The Kora, african music instrument (West Africa) is a cordophone instrument with a bridge system; membranophone; with a calabash building the acoustic box; and it belongs to the doble strung harps family.
Cordophone. From the family of string instruments. In the past (and present) as a lot of cordophones’ strings were built from animal guts (01). Nowadays it seems that Nylon (02) is the standard (though there are other materials). It has longer resonance and more brilliance than handmade traditional Gut. This doesn’t mean it is “much güt” but just different, and in fact nylon is used mainly due to it is easier to have.
Membranophone Refers to the traditionally use of animal skin tissue (skin membrane from bovinae or caprines) (03) as a soundboard (harmonic board)… common in the construction of drums in general.
Bridge (Bridge-harp). The vibration starting from the strings is first collected by a piece of wood where the strings are attached (04). This piece of wood lays above the soundboard under the high pressure of the strings forming a “kind of bridge” elevating the strings over the soundboard and arch.
Notice that in the case of Mauritanian ardin instrument (C) there is no bridge (strings are born directly into the soundboard as on a pillar harp = frame harp). Ardin is a kind of kora but following the one singlelline structure of a pillar harp (evolution from ngombi instrument).
Calabash (soundbox). I add the calabash (05) as part of the definition to distinguish the instruments that use a gourd (plant fruit) as a soundbox (one pice body) from the ones where the soundbox is built with multiple glued wooden parts (like lute, pillar harps, and many others). Calabashes have been long widely used for building instruments’ soundboxes in all civilisations around the world that were having these fruits growing naturally.
So, the vibration from the soundboard is transmitted to the soundbox to defenitly increase the sound and general sustain coming from the strings.
Doble strung / double order. Refers to the fact that the strings are set in the bridge forming two parallel rows (06). Eleven strings for the left hand and ten for the right hand. We find this ‘parallel rows’ concept also in double, triple and cross-strung (D) harps (used in early European music).
Harp. The kora (07), as for earlier classes of harps (with less strings = less pressure), is not “closed” by a pillar like frame harps does: Pedal harp (08) and Celtic harp. The arch (long stick) is enough hold and do all the work of stretching the strings while avoiding structural collapse. Also a pillar is not needed because the bridge helps to distribute the pressure not just in the ‘y’ axis but also in ‘x’, adding a second resting pressure point = distribution of effort.
As a member of the harps family the kora is played as the earlier one: the Ngombi (09) with bass notes near the body of the player while treble ones are furthest. The ngombies (also called Adungu, it can have many names depending on the ethnic group) are not a museum piece from the Jurassic Age as many western use to think but they are alive an kicking around Africa, thankfully. Kora continues the line of ngombi and Seperewa (10) that is a bridge between the ngombi and the kora (the father-mother of kora, in my opinion attending its designs/ needs/ solutions). But that being said ngombis are also played vice-versa in some ethnicities like the pillar harps (frame faps) are.
Another aspect defining the kora as part of harp family is definitely due to it’s timbre where the harmonics are mainly in the same range (just playing a glissando in any strings’ row becomes obvious the harp timbre). That being said, the kora’s sound’s originality and mesmerising appeal are especially due to one’s being able to hear multiple other instruments’ timbres at the same time, evoking more or less of one or the other, varying from one kora to other :
The membranophone aspect of the kora makes this instrument remind the Banjo timbre because the banjo in fact is a metal made akonting (11) and the akonting uses same materials than kora and structurally is very near. The Akonting is the origin of american banjo that “is basically a guitar” with animal skin as soundboard and a calabash (soundbox). The banjo was in effect the replacement of this nature “alive” elements to metal (sheet) elements like cans, etc., available during the time of large-scale construction of railways (metal industry) in the expanding America. Yes! the “so American” banjo is “so African” in real… but this is another real interesting chapter.
In a kora, the strings, if longer, it sound much more like a guitar… and if they begin to be “too” long (in relation to their thickness) it begins to sound more like a Sitar (especially if the strings buzz in contact with the konsos: the raw-hide rings that uses traditional koras for tuning). As you shorten them and use bigger diameters the sound approaches that of a harp and as you add more strings the harp-like similarity of the kora increases more and more due to increasing harmonic resonances.
Note: I avoid personally to define the Kora as part of Lute family of instruments that can be found in many definitions, effectively approximating the Kora as a Guitar. OK for the Akoning (A) but not for the Kora that is definitly far enough from the akonting and the guitar due to its’ phisic (shape) and phisics (timber), that produces: other way of playing = decoration patterns = style = sounds = music. So, without going into an extensive dense detail, I understand the definition of “Harp-Lute” but personally I do not share it because it does not contribute with anything interesting, for me, that classification for the Kora… but instead is important to notice that it is a “Bridge-Harp”.
Article by Carles A. (M&C Strings) : Kora player, “harper” and kora maker.
Special Thanks to Ian M. for his “first class” help with corrections and suggestions.
Did you like it? Nextly a “much revealing” info: “Kora within Harps Family (Africa the Amazing!)”.