved to a refugee camp in Guinea before emigrating to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United State of America where she currently lives with her family. 

She performed at Liberian social events in north America both independently, and occasionally, with some former members of the Liberian Cultural Troup. During her stay in Philadelphia, she “worked with the Philadelphia Folklore Project (PFP) using music as a tool for social change”. Princess Gayflor also “taught at the Arts Culture Treasure Charter School” and served as the founding member and current artistic director of the Liberian Women’s Chorus for Change. 

Princess Gayflor teaching students at the Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School. Source: James Wasserman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

While in the U.S., Princess Gayflor was awarded the “Pew Fellowship in the Arts and a Leeway Foundation Transformation Award for using arts for social change having fled Liberia during the civil crisis.

Few months ago, the princess’ self-imposed 25-years exile ended when she returned to Liberia to a jubilant crowd of friends and former coworkers from the Liberian National Cultural Troup in the Kaneja village. She was serenaded at the Robert International Airport with traditional songs accompanied by rhythmic sounds of Sasas and drums. At the end, she graciously took to the Mic and melodiously sang few of her hit songs while showing her well-wishers that she can still dance as well. 

Joseph Warkreh T-Toe is Associate Editor Emeritus of Funtimes Magazine. He holds an Associate in Journalism from the Ghana Institute of Journalism in Accra, Ghana. He once served as Foreign News Editor at the Liberia News Agency (LINA). He is author of The Voice My Silence, an anthology African poems and short stories (under revision), and two children’s books – Fatu and Lake Piso and The Adventure of Little King Dahhena. T-Toe also serves on the boards of Christ International Baptist Church and Tip Global Educational Resources (TGER) in Philadelphia.