 Ostinato riffs ("Kumbengo") and improvised solo runs ("Birimintingo") are played at the same time by skilled players.Kora players have traditionally come from jali families (also from the Mandinka tribes) who are traditional historians, genealogists and storytellers who pass their skills on to their descendants.The instrument though played in Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso was first discovered in the Gambia.