File talk:Diffa Niger Griot DSC 0177.jpg
Instrument identification
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This instrument has been labeled komsa, gurmi, ngoni and xalam. Of these names, the latter two are specifically trough or boat-shaped instruments carved of wood, with a fan-shaped bridge that goes through the soundtable and attaches to the end of the handle, through a hole. The xalam and ngoni look like this: File:GriotsSambala.jpg. At this time I am am unable to locate a picture of a komsa (also called kwamsa and khamsa) which is described as an instrument of the Hausa people of Nigeria, a semi-spike lute with a gourd body and two strings.[1] Semi-spike lutes have handles that run under the soundboard but don't go through the soundbox's side wall; instead the end of the handle is accessed through a hole in the soundboard, with strings attached to the end of the handle and emerging from the soundboard to pass over a bridge.
The instrument in the photo is a full-spike lute , in which the handle pokes out through both sidewalls of the calabash (or possibly gourd).[1][2] It has a cylindrical bridge sitting on top of the soundboard. Based on this, I am relabeling this a gurmi. The gurmi is the instrument of the Hausa people. Were this the instrument of the Kilba people, it would be called a gullum.[1]Jacqke (talk) 11:46, 6 September 2024 (UTC)
- ↑ a b c "3 List of West African Plucked Spike Lutes" in Robert B. Winnans , ed. Banjo Roots and Branches, pp. 46−49 "[note: see also the picture of the gullum, in figure 6 in pages following page 220.]"
- ↑ Gourlay, K. A. (1984) Sadie Stanley , ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, 2, MacMillan Press, p. 111
