Gambian culture: Greetings

Hi all,

For those of you that have never been, the Gambia is a beautiful place with wonderful people. It is not only interesting but also essential to understand the culture. Over the next couple of weeks I'll post a few tit bits of info on what you may think about when you visit to make sure that you are respectful and gain the most from your time there.

Greetings:

Always avoid immediately getting down to the subject matter and spend at least 15 seconds (30 seconds for people in authority) saying hello and how is the family? Anything less is perceived as disrespectful or that you are looking down on them. If you do not follow the above advice your life will be made very difficult. Remember that handshaking with your right-hand is a compulsory form of greeting except where you are visiting somebody who has recently been bereaved in which case it is the cultural norm that you do not shake hands with them. However, when you are travelling out of the country or going up-river for more than a day it is customary to shake hands using your left-hand. If someone is busy working or with their hands & are tied -up they may offer you their arm instead and you would hold it as if it were their hand. Though it sound obvious, never greet anyone who is praying as they will not answer back.

So there you go. I'll post some more useful advice for traveling next week.

All the best.

What is a kora made from?

Hi there,

If you have ever wondered what a kora is actually made from then read on...

The biggest part of the kora is the calabash soundbox. A calabash is a fruit and can vary in size from a plum to a large watermelon. For the kora, the calabash is cut in half, the insides are cut out and the shell is dried. There’s a hole cut into the calabash which lets the sound out.

The skin is made from a cow-hide, dried and stretched over the edges of the calabash shell and then nailed in place. The nails are also used for decorations.

The strings are held in place by a wooden bridge. The strings themselves are now generally made of nylon, often fishing twine. he strings on the kora are laid out so that a continuous scale is produced by alternating from strings on one side of the bridge to the other, which allows for rapid ascending and descending passages within the music. It is one of the only instruments in the world to have two parallel sets of strings either side of the bridge.

The long neck of the kora is made out of a hard wood, often mahogany. Up the neck are the tuning cords, made of leather, which hold the strings in place at one end. These leather cords are used to tune each string. Moving the cords up the neck tightens the string and makes the pitch of the string higher.

Kind of makes me wonder what a kalabash might taste like...that's one huge fruit!

If you are considering buying a kora - why not have a look at the Kora King's hand crafted koras

Until next time, cheers!!

World music festivals this summer

Hi there,

I was having a look at what's available this year in terms of big live world music events to check out and thought that you might find this interesting/useful.

http://www.africaoye.com/
Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th June 2010
Sefton Park, Liverpool
12:30pm-9:30pm on both days
Admission: Free

http://www.bradfordmela.org.uk/
Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th June 2010, when Bradford Mela returns to Peel Park

http://www.edinburgh-mela.co.uk/

http://www.leedsmela.org/
August 6th Rhay park

Bath music festival
http://www.bathmusicfest.org.uk/
26 May–06 Jun 2010

Rhythms of the world – festival of world music

http://www.rotw.org.uk/page/open/title/about

http://knockengorroch.org.uk/
KNOCKENGORROCH WORLD CEILIDH 27TH - 30TH MAY 2010
KNOCKENGORROCH FARM
CASTLE DOUGLAS, CARSPHAIRN
SCOTLAND DG7 3TJ
General Enquiries:info@knockengorroch.org.uk

Wychwood Music Festival '10
last updated : Thu 22nd Apr 10
Date: Friday 4th - Sunday 6th June 10
Location: Cheltenham Racecourse, Prestbury Park, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

http://www.salisburyfestival.co.uk/event-list.aspx
Salisbury Festival
87 Crane St
Salisbury
Wiltshire
UK SP1 2PU (multimap link)

So, a few interesting ones there I think. If anyone has any other great festivals they know about then please do chip in and let us know about them.

Cheers!