Plucked Lutes in West Africa - Eric Charry

Plucked Lutes in West Africa: An Historical Overview
Author(s): Eric Charry

Source: The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 49 (Mar., 1996), pp. 3-37
Published by: Galpin Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/842390
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ERIC CHARRY
Plucked Lutes in West Africa:

an Historical Overview
SUTES have been played in West Africa since at least the fourteenth
century when both Al-'Umari and Ibn Battfita noted that they were
used in royal ceremonies in old Mali.1 Before that time little is known
about lutes in West Africa aside from Soninke oral traditions suggesting
their usage in ancient Ghana, which declined in the eleventh century.
Over sixty-five years ago, Henry Farmer called attention to a possible
ancient Egyptian ancestry of West African and North African lutes. He
grouped them together under the names gunbri or gunibri, and claimed
that they are all essentially the same instrument.2
Look where you will from Egypt to Morocco, from the Mediterranean to the
southern confines of the Sfidin, and you will find this instrument in some form
or other, although its name may have slight variation. [Farmer's footnote: The
negro cambreh, or chalam (halam), is identical with the Arabic gunbrl.] It is
essentially an instrument of the people, and is but rarely found in the hands of the
professional musician of the town orchestra ... The ancestry of the gunbrf is
clearly traceable, although its etymological significance may escape us. The
identical type, replete with tuning-rings and tabs (and also with the tuning pegs
which succeeded them), as well as with the neck passing into the sound-chest ...
may be found in the art remains of Ancient Egypt ... (Farmer, 1928, pp.25-6)
Very little supporting documentation was available to Farmer, and

some scholars have since refined, questioned, or quietly repudiated many
of his observations. Yet the legacy of his work continues to cast a shadow
over discussion of lute history in West Africa.3 It is now clear that
plucked lutes in West Africa are distinct from those of North Africa and
ancient Egypt. Within West Africa several kinds of plucked lutes may be
distinguished, including those of the western sahel and savannah which
belong to a long indigenous musical tradition that is guarded by expert
hereditary professional musicians. To this day there is no comprehensive
overview of West African lutes, nor is there a great wealth of
documentation of the specific kinds of lutes that are found in West
Africa. Speculation on the history, distribution, diffusion, and use of lutes
in West Africa, therefore, has had little documentary support. The
present state of our knowledge makes it difficult to assess two very basic,
credible, and diametrically opposed hypotheses concerning the early
history of lutes in West Africa. A path of diffusion from ancient Egypt
westward might be as plausible as one from West Africa eastward.
In support of the contention that the Egyptian lute came to North Africa from
the south rather than directly from the east, Rouanet (p.2930) notes that the
gunbri- (or ginbri-) type instrument is far more common in Morocco than in
Algeria or Tunisia, and that, in fact, the Algerians claim the instrument was
imported from Morocco, that is, the west. The instrument probably moved south
from Egypt to the kingdoms of Kush and Meroe, and then west with the
migrations that followed their collapse ... Though there is no ... record of the
instrument in North Africa before the modern period, the Egyptian lute could
have come north at any time on the trade routes that have existed for centuries,
perhaps millennia, between Morocco and the Western Sudan . . . (Schuyler,
1979, pp.124, 127.)
No evidence suggests the persistence of this [ancient Egyptian] type of trough-

lute on the North African Coast between that time [ancient Egypt] and the
present. Its wide distribution in West Africa indicates that it must once have been
played throughout the area of the Western Sahara, and was possibly introduced
into Ancient Egypt from Africa. After its popularity waned in Egypt and on the
North Coast, the tradition was only retained South of the desert. (Blench, p.170)
Since the resources documenting the many lutes used in West Africa
are widely scattered, the development of a broad overview based on solid
evidence has been slow in coming. This article is intended as an initial
foundation for the study of lutes in West Africa. Diverse kinds of
documentation of diverse kinds of West African plucked lutes are drawn
together in support of a map of the morphological, geographic, and
ethnic distribution of plucked lutes in West Africa. Particular attention is
paid to a kind of lute unique to West Africa that is played exclusively by
hereditary professional musicians of the western sahel and savannah.
Certain etymological relationships among these lutes are explored.
Sketches and photographs are presented (see Figs. 1 and 3) to illustrate
morphological features, and to facilitate comparison with ancient
Egyptian lutes. Finally, the question of the origins of plucked lutes in
West Africa is broached, and a new perspective is offered.
DISTINCTIVE FEATURES
There are three major features which may be used to distin

