21 February 2008
Visitors to West Africa often bring back home amazing musical instruments made of wood to decorate their homes.
Gambia, Mali and Senegal are home to an amazing array of instruments, the most famous one being the kora or cora in French.
In Africa, music is an important part of social life and all important social events will always be accompanied by the symphony of those instruments made of wood, fishing lines and covered by cow skin.
The kora is half way between a guitar and a harp and the first reference to the instrument in literature occurred in 1799 in Travels in Interior Districts of Africa by Mungo Park as "a large harp with 18 strings".
Other famous instruments from West African include the Bolon, a three to four-string instrument, the Donso Ngoni, and the Sahel which is believed to be the ancestor of the five-string banjo.
The kora is played by Mandingo peoples through out West Africa and its polyrhythmic sound incarnates West Africa's soul and culture.
Kora musicians who helped the world to discover the beauty of those instruments include Mali's most revered musicians Ali Farka Toure and Mamadou Diabate, Senegalese Cheikh Lo, Gambian Pa Bobo Jobarteh, and many others.
