Favourite sites:
This is really the best site for those who
have a deep interest in kora music, and is a lot more technical
and insightful into the practicalities of kora performance. The
site is just brilliant for those learning the instrument who
would not have access to a kora teacher. You can download
software to give teaching instructions as well as MIDI and
audio samples of the instrument. It gives a few good links and
has an excellent lengthy discography for buying CDs (it brings
you to www.amazon.com if you click on a CD you wish to
purchase). The English version not being fully finished is a
problem and the mix of languages can be off-putting. Also the
back-ground can make it difficult to read the text. Despite
this it has good info on the instrument; its construction,
stringing, tuning, string pitches, even its related cousins. It
has some great pictures of the instrument and some players. It
delves into the music itself, exposing the different
traditional scales and the techniques of playing and creating
different tones. It illustrates a notational system
specifically for the kora and boasts dozens of transcriptions
of tunes played by certain top musicians [you must download
software for this]. There are grafs illustrating most of the
technical points made in the site with accompanying MIDI
samples, and there is even a glossary of Mandika terminology.
Well worth the visit.
This site will give you a good introduction
to the kora, and is very accessible to those with just a
fledgling interest in the music of the kora. It is a very
up-to-date site and seems to be maintained very well. It gives
good clear info on the instrument itself, and on the countries
it traditionally originates from. This site offers an incisive
recommended recordings listing which were
“hand-picked” for top quality music. It has a
nice selection of good links. There are animated pictures of
the instrument as well as pictures of some top artists in
performance. Well worth a visit to whet your appetite and to
bring you closer to appreciating the art of kora music. You can
also ask questions about the kora which would hopefully be
answered to your satisfaction. This site comes up on top of
many quality search engines which probably implies that is one
of the more popular ones. This should be one of the first sites
to visit if you are just beginning to get to know the music of
the kora better.
Good Images available on:
This would be the best to get a real good
look at a kora...
Promo page with good info and images.
Info and image of a specific kora.
A music section on the Gambia Tourist
Support web site.
Really nice images.
Papa Susso playing his Kora.
Another image...
This will give you some great photos of
excellent kora players with some talk on griots.
Here’s a direct link to the photos;
I found two images on
AFRICAN KORA
by
Eoghan Neff
