Kora

Overview

The kora is a 21-string harp-lute played across the Mande regions of West Africa, particularly in The Gambia, Senegal, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Mali. Its body is built from a large calabash, halved lengthwise and faced with a stretched cow-skin head; a tall hardwood pole rises straight up through the gourd, passing on its way through a notched wooden bridge that divides the strings into two parallel banks — one bank assigned to each hand.

The Hornbostel-Sachs system classifies the kora as 323: a chordophone with a resonator integral to the instrument, in which the plane of the strings runs at right angles to the soundboard, played with bare fingers. That clipped technical description sits behind one of the most distinctive sounds in West African music: a flowing, harp-like cascade that sits halfway between a lute and a true harp.

Origin & History

The kora is generally traced to the Mali Empire and to the broader Mande cultural sphere from around the 16th century onward. DBpedia’s structured entry places its development in the 16th century, which aligns with the established histories given by senior Mande jeli (griot) families. The instrument is closely associated with the historical jeliya tradition — the hereditary class of musicians, oral historians, and counsellors who served the leading Mande families.

Holdings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art include a nineteenth-century Mandinka kora (object 501115) listed as gourd, skin, leather, and wood. Alongside it sits a closely related Senufo instrument, the Korikaariye (object 503230) from around 1900, made of gourd, skin, and wood. The two together suggest that the kora is best understood as one prominent expression of a broader regional family of gourd-and-skin harp-lutes rather than as a wholly isolated instrument.

The kora’s contemporary international visibility owes much to a small number of senior players from major jeli families — including Sidiki Diabaté, Toumani Diabaté, Ballaké Sissoko, and Mory Kanté — whose recordings and concert tours from the 1970s onward have made the instrument widely familiar outside West Africa.

Construction & Materials

A kora’s body starts as a large calabash, sliced roughly across its length and stretched over with a cow-skin head, the skin held in place by brass-headed nails around the rim. Through the centre of the gourd rises a tall pole — most often kembu or bahaba hardwood — passing out again through an opening at the base. Sitting on the skin is a tall notched bridge that divides the strings into two banks of eleven and ten respectively, one played by each hand.

Strings were traditionally made of twisted cowhide thongs and are now most often nylon fishing line. Tuning is set by sliding leather rings (konso) along the pole at the point where each string is attached, a system being increasingly replaced in modern instruments by mechanical guitar-style tuning pegs. Three of the most common tunings are Silaba, Tomora, and Hardino, each rooted in a particular set of Mande historical pieces.

How It’s Played

The player sits with the kora upright, the gourd resting against the chest, and grips the two large vertical handles that flank the bridge with the heel of each hand. The thumbs and index fingers of both hands pluck the strings — left hand on the lower bank, right hand on the upper bank. Each hand can play independently, and a skilled kora player typically maintains a steady ostinato pattern in one hand while improvising melody and ornament with the other.

The result is a flowing, harp-like cascade in which bass, accompaniment, and melody are interwoven. Many traditional pieces are built around named accompaniment patterns called kumbengo, over which the soloist improvises birimintingo melodic variations.

Cultural Significance

The kora is fundamentally tied to the jeliya tradition of the Mande peoples — the hereditary class of musicians, oral historians, and counsellors who, for centuries, were responsible for preserving the genealogies, histories, and praise songs of leading families. Many of the most famous kora pieces are praise songs (fasaa) for individual historical figures, and several of the senior performing families today (Diabaté, Kouyaté, Sissoko, Cissokho) trace their jeli lineage back many generations.

Internationally, the kora has become one of the most recognisable African instruments and a frequent presence in cross-cultural collaborations — most famously between Toumani Diabaté and Spanish flamenco guitarist Ketama, between Ballaké Sissoko and French cellist Vincent Segal, and across many other recordings that pair kora with jazz, classical, and popular musicians.

Notable Examples & Recordings

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 19th-century Mandinka kora (object 501115) is one of the better-documented historical examples available online, and the related Senufo Korikaariye (object 503230) helps situate it within the broader regional harp-lute family. For listening, recordings by Sidiki Diabaté, Toumani Diabaté, Ballaké Sissoko, Foday Musa Suso, and the late Mory Kanté offer the strongest introduction to traditional repertoire and to the modern global voice of the instrument.

Related Instruments

• Ngoni – the older West African plucked lute often played by the same jeli families
• Balafon – the wooden xylophone of the Mande tradition, frequently played alongside kora
• Harp – the broader chordophone family to which the kora is related as a “harp-lute” hybrid
• Bolon – the larger bass harp used in Mande hunters’ music
• Korikaariye – the Senufo regional harp-lute documented in MET object 503230

Where to Hear It

Concerts by senior kora players, festivals of West African music in Europe and North America (such as Festival au Désert and Roskilde), and a steady catalogue of high-quality recordings together provide the strongest entry points. The kora is also widely used in cross-cultural recordings that pair it with cello, flamenco guitar, jazz piano, and classical chamber ensembles.

• Wikipedia: Kora
• The MET: Kora (object 501115)
• The MET: Korikaariye (object 503230)
• Wikimedia Commons: Kora

Learning Resources

Beginners typically start by learning the basic kumbengo accompaniment patterns of one or two well-known pieces, working on independence between the two hands. Several senior West African players now offer structured online tuition in English and French, and short-term apprenticeships with kora makers and players in The Gambia and Senegal are also widely available for committed students.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the kora a harp or a lute?
Both, in a sense. It is technically classified as a harp-lute: it has a lute-style neck and bridge but the strings rise vertically away from the soundboard like those of a harp. The Hornbostel-Sachs class 323 covers exactly this hybrid type.

How many strings does a kora have?
A standard kora has 21 strings, divided into two banks of 11 and 10 by a tall vertical bridge sitting on the skin head. Larger and smaller variants exist in some regional traditions.

What is the griot tradition?
The jeliya (griot) tradition is the hereditary class of Mande musicians, oral historians, and counsellors who have, for many centuries, preserved the genealogies, histories, and praise songs of leading families across West Africa. Most professional kora players come from these jeli lineages.

Are old koras displayed in museums?
Yes. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art holds a 19th-century Mandinka kora (object 501115) and the closely related Senufo Korikaariye (object 503230), part of the Crosby Brown Collection acquired in 1889.

Is the kora difficult to learn?
Producing a basic kumbengo pattern is reasonably approachable, but coordinating two genuinely independent hands and learning the traditional pieces with their proper birimintingo improvisation typically takes several years of structured study.