lutes in West Africa from each other: who plays them, the k
and the kind of resonator.4 The first two features, one s
other morphological, are linked to each other in a remarka
way. They delineate two broad categories of West African
One category of lute has a V- or fan-shaped bridge that
end of the neck (which is exposed by a hole in the sound
played exclusively by hereditary professional musical/ve
called griots by non-Africans. I refer to it as the griot lut
made of hollowed-out wood in the shape of a trough or c
lutes are localized in the western sahel and northern savannah region
(Mauritania, Senegal, and Mali), and are played primarily by Moslem
peoples who for the most part were empire builders. It is probably no
coincidence that these peoples - Maninka/Mandinka, Bambara,
Xasonke, Wolof, Soninke, Fulbe, and Moor - all come from a large geo-
graphical region that was under the influence of ancient Ghana (? - A.D.
11th century), the earliest known empire in West Africa. The fan-shaped
bridge on griot lutes appears to be a feature unique to West Africa.
The other category of lute based on the two linked features noted
above has a cylindrical bridge that sits on top of the soundtable. It does
not appear to have any hereditary restrictions on who may play it, and it
may have a wide variety of social usages, one of the more common being
music for hunters. The body may be a wooden trough, a half calabash, or
some kind of metallic container like a sardine tin. Its distribution
conforms remarkably with a trail of Fulbe migrations from their ancien
homeland in Tekrur (northern Senegal) eastward to Cameroun. Where
appropriate I will refer to this lute as a non-griot lute.6
The third feature that distinguishes West African lutes from each other
the kind of resonator, cuts through the other two features. While grio
lutes are only made of wooden-trough resonators, non-griot lutes may
use any of the three kinds of resonator: a wooden trough, half calabash
or some variety of metallic container. Further research is needed to see i
there are social distinctions among the non-griot lutes which may be
signalled by the kind of resonator. In general, calabash-resonator lute
have only one or two strings; wooden trough-resonator lutes have more
Fig.1 shows the various relevant morphological features of West Africa
plucked lutes.
On West African plucked lutes the neck, a round fretless stick
traverses most, but not all, of the length of the resonator body. The en
of the neck is exposed by a soundhole in the skin soundtable, which is
stretched across the resonator.7 The strings are attached to the end of the
exposed neck, and pass over a bridge. West African plucked lutes have
the characteristically sub-Saharan African hide tuning knots, though the
are woven differently than those used on West African harps. Most lute
have a removable buzzing or jingling device made of a flexible metal
plaque with small metal rings attached to it, which is inserted into a sli
in the far end of the neck. This kind of device is consistent with a
widespread African practice rooted in an aesthetic that values a buzzing
or jingling sound which frames the particular sound of the instrument.
Maghrebian (North African) plucked lutes, excepting the Gnawa gimbri
(see below), are necked lutes wherein the neck is attached to the
resonator, and they have tuning pegs rather than knots.
Due to their peculiar neck and resonator construction, West African
plucked lutes do not fit neatly into either of Hornbostel and Sach's
(pp.22-3) two categories of handle lutes:
a.
b. C.
FIG. I. Morpho
(a) Bambara ngo
(after Frobe
(b) Hausa molo: n
(from Krieg
(c) Kwamsafrom
resonator, cyli
321.3. Handle lutes. The string bearer is a plain handle.
321.31. Spike lutes. The handle passes diametrically through the resonator.
321.32. Necked lutes. The handle is attached to or carved from the
resonator, like a neck.
Two other descriptions have been used to describe lutes in which

neck ends within the resonator, as it does in the West African va
'tanged' and 'internal spike'. The word 'tanged', used by Balfour
Hornbostel (1933, pp.292, 300, 311), was eventually added as a
category of handle lute (Wachsmann 1984, p.551; Brown, p.365):
331.33. Tanged lutes. The handle ends within the body resonat
Although this description captures the position of the handle in r
to the resonator, the illustrations used by Wachsmann (1984, p.5
consisting of bowed lutes from Sulawesi in Indonesia - and his use
term 'tanged' in relation to African harps (1964) do not really capt
special neck and resonator construction that marks West African
lutes. The necks of the instruments described by Wachsmann as '
end very close to their point of entry into the resonator. The ne
West African plucked lutes, on the other hand, traverse the res
almost all the way through. The description 'internal spike' (binnen
has been used to refer to the similar neck construction of ancient
Egyptian and West African lutes by Sachs (1921, p.55), and later used for
West African lutes by Krieger (pp.406-9), Wegner (pp.135 if) and Kubik
(pp.86, 166).
A problem with the descriptions 'tanged' and 'internal spike' is that
West African lute necks do not pierce the resonator body, as they do in
Wachsmann's illustrations noted above. Rather, the necks sit in a slight
indentation and are threaded into the skin soundtable. The term spike
implies piercing rather than crossing over the resonator. Nevertheless, the
neck and resonator construction of West African plucked lutes is perhaps
best suited by the description internal spike lute, with the understanding
that the neck does traverse the resonator completely, and that the neck is
not actually spiked into the resonator, but sits in an indentation. The
term spike emphasizes the morphological affinity of lutes with West
African harps and fiddles, both of which are characterized by the neck
being spiked into a hole in the resonator (which is covered with a skin
soundtable) all the way through to the other end.8
DISTRIBUTION OF PLUCKED LUTES IN WEST AFRICA
Plucked lutes are found among a wide variety of peoples ac

breadth of the African continent throughout much of the dese
and savannah regions. Fig.2 shows the distribution of lutes in W
Northwest Africa along with certain morphological characterist
Countries 13 Ghana 19 Algeria
1 Mauritania 14 Togo 20 Tunisia
32Niger
Mali1615 Benin
Nigeria 21.bya
4 Chad S g 17 Cameroun
i5 Seneg al 18 Morocco i iiiii
6 The Gambia
7 Guinea Bissau ()
8 Guinea
9 Sierra Leone
10 Liberia
11 Ivory Coast wooden trough resonator
12 Burkina Faso C calabash resonator
() usual number of strings
4, E ):i: fan-shaped bridge

