KAOUDING CISSOKO

Kaouding Cissokho, musician, born November 2 1964; died July 18 2003 The kora is the most popular instrument of the griots - the musical caste of west Africa's Wolof and Fula peoples. A cross between a harp and a lute, with 21 to 25 strings, its striking appearance - a gourd-shaped base, which players rest in their groin, and a long, thin, bridged neck - and its beautiful ringing sound have made it west Africa's most revered instrument. Kaouding Cissokho, who has died of tuberculosis aged 38, was internationally acclaimed as one of its masters. Kaouding was born in Tamba Counda, eastern Senegal, the son of the famous oral historian and kora player Banna Cissokho. Being born into a griot family would normally have meant he was studying kora at the feet of his father. Yet his parents sent him to a vocational school to be a carpenter. But Kaouding's desire to play read more...