Toumani Diabate plays the Kora

Gotta love it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8luhdxS2KuM

-Carl

Carlos,

Having spent 20 months of my life in Morocco, Algeria,
Mauritania, Senegal, Mali and Niger, I would like to
thank you for reconnecting me to the fine Kora music
of Toumani Diabate and others via the youtube link
below.

All I can say is that it took me back, and I will
always love it.

I also have a fondness for the High Life music from
further south.

Mark Rankin
--- Carl Lumma <carl@lumma.org> wrote:

> Gotta love it
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8luhdxS2KuM
>
> -Carl
>
>

____________________________________________________________________________________
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I have a kora from Burkina Faso.

Although it has a wonderful sound, I have been having great difficulty getting it to stay in tune.

It has a system of knotted strings tied onto the stick which slip, despite trying honeycomb, rosin,

and various other methods to secure the tuning.

Any advice would be welcomed.

On 25 Feb 2008, at 04:35, Carl Lumma wrote:

> Gotta love it
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8luhdxS2KuM
>
> -Carl
>
>
>
Charles Lucy
lucy@lucytune.com

- Promoting global harmony through LucyTuning -

for information on LucyTuning go to:
http://www.lucytune.com

For LucyTuned Lullabies go to:
http://www.lullabies.co.uk

Carl Lumma wrote on 24 Feb '08:

> Gotta love it
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8luhdxS2KuM
>
> -Carl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lep1tjEIkJc

This is Diabat� performing with British bassist Danny Thompson.

I know too little about West African music. But I recognized the scale the kora is tuned to - Maqam al-Bayati, or D natural minor with the second a quarter tone flat.

In the video to which you linked, it sounds like he's tuned to some sort of JI minor.

~D.

Charles,

I have a Moroccan sintir/hajhouj that came with the same tuning
system. It gave me fits so I attached the strings to the neck and
added viola friction pegs to the tailpiece area. Works fine. Don't
know if that's an option for a kora or not.

I saw Prince Diabate in Santa Fe, NM a couple of years ago and his
kora had mechanical guitar-type tuners.

A photo of one here:

http://www.zubop.com/page.cfm

Here's a kora with friction pegs:

africanmusic.org/images/kora1.jpg

and another:

www.accessgambia.com/.../large/mandinka-1.jpg
--
Roger Landes
rwlandes@taosnet.com
Website: http://rogerlandes.com
Bouzouki duo CD: http://janissarystomp.com
ZoukFest World Music Camp, June 8-14th, 2008: http://zoukfest.com

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Charles Lucy <lucy@...> wrote:
>
> I have a kora from Burkina Faso.
>
> Although it has a wonderful sound, I have been having great difficulty
> getting it to stay in tune.
>
> It has a system of knotted strings tied onto the stick which slip,
> despite trying honeycomb, rosin,
>
> and various other methods to secure the tuning.
>
> Any advice would be welcomed.
>
> Charles Lucy
> lucy@...