0 cylinder-shaped bridge
r i(4:b
Bisa Gw - Gwari Ta - Tamashek/i
) IEthnic Groups )(-S - Sonmke,

B- Bambara .
Sg- Songhasbu
10 Isb1:
DJ - Djerma K - Kotoko Te - TeSa
Ethnic Groups S - Soninke
B - Bambara Sg - Songhai
Bu - Bussance/ G - Gnaws T - Teds
Bisa Gw - wari Ta - Tamashek/
D - Diawars H - Hausa Tuareg
Dj - Djerms K - Kotoko Te - Tern
F - Fulbe/ Md - Mandinka W - Wolof
Peul/ Mn - Maninka X - Xasonke
Tukulor Mo - Moor Y - Yoruba
FIG. 2. Distribution of plucked lutes in West and North
area under consideration in this study covers all of W

the Sahara desert, up to the westernmost portion
Chad. The lutes shown in Fig.2 (with the exception
are called West African lutes in order to distinguish t
by Maghrebian (North African) peoples. The locati
on the map indicates the general area in which it
visibility that an instrument may have within its ge
indicated. For example, the Fulbe molo, found in S
nowhere near the visibility of the Wolof xalam or
are heard on the radio daily and continue to play an important role in the
musical lives of their respective countries. For that kind of information,
Appendix 2, which lists some bibliographic and discographic references
for the instruments shown in Fig.2, may be explored.9
Some variety of long-necked lute is probably the oldest melody
instrument used by griots, dating back perhaps many centuries before it
was first mentioned by Al-'Umar! and Ibn Battdita in the fourteenth
century.10 The griot lute is widespread in the western sahel and savannah,
and features an oblong canoe-shaped wooden body covered with skin,
hide tuning knots, two main playing strings, usually tuned to the interval
of a fourth, which the fingers of one hand stop along the neck to
produce different pitches, and any number of added strings which are
played open. The short upper open string is plucked with the thumb, and
the other strings are plucked with the fingers or with some kind of nail
extension worn as a ring around the index finger. This kind of lute is
played by griots from each and every one of the societies in which they
are long-standing indigenous institutions. Non-griots do not play this
kind of lute.
Griot lutes include the Mande koni complex (i.e. Maninka koni,
Xasonke koni, Bambara ngoni, and Mandinka kontingo), Wolof xalam,
Soninke gambare, Fulbe hoddu, and Moorish tidinit.11 They are all
wooden-trough lutes with fan-shaped bridges, and are all essentially the
same instrument with minor variations, primarily based on size. Their
link might be ancient Ghana, which encompassed parts of Mauritania,
Senegal, and Mali since at least the late eighth century A.D.12 It is the
special kind of bridge, shaped like a fan, that in combination with the
features noted above, marks the lute played exclusively by griots as
uniquely West African.
The other kind of wooden-trough lute, the non-griot lute, has a
cylinder-shaped bridge. A rough geographic boundary demarcates the
usage of the fan-shaped bridges: wooden-trough lutes with fan-shaped
bridges are unique to the West African sahel and savannah up to and
including the Fulbe (also called Peul) of Niger; wooden-trough lutes
with cylinder-shaped bridges are used by the Hausa of Nigeria and others
further east.
Lutes with calabash bodies are found throughout West Africa. They
have cylinder-shaped bridges, and fewer strings than the wooden-trough
resonator lutes (usually one or two). It appears that most lutes with
cylinder-shaped bridges, regardless of the kind of resonator, are played
with a plectrum held between the thumb and index finger. The extent to
which they are played with the fingers is unclear from the available
documentation. Although there is little concrete evidence, one might
speculate that calabash-resonator lutes reflect an older West African
plucked lute tradition, predating the availability of iron implements
which could carve out wooden troughs.13
Although the lutes of Mande, Soninke, Wolof, Fulbe, and Moor
griots all share certain morphological characteristics with each other,
they may be distinguished from each other by size and shape. For
example, the Bambara ngoni is much larger than the other lutes and it is
tuned lower. The Maninka koni and Mandinka kontingo are essentially the
same instrument, and they are smaller than the Bambara ngoni. The
Xasonke koni is smaller still than the Maninka/Mandinka instruments.
Wolof xalams, which are often played in pairs, come in several sizes
(Coolen, 1983, pp.484-6). West African fan-shaped bridge lutes have the
capacity for adding more strings, and many musicians take advantage of
this (I have seen up to seven strings on a koni). Cylinder-shaped-bridge
lutes usually do not have more than two or three strings.
It is only when the above distinctions are understood that it is possible
to separate out some of the African lute traditions and to evaluate Henry
Farmer's widely accepted claims linking West African, Maghrebian, and
ancient Egyptian lutes. There are indeed structural similarities between
West African and ancient Egyptian lutes, but there are also significant
differences.
EARLY HISTORY OF THE LUTE IN WEST AFRICA
The earliest known references to a lute in West Africa come from

