Divine strings: Senegalese monks keep kora-making tradition alive

Brother Marie Firmin plays kora inside the kora-making workshop of the Abbey of Keur Moussa in Senegal. Photo: AFP

Monks in blue-grey habits lift their hands in supplication before breaking into a chant accompanied by the singsong twang of the kora, a traditional West African harp.

It is mid-afternoon prayer in the abbey of Keur Moussa, just east of Senegal's capital Dakar, a tranquil 25ha complex filled with fruit trees and herb gardens - and famed for its relationship with the kora.