1. "Madhu Kora has my blessings (for the post of chief minister)," Prasad said.

2. By James Copnall BBC correspondent in Abidjan A singing rebel soldier playing the kora, an African harp, in the north of Ivory Coast highlights the deep divisions in what was once West Africa‘s richest country.

3. Americas Asia–Pacific Europe Middle East South Asia From Our Own Correspondent UK England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Business Politics Health Education Science/Nature Technology Entertainment ––––––––––––––––– Have Your Say Magazine In Pictures Week at a Glance Country Profiles In Depth Programmes BBC Sport BBC Weather CBBC News On This Day Newswatch LANGUAGES Arabic Somali French More Last Updated: Monday, 5 December 2005, 10:26 GMT S Africans shun Kora music stars South African jazz veteran Hugh Masekela was among the winners Top African artists played to small crowds at the Kora All African Music Awards in Durban at the weekend.

4. Amadou et Mariam‘s Dimanche ŕBamako, last year‘s world–music success story, has notched up sales of nearly a quarter of a million, and musicians such as kora virtuoso Toumani Diabaté, singer Salif Keita, or the late, lamented bluesman, Ali Farka Touré have become huge stars.

5. She sings and plays the kamelen n‘goni, the "huntsman‘s harp" ­ a sort of kora ­ accompanied by a brilliant drummer÷ music that is tremendously simple in its combination of repetitive arpeggiated figures and repetitive drum–beats, and fiendishly complicated in its syncopated rhythms.