Al-'Umarl and Ibn Battfita in the mid-fourteenth century (see Appendix 1;
complete citations are in the bibliography). When Europeans first arrived
in West Africa in the fifteenth century they too noted the use of lutes,
and referred to them by their closest European equivalents: cavacos, lut,
and guitar. Several of the peoples with whom the Europeans came into
contact along the Senegal and Gambia rivers play lutes, and it is
sometimes unclear whether the early European writers were referring to
Fulbe, Mandinka, or Wolof lute players. The earliest documentation of
an indigenous term for a lute, koonting (probably a reference to the
Mandinka kontingo), comes from Mungo Park at the end of the
eighteenth century.
Al-'Umarl referred to a West African lute using the term tunbuir, an
Arabic or Persian name. It is Ibn Battfita's term qandbir, however, that has
confounded discussions of the early history of the lute in West Africa.
Henry Farmer explicitly linked both Ibn Battfita's and Al-'Umarl's terms
with a North African lute called gunibri (or gunbri), and grouped West
African and North African lutes together under that term.14 Farmer's
linkage of the North African gunbri with the two fourteenth century
Arabic sources, and his claim of an Egyptian heritage was picked up and
repeated by later writers. Using documentation gathered since the
publication of Farmer's articles, I intend to break the link here,
examining each issue in turn.
10
It appears that Ibn Battfita may be the only early source for the term
q-n-b-r. Furthermore, I have not found any other evidence of the terms
gunbri or gunibri from before the nineteenth century. At that time, a
variety of related forms appeared referring to lutes in North Africa,
particularly those played by the Gnawa in Morocco, black professional
musicians of sub-Saharan (Soninke or Bambara) ancestry.15 Out of all the
references to lutes in West Africa up to the eighteenth century, Mungo
Park's koonting may have been the only term that is neither European nor
Arabic.
It is clear that Al-'UmarT was using an Arabic or Persian term for a lute
(tunbur), but the significance of Ibn Battdta's term q-n-b-r is not at all
clear. Three possibilities are presented:
1) Ibn Battiita was using a local West African term. This would be
unusual because he did not specify it as a local term, and did not explain
how it should be pronounced as he did with other local terms that he
used. Delafosse (p.432) has proposed a provocative relationship between
the Mande konibara (lute calabash) and Ibn Battfita's term (see below).
2) Ibn Battiita was using a familiar North African term. This is unlikely
because it did not appear again until the nineteenth century.
3) It was an error in the Arabic text made by either the original scribe or
later copyists. The first letter, alternately transcribed as q or k, should
have been t. This would bring the term in line with the spelling used
earlier by Al-'Umarf (t-n-b-r), which was a common term used for an
Arabian or Persian long-necked lute.
There are three other points in support of the third possibility. First of all,
Ibn Juzayy, the royal scribe who wrote down Ibn Battfita's verbal
narrative, specifically mentioned the care that he took to use vowel signs
and diacritical points for the pronunciation of unfamiliar names and to
'expound in detail' the non-Arabic names given by Ibn Battfita (Levtzion
and Hopkins, pp.279-80). If he was writing a non-Arabic term he might
have signalled it in some way, but did not. Secondly, Ibn Juzayy may have
been familiar with, and have even referred to Al-'Umari's work which
was completed seven years earlier, and brought some of Ibn Battfita's
account in line with Al-'Umarf's account (Levtzion and Hopkins,
pp.280-1). Had this happened it seems unlikely that he would have left
the term q-n-b-r without explanation since it differed from Al-'Umari's
term. Thirdly,
We do not know if Ibn Battiita read the text after Ibn Juzayy had completed his
editorial work, or whether he approved it, and we do not know (though we
doubt) whether the MSS. and editions accurately preserve Ibn Juzayy's pointing.
(Levtzion and Hopkins, p.280)
The possibility that Ibn Battfita's q-n-b-r should actually be t-n-b-r calls
11
into question a direct link between the North African gunbri and the two
fourteenth century terms for lutes in Mali since it clears away almost five
centuries for the earliest appearance of the term gunbri (or any of its
variants), moving it up to the nineteenth century. But there may be an
indirect link. Farmer noted a linguistic link between tunbirr and gunibri.
The instrument [tunbair] exists with but little change in the gunibri of North
Africa, the name of which carries, in its consonants n-b-r, a trace of the old
Egyptian word. (Farmer 1938, p.251.)
It is improbable that the tunbur moved directly from Egypt across North
Africa. If one were to speculate about any westward movement of the
term or the instrument at all, it would probably have moved from
southern Egypt across the sahel and then north to Morocco. But the
Soninke lute called gambare may be a more likely source for the name
gunibri.
It is necessary to clarify the kinds of lutes used in North Africa before
they can be contrasted with those of West Africa. The terms ginbrf and
ginibri (and all of their various spellings) are often used to refer to two
very different kinds of North African lutes. According to Philip Schuyler
(1979, pp.127-31) there are three types of lutes used in North Africa:
1) the Gnawa ginbri (also known as i-hejhuj, sintir, or ginibri), which is a spike lute
with hide tuning knots.
2) the Arab ginbri (large variety) and ginibri (smaller variety, also called sinitra or
suisin), which is a handle lute, wherein the neck is attached to the resonator, with
tuning pegs. Berbers from the Middle Atlas region and some plains Arabs call this
ginbri a lotar.
3) the Berber lotar used by professional musicians known as Rwais (singular Rais),
which is a mix of the other two lutes - a spike lute with tuning pegs.16
The Arab ginbri is distinctly North African: it is not found further south
nor does it bear much morphological resemblance to lutes found further
south, and it is played primarily by Arabs. The Gnawa ginbri was either
brought to North Africa from the south by the Gnawa who play it, or
most probably fashioned by them once they arrived. There is no
evidence that it travelled from Egypt directly across North Africa. It is
primarily found in Morocco, which leaves a gap of Libya, Tunisia, and
Algeria where it is not found.
The question of the similarity of ancient Egyptian lutes to one or
another variety of ginbri, Farmer's original point, is therefore misplaced.
It would be more to the point to examine the lutes of ancient Egypt and
those that are found in a line further south stretching westward across the
sahel and Sahara to ancient Ghana. Furthermore, Fulbe migrations from
their ancient homeland in Tekrur (present day northern Senegal)
eastward should also be examined. And finally the movements of the
Soninke and other Mande peoples north into Morocco should be
explored. Any link with ancient Egypt would most likely have reached
12
the North African Gnawa ginbri via the south from where it originated.
That link would most likely have been the Soninke gambare.
ETYMOLOGIES OF THE GRIOT LUTES
Evidence from Soninke oral traditions suggests that the pluc

