Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
koralatest news & developments
Strumming: Pops Mohamed playing the kora. The globally renowned South African musician died on 4 December 2025, just days before his 76th birthday. Photo: Siphiwe Mhlambi
AFRICAN MUSIC

Remembering Pops Mohamed

Tributes pour in for the multi-instrumentalist who blended African traditions with modern sounds

  • Rolland Simpi Motaung
7 min read
CLIMATE ACTIVISM

Encounters with Palestine and the environment

These subjects take centre stage at a festival showcasing nearly 50 documentaries

  • Charles Leonard
9 min read
British-Gambian musician, singer, and griot Sona Jobarteh plays kora (a 21-string, West African Mandingo harp-lute) during a World Music Institute concert at Symphony Space, New York, New York, June 23, 2019. Jobarteh is the first female from a griot/jali family to perform publicly on the kora. (Photo by Jack Vartoogian/Getty Images)
FEMUA

Player adds a string to women’s bows

For Sona Jobarteh, Africa’s first woman to play the sacred kora professionally, breaking with tradition has not been easy

  • Marietou Ba
2 min read
Balleke Sissoko And Derek Gripper Soas Concert Series 48 By Mike Skelton
BALLAKE SISSOKO

Strings definitely attached as kora meets guitar on new album

Kora player Ballaké Sissoko of Mali and South African guitarist Derek Gripper

  • Francis Gooding
2 min read