Instruments Total: 2236
 

Kori

  • Type Harp Lute
  • Origin Ivory Coast
  • Ethnicity Senufo
  • Materials Leather, Metal, Wood
  • Measures 181×36 cm
  • Dating 1940-1950

Musical accompaniment is an important component of funerary ceremonies and secular festivals of the senufo. The metal pieces placed at the end of the long arched neck, create a percussion accompaniment when musicians play this instrument. The anthropomorphic vertical bridge frequently takes the figurative shape of a woman. This decorative bridge being seen as a strictly decorative element. It may possibly represent the ideal of feminine beauty. Its shape may also represent a spirit of the sheet in the tree and refers to the powers of divination. Its possession suggests a metaphor in the divination process –the musician diviner acts as an intermediary between humans and the powers of nature–.


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