Kora (instrument)

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Image:Gambia kora havard.jpg The kora (French: cora) is a 21 string harp-lute used extensively by Mandingo peoples in West Africa.

1 Description
2 History
3 Notable kora players
4 External links

[edit] Description

A kora is built from a large calabash cut in half and covered with cow skin to make a resonator, and has a notched bridge like a lute or guitar. The sound of a kora is like a harp, though when played in the traditional style, it bears a closer resemblance to flamenco guitar techniques. The player uses only thumb and index finger of both hands to pluck the strings in polyrhythmic patterns. Ostinato riffs ("Kumbeng") and improvised solo runs ("Biriminting") are played at the same time by skilled players.

Kora players have traditionally come from griot families (traditional historians, genealogist and storytellers) who pass their skills on to their descendants. It is played in Mali, Guinea and Senegal, but is also common in The Gambia.

Traditional koras feature 21 strings, eleven played by the left hand and ten by the right. Modern koras made in the Casamance region of southern Senegal sometimes feature additional bass strings, adding up to four strings to the traditional 21. Strings were traditionally made from thin strips of hide, for example antelope skin - now most strings are made from harp strings or nylon fishing line, sometimes wound together to create thicker strings.

By moving leather tuning rings up and down the neck, a kora player can retune the instrument into one of four seven-note scales. These scales are close in tuning to western Major, Minor and Lydian modes, as well as to a blues scale. [1]

[edit] History

Djeli Madi Wuleng, is traditionally linked to the origins of the kora in the early 20th century. However the earliest European reference to the kora in Western literature is in Travels in Interior Districts of Africa (1799) by the Scottish explorer Mungo Park.

In the late 20th century, a 25-string model of the kora was developed, though it has been adopted by only a few players, primarily in the region of Casamance, in southern Senegal. An electric instrument modeled on the kora (but made primarily of metal) called the gravikord was invented in the late 20th century by instrument builder Robert Grawi. The gravikord has been adopted by African kora players like Foday Musa Suso, who featured it in recordings with jazz innovator Herbie Hancock and with his band Mandingo.