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Kora

before 1878

Not on view

The kora, an instrument that combines features of the harp and lute, is constructed from a hide-covered calabash gourd resonator and a long hardwood neck. Historically its twenty-one strings were made from thin strips of finely twisted antelope hide. Since the early 1950s, nylon fishing line has been used instead because it resists changes in weather, does not easily break, and yields a good sound. Professional jeliw, or griots, accompany spoken epic narratives, genealogical recitations, and praise songs with the kora, which they hold upright and play either standing or seated.

Kora, Calabash, hide, wood, copper, vegetable fiber — Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: Kora

Date: before 1878

Geography: Senegal

Medium: Calabash, hide, wood, copper, vegetable fiber

Dimensions: L. 48 7/16 × W. 9 7/16 × D. 16 1/8 in., 99.038 oz. (123 × 24 × 41 cm, 2.8 kg)

Classification: Wood-Musical Instruments

Credit Line: Musée du Quai Branly–Jacques Chirac, Paris (71.1878.56.8)

Accession Number: SL.3.2020.27.15a–c

The Met

The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at The Met

The Met's collection of art of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North, Central, and South America comprises more than eleven thousand works of art of varied materials and types, representing diverse cultural traditions from as early as 3000 B.C.E. to the present.