KYLE KELLAMS: This week we have a few chances to hear the West Africa kora performed live — and we don’t really have that many chances. Sean Gaskell's tour brings him to four libraries in our general region, beginning with a 4 o’clock concert tomorrow at the Coffeyville, Kansas, Public Library, then Friday afternoon at the Webb City, Missouri, library, Saturday afternoon at 2 at Springdale’s public library. And he's the next performer in the Fayetteville Public Library's Mountain Street Stage series, Sunday afternoon, at 2 p.m..
Gaskell says chances to hear the kora live are rare because it's not an instrument many people in the United States play.
SEAN GASKELL: I can probably count like 12 to 15 that I am familiar with, who have either gone over to West Africa to study or have even immigrated over here from West Africa and now live in the States. So it's just not a very common instrument. For me, it was really a chance encounter. I first heard it in a live performance in Olympia, Washington, which is my hometown, about 40 minutes south of here in Tacoma. It was another student of the instrument playing that night. His name was Kane Mathis. I had no idea what I was going to listen to — I had seen a picture of a kora before, but I had no idea what it sounded like, and I was just absolutely floored.
That was, I'm doing my math right, spring of 2006 — 20 years ago. At that moment, I told myself I really wanted to learn how to play. I started going to Kane for lessons pretty shortly after — he was living in Seattle, and he put me in touch with teachers in Gambia, West Africa. I've been there three times now, most recently to Senegal three years ago, and I'm hoping to go back here at the end of this year.
KELLAMS: So the kora — I've watched some videos of you perform. So, it sits on your lap, the strings are facing you, and it's 21 strings. What is it? And you're playing with both hands, correct?
GASKELL: Yeah. Two hands, but only two fingers from each hand. You're only using your thumb and your first finger on both hands.
KELLAMS: It produces a beautiful, melodic sound, and it is a 21-string. I've seen it described as a 21-string harp, and it sounds harp-esque.
GASKELL: Very much. I feel that way, for sure.
KELLAMS: What songs do you learn when you're sitting down with these virtuosos?
GASKELL: Most of my teachers taught the really well-known songs of the traditional repertoire of the Mandinka people. The Mandinka are one of six indigenous groups living in Gambia — some live in Senegal as well. A lot of these traditional songs date back anywhere between 60 and 800 years — close to 800 years — and they all help support the fabric of Mandinka society, which really started all the way back in the 1200s.
A lot of these songs are about battles — people who fought in these battles, army generals, political leaders during this whole reign, this whole growth of the empire from the 1200s to the 1800s. The music itself is really used as a way to carry forth the history. The people who are playing the music are called griots, spelled g-r-i-o-t-s. They're performing musicians — a lot of them are — but they're also hereditary historians. Historically, you had to be born into one of these griot families in order to play the kora, or the siblings of the kora, like the balafon, which is a wooden xylophone, or the ngoni, which is a lute. If you weren't born into one of these five families, before 1970, 1980, you were going to have a really hard time being able to play the instrument. You'd be receiving all sorts of resistance from your extended families, with whom most people live, with between 20 and 35 of their extended family members. But nowadays that's really changed — you're having a lot of people from outside of these historical families playing the instruments.
KELLAMS: These songs are not in English?
GASKELL: Correct. Yeah — unless you want it to be. People there nowadays are writing songs the same way that people here do, for the same reasons — singer-songwriter style.
KELLAMS: But I'm just thinking, it seems like it's an extra level of challenge for a musician. It's an instrument not many people play here. You need to go to another continent to get really good instruction. And now it's in a language that is not native to where you grew up.
GASKELL: Right, right. Yeah, it's a lot to keep track of, for sure. Some people sing in Mandinka, or — in Senegal, Wolof is the primary language spoken. But nowadays some people are singing in French there, because the French colonized Senegal up until the mid-1960s. Whereas in Gambia, I would hear some people singing in English — most people there speak English. So it's really a mixed bag, but challenging, indeed. The notational progression of the kora, for me, has made it the most challenging instrument to learn of all the ones that I've played up to this point in my life.
KELLAMS: What I love about your tours, including this one — you're playing places like Valley Center, Kansas, and Coffeyville, Kansas. You've been to Great Falls and towns I hadn't heard of before. Do you like going to these towns that might have a few thousand people in them?
GASKELL: I love it. I mean, how else are you going to hear something like this? I think that goes for just about anywhere, but especially some of those places you mentioned — to be able to connect with people who are seeing and hearing the kora for the very first time, it's what keeps me going. It's really a bright light for me, and there's a sense of purpose for me there. I think it's just something positive to interject into the world, to give to the world. For that, I feel extremely fortunate for.
KELLAMS: I love that you were first introduced to this instrument when you were in Olympia and you walked in having no idea what was about to happen. There are going to be people in Webb City, Missouri, and Coffeyville, Kansas, and Fayetteville and Springdale — same thing. Now, they may not end up taking up the kora and traveling to Africa to learn to play it, but who knows what it opens up. I love the idea of complete or nearly complete surprise.
GASKELL: Absolutely. Yeah. That's what I really embody every time I walk in — I'm just internalizing what this could mean to whoever decides to show up. Maybe it inspires them to learn a new musical instrument, maybe not the kora. Maybe it inspires them to go home and learn more about West Africa and societies throughout the West African continent, or anywhere else. I feel like there's so much out there in the world that is kind of on the exterior of our day-to-day experience, and any time we step outside of that to see what some of that is.
KELLAMS: And finally, I mentioned that you play in a lot of libraries, but I've also noticed I think you play airports.
GASKELL: Yeah. Specifically Seattle. They've got a musicians' roster. I got onto that pretty shortly after I moved back to this region in 2023. I get to go in there once or twice a month, usually when I'm not on the road, and it helps keep things fresh. It's really a cool gig.
KELLAMS: So if someone here is flying into SeaTac, there's a chance we'll hear you?
GASKELL: Yeah, there's a decent chance. There are three spots throughout the airport where they have us posted. So yeah, there's a very good chance you might see me if you fly into Seattle.
KELLAMS: Well, the great news is we don't have to fly into SeaTac anytime too soon, because you're going to be in our part of the world — both at the Fayetteville and Springdale libraries, also in Webb City, Missouri, and Coffeyville, Kansas. Sean, thanks so much for taking a few minutes to talk with me.
GASKELL: Thanks for having me, Kyle.
KELLAMS: Sean Gaskell will be at the Springdale Public Library on Saturday at 2 p.m. and at the Fayetteville Public Library on Sunday at 2 p.m. Sunday. In the northernmost part of the broadcast area, he's at the Coffeyville, Kansas, Public Library at 4 p.m. Wednesday and at the Webb City, Missouri, Public Library at 1 p.m. Friday.
Throughout the conversation, performances of Gaskell from public libraries in Panama City, Florida; Great Falls, Montana; Rancho Mirage, California; and Wheeling, West Virginia, were shared. More about Sean Gaskell and the kora can be found at seangaskell.com.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