oldest melodic instrument of the West African griot, may
the Soninke Ghana empire. Research into Soninke music pe
to begin in earnest, but one published Soninke story (Froben
Frobenius and Fox, 1937/1966, pp.97-110) is quite detaile
association of Soninke griots (called jaare) with their lute (cal
during the time of Wagadu.'7 In contrast to the well-know
origin of the Mande balafon I am unaware of authoritative
Maninkajelis that they were the first in West Africa to have
do the Wolof make any claims for having the lute first; quite t
they may have taken up the instrument last, evidenced in p
they say, and also because much of their repertory is of Ma
origin (Coolen, 1979, p.118; Durin, pp.31-2). The Fulbe,
those known as Tukulor who have roots in ancient Tekrur in northern
Senegal, may well have been responsible for much of the dispersion of
lutes throughout West Africa, but little research has been done on their
music so little can be said about their role in the history of the lute. Even
so, a map showing the main dialect areas of the Fulbe people in West
Africa (Arnott, p.23) is remarkable for its similarity to a mapping of the
distribution of the lute. Even more ripe for speculation is the major split
between Sokoto-West Niger dialects and Central Nigerian dialects
which conforms roughly to the distribution of fan-shaped bridges and
cylinder-shaped bridges, respectively.
The etymologies that follow are speculative and need to be critically
explored so that future discussion may focus on more informed views of
the relative roles of each of the following instruments in West African
music history. Table 1 shows some of the various etymologies that have
been proposed for several West African lutes.19
Perhaps the clearest etymology is that of the Fulbe hoddu coming from
the Arabic iid (Erlmann, 1986, p.10). The earliest known reference to a
lute in the central Sudan, possibly with reference to the Hausa or Fulbe,
uses the term iid (al-Lamtfini, 1493/1933, p.286). Hausa sources from the
early nineteenth century also use the term iid ('Uthman b. FRidi 1808, in
Erlmann, 1986, pp.43ff.). But why were the Fulbe the only ones to take
the term itd, and why would they take the term i~d when the earliest
Arabic sources for West Africa had tunbur ?
It seems reasonably clear that there is a linguistic relationship between
the terms ginbri (also written as gimbri, gunbri, guinbri, or guimbri), which
denotes the North African Gnawa lute, and gambare, the lute of Soninke
13
TABLE 1
Possible etymologies for the names of some West African lutes
ethnic group: Soninke Maninka Mandinka Wolof Fulbe

instrument: gambare koni kontingo xalam hoddu
Etymologies
t-n-b-r (Fa): g-m-b-r xalam (Ha)

finger (De): koni (De) konondingo (Ga) baram (K
knock (Co): kon (Ga) kon (Co) kalam (Co) hoDu? (Co)
ud (Er): hoddu
KEY:* Co -Ga
Coolen
- Gamb19
De - Ha -
Delafosse Hause
1955,
Er - Ko
Erlmann - 1986,
Koelle
Fa - La
Farmer - Labou
1938, p
* Gamble, Koelle, and
proposed by the other s
griots that may dat

that the North Afri
Soninke term gamba
associations that the
least some of the No
term gambare is relat
this does not necessar
the Arabs; simply t
term. As far as I am
African languages, bu
H. E. Hause's derivation of the Wolof word xalam from the Soninke
gambare also seems plausible:
By substituting a voiceless consonant we may account for the term kambre
[cambreh] used in Sierra Leone. From this has probably developed the khalam
[chalam] of the Wolof where the r has given way to I and by metathesis we have a
final rather than medial m, which, as is frequently the case, has absorbed the b.21
(Hause, p.58)
Among the Mande and their neighbours the trail of speculation
coming from the term t-n-b-r ends here, but long distance Soninke
traders known as Wangara may have been responsible for the distribution
ofgambare-derived names further east. Possible cognates have been noted
by Ken Gourlay (1984a) among the two terms guimbri and gambare, and
lutes found in the central Sudan such as the gurmi and gullom in Nigeria,
the gurumi in Niger and Chad, and the kubru of Timbuktu. So little has
been documented about these instruments, however, that one cannot
speculate much further.
14
The word koni means finger in Maninka, although it is usually used as
part of a compound word with bolo (hand), as in bolokoni. Maurice
Delafosse (p.395) included in his definition of koni, 'any string
instrument that is played with the fingers, guitar, harp'. It is plausible that
the lute koni gets its name from the word for finger because the sound
changes that occur in the Mandinka dialect are quite similar: koni (for
both finger and the lute) in Maninka; and konondingo/kontingo
(finger/lute) in Mandinka (Gamble, 1987, p.71). The terms for finger
and lute in Wolof (baram and xalam) and Fulbe (hondu and hoddu) are
similar enough to support this etymology.22
The possibility that Ibn Battita's q-n-b-r was a local West African term
for lute, and not a corruption of t-n-b-r, has been raised by Maurice
Delafosse in his encyclopedic dictionary of several Mande dialects.23
koni-mbara 'calabash serving as a sound bowl for a guitar, guitar with a sound
bowl' (Delafosse, p.395)
konibara 'four-stringed guitar' ... cf. arabe qunbara ... (ibid., p.432)
[koni-mbara 'calebasse servant de caisse de resonance i une guitare, guitare i caisse
de resonance']
[konibara 'guitare a quatre cordes']
If one accepts konibara as an indigenous Mande term for their lute,

