Kora Course

The kora is a pleasant-sounding, versatile, and fascinating string instrument from West Africa, originating from the regions of present-day Gambia, Southern Senegal, and Guinea-Bissau. Kora playing is a rapidly growing hobby in Western countries. Sommelo is organizing a kora course for the third time.

Teaching takes place in small groups using traditional methods, without the use of sheet music. There are no level requirements for the course – you can join without prior experience, but there’s also plenty of challenge for those who have been playing for many years. The most important thing is to learn to play beautiful music together! The languages of instruction are Finnish and English.
One of the instructors will be Gergely Várkonyi, who has been practicing kora playing for over a decade. His teachers have been Adam and Josh Doughty (UK), Soundjoulou Cissoko (Guinea), as well as Pa Bobo Jobarteh, Dembo Jobarteh and Karamo Kuyateh (The Gambia). Gergely has worked as a kora instructor as part of The Kora Workshop team in France and at the WOMAD festival in England. He organized Sommelo’s kora courses in 2022 and 2024 and performed alongside Cheick Cissokho and Josh Doughty.