Here, not only does one of the master kora players,Toumani Diabate, describe how to play the instrument, but you also get to hear it played with the balafon (marimba), djembe, ngoni, sabar, ntama, guitar, and other instruments. Near the beginning, you see the balafon from underneath. Watch for the small gourd under each wooden key. The sound resonates through those gourds. Each gourd has one or more holes drilled in it and then covered. The covering used to be made from spider egg cases. Nowadays cigarette papers are used.
Ry Cooder has played piano and guitar with this group.
If you'd like to personally hear this man, Toumani Diabate is playing on April 10, 2009 with the Bela fleck group at the University of Pennsylvania.
The Gambia in Africa
Smallest country in Africa
Gambia map
Map of The Gambia
About Me
- Hope
- I think I've been "in the education field" since I was six months old. My Mother was a teacher in a one room school when I was born. It was World War II and Daddy was in Germany. My mother took me to school with her from the time I was six months old. I graduated from college with a music education degree and began teaching in 1965. I quickly realized that I preferred teaching one elementary class rather than music where I barely learned the children's names. Thus over the next three years, I earned my accreditation in elementary education and began my 31 year stint as a fourth grade teacher.
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Makumbaya Sixth Grade
2 comments:
Toumani and the Kora is fascinating!
Hope...those cds you left with me are excellent!
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