Instrumental Archaeology, Issue 6

The Kora

A 19th century kora from Senegambia. Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

History

The kora originated in the Mandé region of West Africa, in what is today the countries of Mali, Senegal, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and The Gambia. Many kora players believe the kora was first built and played in the eighteenth century by Jali Mady Wuleng in the town of Sanimentereng, in the kingdom of Kabu. The kingdom of Kabu lasted from 1537 to 1867.

Within the Mandé culture, the kora is passed from father to son in musical families known as jali. The jali are their societies musicians, genealogists, and storytellers whose songs tell stories of past kings, great warriors, and even other jalis. Historically, only men play the kora within this tradition.

Photo of two kora players from Senegal in 1900. Photo: The New York Public Library.

The Kora

The kora is a harp-like instrument whose body is made from a cowhide stretched across one half of a calabash gourd. It has a long neck, called a faló. Traditionally, the strings are attached to the faló by braided leather rings called konso, but today tuning pegs or guitar machine heads are sometimes used.

The kora has 21 strings and like we saw with the oud and hurdy-gurdy, they are traditionally made from animal gut. The strings are arranged in two rows, one of 10 and the other 11. There are two pegs, called bulkalamo, next to the faló that players use as handles to hold their hands steady while playing. To play the kora, players pluck the strings with the thumbs and index fingers of each hand to create melodies, chords, and rhythms while some even use their knuckles or nails for percussive sounds. Kora players from Mali are usually joined by a singer, but those from anywhere else in the region sing themselves.

There are a few instruments similar to the kora also from the Mandé region. The donsó ngoni and simbin are harp-like instruments with similar construction, but are smaller in size, have fewer strings, and have different tunings. The soron, a 17 to 18 stringed harp from Guinea, is thought to be a direct ancestor of the kora. Ethnomusicologists believe the kora is younger than these instruments based on its oral tradition and the fact that it hasn’t spread much farther than the Mandé region.

The Sound

Below is Sona Jobarteh & Band playing Mamamuso. Sona Jobarteh is the first female virtuosic Kora player from a jali family.

Here is Toumani and Sidiki Diabaté performing Jarabi.

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If you enjoyed this look into the kora, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Sources:

The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. Kora. Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/art/kora-musical-instrument.

History: The Jaliya Tradition. The Kora Workshop, https://thekoraworkshop.co.uk/about-the-kora/history/.

Kora. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/501115.

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. "Colonies Françaises -- Sénégal -- Soudan Français." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1900-07. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e3-33b9-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.

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