List of other websites which may be interesting.
Websites
This page provides links to other interesting and useful websites for lovers of the kora.
- Kora-music.com German language (but with partial translations into English, French & Spanish), this website from Harold Loquenz has a great deal of information for kora players. In particular, it is the homepage of the Jaliya software, which offers more than 100 fully notated transcriptions of famous kora pieces, a valuable resource for those learning to play.
- Koralessons.com
Italian Kora player, Andrea Candeloro, has produced more than 100 YouTube video lessons, starting from the beginning with tuning and going up to advanced improvisation. He guides the beginner through many songs, with nice slow playing and excellent explanations. Some of the videos are subtitled, others have Andrea speaking English. Highly recommended for anyone learning to play.
- Chants Histoire Mande Interesting French website (but with an English translation available) which provides a detailed discography, biographies of musicians and a lot of background behind pieces in the Jali repertoire.
http://chantshistoiremande.free.fr/
- Mandebala Devoted not to the kora, but the bala, it’s nonetheless a very useful and interesting resource, put together by ethnomusicologist Todd Martin as part of his PhD.
- Derek Gripper Derek is an astonishingly good South African classical guitarist, who has specialised in playing kora pieces on guitar, particularly those of Toumani Diabate.
- Dennis Havlena Dennis Havlena is an American who makes (and modifies) a wide range of musical instruments. His website provides many plans and instructions for home manufacture of koras and ngonis, including details of how to source a resonator from IKEA, if a suitable calabash cannot be obtained!
- Jaliya Camp Sousou and Maher Cissoko’s camp/creative retreat in West Africa.
- Living Legacies A project to produce an archive of traditional Gambian music, which obviously includes many kora players.
http://www.tundejegede.org/Living_Legacies/Home.html
Something wrong or missing on this page? Got a suggestion for another website to add here? Please use the contact form above!