formed by a compound of koni (finger) with mbara (calabash), then Ibn
Battfita's q-n-b-r might well have been a reference to this term rather than
a corruption of t-n-b-r. In that case, the Soninke term gambare might have
come from the Maninka koni(m)bara although it seems unlikely that the
Soninke would have taken a Maninka term for their own lute.
It has been suggested that the names for several lutes come from the
characteristic knocking sound that the fingers make when tapping against
the skin resonator:
The origin of the terms [nkoni, ngoni, koni, kontingo] seems to be the word
kon, which means to 'knock on a door', the most common way musicians refer
to the playing ('beating or knocking') of the xalam. (Coolen, 1979, p. 117)
The term [hoddu] seems to come from the [Fulbe] word hoDu, which means 'to
beat or knock on a door'. (ibid., p.118)
Another candidate for the origin of 'xalam' is the word 'kalam', an onomatopoeic
word frequently used by non-musicians to describe the playing (beating) of the
xalam. Xalamkats [xalam players] use the word 'tegg', which means 'to knock or
beat on something', to describe the action of playing the xalam. (ibid., p.119)
But Mandinka (Mande from The Gambia and southern Senegal) use the
verb kosi (to beat) when referring to playing an instrument and not kon.
This may have an analog among Wolof xalam players who use the verb
tegg (to knock or beat) to say 'to play the xalam', not kalam (an
onomatopoeia for knock?). Maninka (Mande from Guinea and Mali), on
the other hand, use the verbfo (to say, speak).24
15
Each etymology has certain advantages, but they are all speculative and
inconclusive. Further linguistic research is needed to shed more light on
etymological and historical links among the various West African lutes.
SOME COMPARISONS BETWEEN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN

AND WEST AFRICAN LUTES
The documentation of the hundreds, if not thousands, of musical

instruments in Africa is at such an early stage that it is still premature in
many cases to seriously argue for historical links with the outside world.
There is not enough information about ethnic and geographic
distributions of musical instruments, nor of the ways in which they are -
and were - used, to construct meaningful theories of the spread of
musical instruments. Such theories must take account of the relative roles
of local innovation, cultural identity, and cultural diffusion in West
Africa, especially in pre-Islamic times. Such theories must also be
accompanied by broader discussions of the circumstances that would
cause adoption or rejection of foreign cultural elements. The myriad
lines of communication within West Africa, and the gateways in and out
all need to be explored in the quest to understand the remarkable array of
musical instruments found there. The following discussion of early lute
history is offered, therefore, to clarify some of the problems that future
research will need to address.25
Mesopotamia is the source of the earliest evidence of lutes in the
world: representations on two seals dating back to the Akkadian period
(c.2350 to 2170 B.C.). The Akkadian period lutes may have originated
with West Semitic nomads from Syria. Lutes appeared in Egypt for the
first time at the end of the Middle Kingdom Hyksos dynasties (XV to
XVII dynasty, 1730 to 1580 B.C.) or the beginning of the succeeding
New Kingdom XVIII dynasty (1580 to 1320 B.C.). This first appearance
of the lute in Egypt came approximately one thousand years after the first
musical instruments - clap sticks, sistrums, flutes, double clarinets, and
harps - were depicted in Old Kingdom Egypt. The eighteenth century
B.C. Hyksos invaders, from the Near East, are generally believed to be
responsible for the appearance of the lute in Egypt.26
Three basic kinds of lute are found in ancient Egypt, and they are
distinguished by their resonators: oval, pear-shaped, and concave-sided.
Since the latter two types do not resemble those in West Africa, they will
not be considered here. They also had nowhere near the number of
representations as the oval type. In an exhaustive inventory, Lise Maniche
(pp.70-81) has listed seven surviving specimens of ancient Egyptian lutes
with oval resonators, ranging from well-preserved (complete with
strings) to fragments. Also listed are over ninety representations of oval-
resonator lutes, primarily from the New Kingdom period (1580 to 1085
B.C.). With a few exceptions, representations of this kind of lute in
16
Egypt stop at the end of the New Kingdom. These oval-resonator lutes
can be divided into two types, once again according to their resonator:
carved-out wooden trough, and tortoise shell. Males and females are
depicted playing both the wooden trough and the tortoise shell varieties.
The striking morphological similarities between ancient Egyptian and
West African lutes are at least partially responsible for the ready
acceptance of claims of direct ancestry. But close examination reveals
significant differences (see Fig.3). In evaluating these differences it should
not be forgotten that a comparison is being made between a tradition
that may have disappeared three thousand years ago and one that lives
today, represented by many distinct branches. The construction of a far-
reaching history of African music has yet to begin, so there is little basis
for projecting a living tradition thousands of years into the past. At the
moment, though, there are few alternatives.
One of the most striking differences between ancient Egyptian and
West African lutes is the playing position (see Table 2). Ancient Egyptian
lutes are played with a plectrum, and are portrayed with the player's hand
coming from below the strings to strike them. West African griot lutes,
and some non-griot lutes, are played with the fingers striking the strings
from above, making for a different playing technique. (The thumb strikes
the short upper open string, and the fingers pluck the two main playing
strings and the additional lower open strings.) They also strike the strings
in different places: West Africans strike near the bridge; Egyptians strike
further up the neck. Egyptian lute players are usually, though not
exclusively, portrayed standing with the instrument held high up on the
chest. West African lutes are usually, though not exclusively, played sitting
on the ground or a chair with the instrument relatively lower on the
body.
The length of the neck in relation to the resonator is another
significant difference between West African and ancient Egyptian lutes.
By measuring the neck and resonator in photographs of Egyptian lutes a
ratio of one to the other can be established. On Egyptian lutes the necks
are 1.5 to 2 times the length of the wooden-trough resonators, or 2.5 to
3.5 times the length of tortoise shell resonators. On West African
wooden-trough lutes the ratio is much smaller, about 1 to 1 or less on the
average. Consequently, ancient Egyptian lutes appear to have longer
necks and smaller resonators than West African lutes. The wooden
trough and tortoise shell resonators in ancient Egypt may have their
analogue in the wooden trough and calabash resonators of West Africa.
Calabash resonator lutes might be older than the wooden trough variety
in West Africa, predating the availability of iron implements to carve out
a wooden body.
There are several other points of difference between West African and
ancient Egyptian lutes. The bridges on Egyptian and West African lutes
are different. The three strings on Egyptian lutes probably were tuned in
17
00
FIG. 3. Comparison
(a) Bazoumana
Ba
(a) (b) Ancien
TABLE 2
Bambara ngoni Ancient Egyptian lute
playing posture: sitting, instrument placed low standing, instrume

