World Instruments You Should Hear Immediately - Part 1: Kora

Our planet is busting at the seems with beautiful music-making inventions. In western culture, we are so used to the instruments that make up rock bands, orchestras, and jazz ensembles that we forget there are thousands of different noise generating machines out there (ever met somebody that “plays every instrument?”). This first instrument is one of my favorites and hails from West Africa; The kora.

The kora is classified as a lute-bridge-harp. A lute is any stringed instrument with a neck and a rounded body. Bridge refers to a piece of wood that separates the strings from the body and transfers the vibration of the strings to the body. A harp is any instruments where the strings are each tuned to an individual note (as opposed to strings where the notes can be changed by placing your finger on them like a guitar or violin.) There are traditionally 21 strings that are played with the thumb and index finger of both hands—It’s like musical equivalent to the console-gaming controller. Modern koras sometimes have added bass strings and leather rings that move up and down the strings for retuning purposes.