Kora is a 21-stringed harp unique to the Mandinka, played by Griots who are oral historians as well as musicians. This group of Mandinka preserve and propagate genealogical and historical information through song and story, and are a source of immense pride and identity to the Mandinka people.
Alhaji Bai Konte was one of the original solo griot masters of the kora who hailed from Brikama, Gambia. He helped to draw greater awareness to the music of West Africa before his death in 1986. In 1973 he became the first kora player to tour the United States, exciting crowds at the Newport Jazz Festival with his flamboyant instrumental technique.
His playing was based in the Casamance kora style (also popular in Senegal), whose elements include rousing improvisations packed with frenzied strumming, polyrhythms and an intense, more percussive technique of playing than those popularised elsewhere. Konte's powerful vocals accompany the plucks of his lute, which can be extremely fast or offer quiet accompaniment.
Two things besides Alhaji Konte's own playing that contributed to his unique melodies are the inclusion in many of the performances of a rhythmic tapping (konkon) on the back of the kora by a second person, and the assistance of Konte's sons and apprentices in providing a chorus of voices either singing with him or in response to his solo phrases.
Alhaji Konte used instruments tuned at 3 different pitch levels (G, A, and B flat), all of which are on the high side of what might be called a de facto "standing pitch area" for the kora, which is somewhere between E flat and G. The higher pitch gives a very brilliant sound to the instrument and has become more common today.
Негізгі бет Музыка 🇬🇲 Alhaji Bai Konte - Alla L'Aa Ke (1973) 🇬🇲
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