Kora is a New Zealand five-piece music group, which consists of four brothers from the Kora family. The band, which originally began in Whakatane

Whakatane

Whakatane is a town in the eastern Bay of Plenty Region, in the North Island of New Zealand, and is the seat of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council. Whakatane is 90 km east of Tauranga and 89 km north-east of Rotorua, at the mouth of the Whakatane River.The town has a population of , with...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 fuses elements of reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

, rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

, dub

Dub music

Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...

, roots

Roots reggae

Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of the artists concerned, including the spiritual side of Rastafari and with the honoring of God, called Jah by rastafarians. It also is identified with the life of the ghetto sufferer, and the rural poor...

, funk, and more recently space funk and dub step elements.

Early years: 1991–2002

Kora brothers Laughton, Francis, Stuart and Brad began playing together in the early 1990s in a band called ’Aunty Beatrice’, which won the 1991 Rockquest competition and the Battle Of The Bands three years in a row, earning a release on Tangata Records. Dan McGruer, the only non-related member of Kora, studied commercial music at Whitireia Community Polytechnic

Whitireia Community Polytechnic

Whitireia Community Polytechnic is a crown owned tertiary education institute in New Zealand.-History:Whitireia was founded in 1986 in Porirua and was originally named Parumoana Community College...

 and joined up with Laughton when they performed together in Queenstown

Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown is a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island. It is built around an inlet called Queenstown Bay on Lake Wakatipu, a long thin Z-shaped lake formed by glacial processes, and has spectacular views of nearby mountains....

 band Soul Charge.

In early 2002, core members Laughton and Francis recorded a four-song demo while on holiday in Queenstown, sharing song writing duties with McGruer who joined them on bass guitar and keyboards. Later that year the demo caught the attention of Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

-based record label Recordings Aot(ear)oa who, in December, released the song "Barely Can See" on their LOOP Select 004 compilation album. In 2002, Kora was formed.

First recordings: 2004–2007

Kora’s debut EP entitled Volume was released in late 2004 and achieved platinum status in March 2007 with over 10,000 copies sold. Featuring the singles "Politician" and "Burning", the EP was independently produced and released by the band, recorded at The Surgey by Lee Prebble

Lee Prebble

Lee Prebble is a producer and engineer at Wellington, New Zealand recording studio The Surgery. He has produced and co-produced platinum selling records for Trinity Roots and The Black Seeds as well as albums by The Phoenix Foundation, Spartacus R, Cornerstone Roots, Fly My Pretties and The...

 and mastered by Chris Faiumu of Fat Freddy's Drop

Fat Freddy's Drop

Fat Freddy’s Drop is a seven-piece band from Wellington, New Zealand, whose musical style has been characterised as any combination of dub, reggae, soul, jazz, rhythm and blues, and techno. Originally a jam band formed in the late 1990s by musicians from other bands in Wellington, Fat Freddy’s Drop...

.
Kora’s self-titled debut album was released in October 2007. It was recorded in New Zealand and mastered in London by Kevin Metcalfe at The Soundmasters International. It has sold in excess of 35,000 copies todate.

New album: 2011

In March 2011, Kora released a music video for a new song titled 'Story Ain't Over' on Youtube, and included a new heading on their official website stating "New album out 2011".

Members

• Laughton Kora (guitar/vocals)
• Francis Kora (bass guitar/vocals)
• Stuart Kora (guitar/vocals)
• Brad Kora (drums/vocals)
• Dan McGruer (bass guitar/keys/effects)