The Royal Art of the Kora

Ballaké Sissoko invites more than a dozen musicians to take part in this sumptuous performance featuring the kora, the royal harp of the Mandinka empire.

The kora is an African stringed instrument, a Mandinka harp-lute found in Senegal, Mali, Gambia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

According to legend, the first kora belonged to a female spirit who lived in the caves of Kansala in Gambia. Impressed and moved by the music of this instrument, a great warrior, Tiramakhan Traore, decided to steal it from the spirit. Aided and abetted by his hunting companions, Waly Kelendjan and Djelimaly Oulé Diabaté, Traore snatched the instrument which fell to Djelimaly, the griot of the group. Djelimaly passed it on to his son Kamba. And so it was passed from father to son up until Tilimaghan Diabaté introduced it to Mali.