The Kora Emerges as West Africa's Defining Classical Instrument

The kora — a 21-string harp-lute using a calabash resonator and cowhide bridge — is developed among the Mandé griots of the Mali Empire. Requiring years of rigorous training, it produces a polyphonic sound as harmonically sophisticated as classical European instruments. Griot families pass kora traditions and compositions down through bloodlines spanning seven centuries.