placed high
hand position: plucked with fingers from above plucked with plect
from below
neck to body ratio: 0.8 : 1 (<1) 1.7 : 1 (>1.5)
unison (Hickmann, 1948, pp.649-56). By contrast, on Manink

example, there are many different tuning systems as well as ind
a modal practice, where different pitches in different tunings a
less important. (This is probably the most anachronistically
comparison.) Egyptian lute necks have frets; West African lu
not. Egyptian lute necks are threaded through the skin
differently than in West Africa. Women are often depicted
ancient Egyptian lutes; that would be a rare occurrence in We
Despite these differences, there is a remarkable resemblanc
West African and ancient Egyptian lutes, but the historical sig
this resemblance is still unclear.
Given the dates above, one could speculate for the present purposes
that the life of the oval lute in Egypt existed within a rough time frame of
1700 to 1000 B.C. (i.e. end of Hyksos dynasties to end of New
Kingdom, give or take one hundred years at either end). Transmission
out of Egypt to the west or south would have to take place any time
within this rough time period. Transmission from the west into Egypt
would take place before the beginning of this period. Could lutes have
been used in West Africa before this time frame? If so, they would most
likely have been calabash-resonator lutes since metal-working which
could facilitate wood carving did not arrive there until the mid-first
millennium B.C. At present, there is no archaeological evidence for old
lutes, but given the different climatological, cultural, and research
contexts of West and Northeast Africa, absence of material evidence in
West Africa proves little.28
In the early attempts to posit directional flow of cultural traffic
between West and Northeast Africa more significant questions were not
addressed. Stating that West African lutes are descendants of ancient
Egyptian lutes, without detailing how and why this came to pass, sheds
little light on lute history, and raises many difficult questions. What was
the nature of transhumance across the sahel and Sahara in pre-historic
times? How might the diffusion of musical instruments compare with the
diffusion of other phenomena such as plant and animal domestication,
pottery, pastoralism, language, etc.? Why is there such a concentration of
19
lutes in the sahel and northern savannah and not further south? Why are
lutes relatively sparse east of Nigeria up to Egypt, and so numerous in
Hausa land and in the Niger and Senegal river valleys? What is the
significance of the two types of bridge? What is the significance of lutes
being used for hunters in Nigeria, and for nobles and rulers further west?
How did it come to pass that lute playing is a hereditary profession in
certain areas? These are just some of the questions that will need to be
addressed in the process of investigating the spread of lutes in Africa.
Until then, a critical eye must be kept on overly simplified views of
musical instrument diffusion.
CONCLUSION
There is a rich culture of lute playing in West Africa. Alth

