A string-wind instrument found only in southern Africa. The name gora is a simplification of the original Korana word !gora, in which the initial consonant is a voiced palatal ‘click’. Other spellings by various authors include gorah, gorra, goura, gowra, kora, t’goerra, t’gorrah and gom-gom. The gora was formerly played mainly by the Khoikhoi (or Hottentots), although Khoisan (Bushmen) and, later, Bantu peoples also adopted it (see Khoikhoi music). The instrument resembles a simple mouth-resonated musical bow, but is sounded by blowing on a piece of quill attached to the string (see illustration). This gives it a distinctive tone quality, somewhat like that from a free reed, as in the harmonica or the concertina.
The gora was noted first by Dapper in 1668 and thereafter by many other observers; descriptions by Lichtenstein and Burchell are particularly notable. Balfour wrote the first serious historical study, and Kirby (1931) later presented a comprehensive survey. Basing his argument on L.F. Maingard’s hypothesis that the Khoikhoi had acquired the hunting bow from the Bushmen early in the 17th century, Kirby (1934) postulated that the gora (and also two simple types of musical bow used by the Khoikhoi) originated shortly after this as an adaptation of the hunting bow. Balfour (pp.170ff), seeking explanations for the sounding mechanism of the gora, noted an analogous means of sound production in the bullroarer, which is widely used in southern Africa as a toy. He also cited the existence in north India of miniature aeolian bows strung with a flattened quill and attached to kites. Hornbostel (p.296) mentioned forms of lamina, sounded by blowing, among the Shambala in East Africa. Although no connection with the gora had yet been traced, he urged that items such as the gora should not be ascribed to caprice or accident, in the hope that they might ‘any day be withdrawn from their “splendid isolation” by means of some unexpected discovery, and will then supply the most important evidence for Culture-history’.
Apparently the gora is no longer played among remaining Khoikhoi-speaking groups, who are mainly found in Namibia (South-west Africa), Botswana and southern Angola. It still survives, however, in almost identical form but under different names among several Bantu-speaking peoples who apparently adopted it in the 19th century. It is always played by boys or young men and is strongly associated with cattle herding. The Sotho of Lesotho use it the most extensively and call it the lesiba (see Lesotho, figs.1–2). The use of the instrument has mostly died out elsewhere, but earlier names given to it among other neighbouring peoples were ugwala or unkwindi (Zulu), ugwali or igwali (Xhosa), makwindi (Swazi), kwadi (Tswana) and ugwala (Venda).
The instrument consists of a slightly curved solid stick or hollow river reed, about 95 to 100 cm long and 1·5 cm in average diameter. The string is made from sinew. One end of the string is secured to a strip of quill from a bird’s feather, such as a vulture’s or a bustard’s. The quill is split and flattened, and the broad end trimmed into a leaf shape (fig.1b). The string passes through a tiny hole pierced in the quill and is fastened by splicing or knotting. The quill is secured to the shaft by a narrow strip of hide, which also serves as a nut or bridge, raising the quill and string clear of the shaft; but in later specimens and in the Sotho lesiba, attachment is by means of a split peg. The other end of the string is bound to the shaft near its extremity in such a way that it may be tuned by tightening or slackening before performance. The use of a tuning-peg, presumably copied from the violin or the ramkie, was occasionally noted by observers around Cape Town from 1796.
In
playing the gora or the lesiba, the quill is placed between
slightly parted, though widely stretched, lips. The fingers keep the stave from
touching the face, leaving the quill and string free to vibrate. Both
inhalation and exhalation are used in agitating the quill, and considerable
breath force is necessary. Mouth resonance is employed for the selective
amplification of one or other of the upper partials of the harmonic series, as
on the mouth bow and jew’s harp. The use of harmonic partials 4 to 14 has been
noted, although 11 and 13 are seldom heard; the range of partials from 5 to 9
is perhaps the most common, and the tuning of the almost inaudible fundamental,
shown as C in ex.1, may vary from F to B
' among different Sotho players. In such
cases, the entire series is transposed accordingly. In addition to the
instrumental sound, players often add laryngeal grunts during exhalation;
sometimes these are given definite pitch, to add a touch of polyphony to the
performance, but some players avoid them altogether.
O. Dapper: Naukeurige beschrijvinge der Afrikaensche gewesten (Amsterdam, 1668; Eng. trans., 1670; Ger. trans. 1670/R)
M.H.K. Lichtenstein: Travels in Southern Africa in the Years 1803, 1804, 1805 and 1806 (London, 1812–15/R)
W.J. Burchell: Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa, i (London, 1822/R)
H. Balfour: ‘The Goura, a Stringed–Wind Musical Instrument of the Bushmen and Hottentots’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, xxxii (1902), 156–76
P.R. Kirby: ‘The Gora and its Bantu Successors: a Study in South African Native Music’, Bantu Studies, v (1931), 89–109
E.M. von Hornbostel: ‘The Ethnology of African Sound-Instruments’, Africa, vi (1933), 129–57, 277–311
P.R. Kirby: The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa (London, 1934, 2/1965)
P.R. Kirby: ‘A Further Note on the Gora and its Bantu Successors’, Bantu Studies, ix (1935), 53–61
DAVID K. RYCROFT