What is a Kora Player?
A kora player is a musician who performs on the kora, a 21-string bridge harp-lute native to West Africa. The instrument is historically associated with the Mande people of West Africa, particularly across Mali, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Burkina Faso, and Guinea. A kora was historically played only by a jeli (plural jeliw)—also known as a griot—a member of a hereditary class of musicians and storytellers responsible for conveying cultural history through oral tradition. The player holds the instrument nearly upright, plucking its strings with the thumbs and index fingers of both hands to create polyphonic melodies and interlocking bass lines.
The kora is a harp-like instrument with a calabash body covered in cowhide, a wooden neck, and 21 strings made from durable materials like fishing lines, nylon, or silk. The instrument is played by a musician plucking the strings with the thumb and index finger of each hand, allowing up to 4 notes to be played at once. While traditional kora players come from specific hereditary lineages, the instrument has gained international recognition and practitioners now include musicians from diverse backgrounds.
Origins & Lineage
The kora has origins in the Kaabu federation of the Senegambian Mandinka in the 1700s, though it is generally believed that the kora emerged sometime between the 13th and 18th centuries. Widespread oral traditions attribute the origins of the kora to a specific place on the Gambian coast — a sacred well and a baobab tree that marks the spot, in a village call Sanementereng in The Gambia.
Kora music was historically an oral tradition preserved by the jali (griots) of the Mandinka Empire, who were custodians of culture, history, and music. The Jali families of West Africa are themselves a hereditary caste of musicians from within the Mande people and are more than musicians; they are praise-singers, genealogists and historians, playing a crucial role within the society. Certain families of storytellers—those with surnames such as Kouyate, Diabate, Konte, Cissoko—could only play the kora in West Africa in the past.
The kora most likely developed from similar Mande instruments approximately 300 years ago and was first documented in the 1799 chronicles of the Scottish explorer Mungo Park. Sidiki Diabaté (1922–1996) was known as the “King of the Kora,” he modernized the instrument and played a key role in bringing it to international audiences. His son Toumani Diabaté (b. 1965) is a Grammy-winning kora master who blends traditional sounds with jazz, flamenco, and contemporary styles. Ballaké Sissoko (b. 1968) is a globally recognized kora artist known for collaborations with cellist Vincent Segal and other international musicians.
How It’s Practiced
The player stands, sits in a chair, or sits cross-legged on the ground and holds the instrument nearly vertical, by its two handles, the bridge facing his (or perhaps, more recently, her) chest. Its unique design divides the strings into bass (left hand) and melody (right hand). For a given performance the 21 strings are tuned to one of four non-tempered heptatonic scales and cover a range of over three octaves from around D2 to F5.
The griot or vocalist sings as the kora player offers instrumental accompaniment during a kora concert; the kora player uses the instrument to play complex melodies, rhythms, and rhythmic patterns to accompany their singing or narrative. In Mali the kora player is generally accompanied by a singer whereas in other parts of West Africa the kora player often sings by himself. The kora is far more than a musical instrument—it is a vessel of history, used to accompany epic tales, praise songs, and moral teachings; griots would sing of ancestral lineages, battles, and local legends.
Traditionally, the kora was tuned to suit the pitch of a singer’s voice, or to accompany a bala (balafon) with fixed tuning; furthermore, the music of the jalis traditionally used a heptatonic scale, whose notes did not exactly correspond with the equal tempered Western scale. Common tunings include Silaba (or Tomoro ba), Tomoro Mesengo, Hardino and Sauta.
Kora Player Today
The contemporary kora player landscape has expanded significantly beyond its traditional hereditary boundaries. Though once confined largely to griot families in West Africa, the kora has achieved increasing international acclaim; artists such as Toumani Diabaté, Ballaké Sissoko, and Seckou Keita have introduced the instrument to global audiences through collaborations with Western classical, jazz, and pop musicians.
Dozens and dozens of kora albums have been released since Gambian Jali Nyama Suso’s debut solo album in 1972; the kora has won more Grammy Awards in the World/Global Music category than the sitar. In the last half century, the kora has come to be utilized in music and social settings outside that of traditional jeliya, but still performed by jeli.
Kora players can now be encountered at world music festivals, on streaming platforms, in documentary films such as Ballaké Sissoko: Kora Tales, and through online instruction platforms. Workshops and retreats take place in West Africa and internationally, allowing students to study the tradition.
Common Misconceptions
Not exclusively male: In the Jaliya tradition it is men that play the kora; outside of this tradition, both men and women play this beautiful instrument. Sona Jobarteh is the first celebrated female kora player from a griot family.
Not easy to tune: Learning to tune a traditional kora is arguably as difficult as learning to play it, and many tourists who are entranced by the sound while in West Africa buy koras and then find themselves unable to keep it in tune once they are home. Traditional koras use leather tuning rings (konso) that require significant strength and skill to adjust; modern instruments increasingly use guitar machine heads.
Not a rigid repertoire: While certain pieces are associated with specific tunings and historical narratives, kora music allows for extensive improvisation. In the absence of written music, each musician was free to tune the kora how they pleased (and of course, that is still true today).
Not a “world music” instrument only: The kora is a classical instrument of West African art music with centuries of sophisticated theory, pedagogical methods, and repertoire—comparable to the sitar in Indian classical music or the guqin in Chinese tradition.
How to Begin
Prospective kora players should first listen extensively to master recordings. Start with Toumani Diabaté and Ballaké Sissoko’s 1999 album New Ancient Strings, inspired by the 1970 album Ancient Strings, a landmark kora album featuring the musicians’ fathers, Sidiki Diabaté and Djelimadi Sissoko. Watch the documentary Ballaké Sissoko: Kora Tales (2023) for cultural and historical context.
For instruction, seek teachers connected to the Mande tradition, either through in-person study in West Africa or via online platforms. Organizations like The Kora Workshop offer instruments with machine-head tuning systems that are more accessible for beginners than traditional konso. Modern koras use guitar machine heads which make tuning easy and have made the kora much more accessible.
Expect initial lessons to focus on right-hand patterns, left-hand bass lines and learning traditional songs and modern arrangements. The learning path is experiential and oral, with much time spent developing the coordination to play four independent melodic/rhythmic lines simultaneously.