This is an updated version of a story first published on Nov. 13, 2022. Described as a cross between a harp, a lute, and a guitar, the kora is part of a musical tradition that dates back to the ...

“How come we’ve never heard of this beautiful instrument until now?” This was posted by a first-year college student to my world music course discussion board recently. He voiced what many of his ...

Sona Jobarteh. Photo by Tony Rath, courtesy of the artist. In many West African cultures, griots serve as communal memory banks, transmitting a people’s history, rituals, folklore and values from ...

Derek Gripper was a musician with a problem. He'd been playing classical music since he was 6 years old — violin, then piano and finally guitar. He was poised for an international career as a ...

Why are there no new musical instruments? It’s as if the electric guitar was the ultimate innovation, the last nail in the coffin of music’s social supremacy. If fresh organic sounds are an endangered ...

Our Calling” unites Piers Faccini’s guitar and Ballaké Sissoko’s kora in a soulful blend of cultures, weaving melodies from ...

Morikeba Kouyate of Senegal performed a 22-string kora Tuesday at the University of New Orleans as part of the music department's 'Meet the Artist' series. The kora, made of a gourd and wood, ...

A musician says his specially made instrument was badly damaged after he was forced to put it in a plane's hold. N'Faly Kouyate says his electric kora, also known as an African harp, was designed so ...

Described as a cross between a harp, a lute, and a guitar, the kora is part of a musical tradition that dates back to the 13th century Mali Empire, which stretched across much of West Africa. The ...