Instruments/Recording

Instruments/Recording

• Traditional West African Instruments
  • Banjo
  • Kora
  • Gourd Guitar
  • Earth Guitar
  • Mbulum-bumba

Notes:

4 Groups of instruments: Chordophones ( stringed instruments ) Aerophones (Wind Instruments ) Idiophones (Shaken instruments ) Membraphones ( Drums )

• Banjo,
  • African names “banjar”, “banjil”, “banza”, “bangoe”, “bangie”, “banshaw”.
  • 1620 Richard Jobson while exploring the Gambra River in Africa in 1620 he recorded an instrument “...made of a great gourd and a neck, thereunto was fastened strings.”
• Mandinka kora
  • Looks like a harp, but its playing style is closer to flamenco guitar.
  • The first known reference to the kora comes from 1799 Mungo Park Travels in Interior Districts of Africa. He describes it as “a large harp with 18 strings”.
  • The kora’s body is made from a calabash gourd cut in half and partially covered with cow skin. Traditionally, there are twenty-one playing strings plucked by the thumb and forefinger of each hand.
  • The remaining fingers grip the two vertical hand posts. For strings, players use fishing line which provides a brillant tone and is easily obtained at the local market. Twenty-one anchor strings attach the playing strings to an iron ring bored through the base of the kora’s hardwood neck.
  • The player tunes the kora by moving the leather rings to achieve the appropriate tension on each string. Kora players use a variety of tunings.
• Audio: "Alla L'aa ke" played by Alhaji Bai Konte Traditional musical pattern, played to check the kora's tuning
  • Gourd guitar - Gonje or Gouje
  • Earth Guitar - Hole in the ground with a resonating membrane.Mbulum-bumba, single string bow harp from - Called Berimbau