Musical Performance Featuring Kora Player Sean Gaskell

Pacific Branch welcomes back musician Sean Gaskell!

Sean Gaskell will give a performance and educational demonstration on the kora, an ancient 21-stringed harp from West Africa, featuring traditional songs that are the heart and soul of the kora's repertoire.

As a student of the instrument, he studied under the instruction of Moriba Kuyateh and the late Malamini Jobarteh at their home in Brikama, Gambia, over multiple extensive visits. The kora is traditionally played by oral historians known as Griots, of whom Gaskell's teachers represent. Many songs featured on the kora preserve an 800 year history dating back to the founding of the Mande empire. Gaskell has presented adult, youth, and family programs at over 350 libraries and a multitude of schools, colleges, universities and assisted living facilities throughout the United States and Canada. In 2023, he was awarded an Artist Support Grant through the North Carolina arts council, which provided funding to support his further learning of the kora in Mali, West Africa in the fall of 2023.