The Kora is a plucked harp-lute with a large calabash (gourd) body, a cow hide sound ‘board’, and twenty-one nylon strings. Each of the stings is attached to a ring of cow hide braided around a rosewood neck. These tuning rings hold their position only by friction, and can be moved up or down the [...]

An interview with koraplayer and singer Dembo Jobarteh You call yourself a gambian griot. Where is The Gambia and what is a griot? The Gambia is a small country in West Africa. It is situated inside Senegal, along the shores of the river Gambia. Griots have lived there for hundreds of years. It’s a hereditary [...]

From http://www.kaira-arts.co.uk Virtuoso Kora Player and Praise Singer (a Griot), Jali Fily hails from Ziguinchor in the beautiful lush region of Casmance, Southern Senegal. Fily is a Mandinkan Griot. The Mandinka, a social group of approximately 4 million, live in and around Senegal, Mali and the Gambia. The Griots are professional hereditary musicians who once [...]