kora 2

I found some proper photos of a kora from a different gig I did. This was the Blue Mountains Music Festival in 2008. I took these photos with a Canon 400d with 50mm 1.8 lens.

Here's a close up shot. See the nice detail on the back of the gourd and the many strings.


A shot of the guy performing. Sorry I really can't remember his name, but he comes from Mali in west Africa. Don't you love the silver curtain?


And here he is pre-performance, tuning up. Those viney looking rings on the pole looking thing get pushed up and down to tune the strings. Very difficult process.

And here you can see his thumb work. That's how they play, plucking with both extremly strong thumbnails. They are probably reinforced, like flamenco guitarists nails.