dozens of plucked lutes, with almost as many different nam
certain morphological characteristics and differ in only a
With few exceptions, they are internal spike lutes, in w
traverses most of the length of the resonator and is expos
the skin soundtable. The strings pass through the hole and a
the end of the neck. Two different kinds of bridges are u
bridges, which are limited to the western sahel and sava
played exclusively by griots; and cylinder-shaped bridges
throughout West Africa, especially in Nigeria and furth
different kinds of resonators are used: a carved-out wooden
calabash, and some variety of metal or tin can. The neck
construction of West African lutes, which has been call
internal-spike, is similar to that of Egyptian lutes used d
Kingdom period (1580 to 1085 B.C.). This similarity
scholarly tradition of ascribing Egyptian origins to West
but little concrete evidence has been available.
More documentation of the many and diverse lutes used in West
Africa is needed in order to refine speculation on their history and use
there. Collaboration between scholars from many disciplines is necessary
to uncover the early history and spread of lutes in Africa. More informed
answers to questions posed by the presence of griot lutes in the western
sahel, for example, may have much to say about the movements of
instruments, peoples, and their culture in the past few millennia.
The long and unbroken tradition that is represented by the griot lute is
a particularly interesting and unique phenomenon. The instrument may
not have changed much in its long history, yet it continues to be a vital
part of the music cultures of Mali, Senegal, and Mauritania. It has had a
significant impact on modern urban dance music in Mali by virtue of its
influence on guitar playing styles there. And it remains a symbol of an
African ability to make the past come alive time and time again.
20
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This article is a reworked version of part of a chapter fr

(pp.123-41). I wish to thank Harold Powers and Roderic Knig
the early preparation of this material. Fieldwork in Africa w
dissertation research fellowship from the Social Science R
York), and a grant from the Council on Regional Studies (Pr
Final preparation of this article was made possible by a N
Grant from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
APPENDIX 1:
Early documentation of West African lutes (14th to 18th centuries)
1337-8 (al-'Umaff): When the king of this kingdom [Mali] comes in

journey a parasol (jitr) and a standard are held over his head as he
and drums are beaten and guitars (tunbilr) and trumpets well m
horn are played in front of him. (1981, pp.266-7.)
1355-6 (Ibn Battdta): The singers come out in front of him [the sultan]
and silver stringed instruments (qunburT) in their hands ... (1981,
1468 (Ca Da Mosto): [regarding Cayor in Northern Senegal] In this count
have no musical instruments of any kind, save two: the one is
Moorish 'tanbuchi', which we style a big drum; the other is af
fashion of a viol; but it has, however, two strings only, and is playe
the fingers, so that it is a simple rough affair and of no account
p.51.)
1493 (al-Lamtiinf): [possibly describing the southern central Sahara and its
southern peripheries, inhabited by Tuareg and Fulbe] Most of the
women play the flute and the lute and the tambourine and wail the
zaghdrit [ululation] and play all manner of musical instruments.
(1970, p.14.) [An Arabic facsimile (1933, p.286) shows 'ad to be the word
which was translated as lute.]
1506-10 (Fernandes): These Gaul [Fula gawlo or Wolofgewel; griots] are often
buffoons and play the viol and cavacos and are singers. (1951, p.8.) [Note:
'Cavaco (Port.). A plucked string instrument midway between a guitar
and a mandolin, used in Portugal. It usually has four strings .. .' (in The
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1980, vol.III, p.18.)]
1594 (d'Almada): Usam tamb6m estes Judeus de umas violas de cordas e outras
ao modo de harpa. (1946, pp.24-5.)
1685 (de la Courbe): Les guiriots faisoient merveille a chanter mes louanges et celles de
leur maitre, et accompagnoient leur voix d'un petit lut a trois cordes de crin de
cheval, qui n'est pas disagreable a entendre; (1913, p.43) ... les guiriots qui
estoient a la porte de la chambre s'egausilloient aforce de chanter mes louanges,
accompagnant leur voix de leur instrument a trois cordes, au bout duquel il y avoit
desgrelots attaches. (1913, p.73.)
[The guiriots were marvellous singing praises to myself and to their
master; they accompany their voice with a small lute with three horsehair
strings that is not unpleasant to hear; . . . the guiriots who were by the
door of the room shouted at the top of their lungs by way of singing my
21
praises, accompanying their voices with their three-stringed instrument
that had bells attached to the end of it.]
1695 (Le Maire): J'ai vd un autre de leurs instrumens qui seroit propre en la chambre
d'un malade. C'est une espice de Lutfait d'un morceau de bois creusi, couvert de
cuir avec deux ou trois cordes de crin. II est couvert sur la touche de petites plaques
defer &garni de grelots comme un tambour de Basque. (pp.120-3.)
[I have seen another of their instruments that is more suited to a sick
person's room. It is a kind of lute, made from a piece of carved wood
covered with leather, with two or three horsehair strings. The neck is
covered with small iron plaques and fitted with small bells like a Basque
drum.]
1781 (Host): Getara genaua (getara genawa), die gleichfalls allein von den Negern
gebraucht wird . . . sie wird nur mit den Fingern beriihrt, das oberste ist eine
diinne eiserne Platte mit Ringen besetzet, die ein starkes Gerdiusch geben. (In
Collaer and Elsner, 1983, pp.168-70.)
[Gnawa guitar, which is used only by the Blacks. It is played with the
fingers. At the upper extremity a thin metal plate with rings is inserted
which gives off a strong noise.]
(Includes drawings of a Gnawa gimbri with metal rattle stuck in the end of
the neck. The shape resembles the large Bambara ngoni, rather than the
modern day rectangular box.)
1788 (Matthews): They have also two kinds of string instruments; one is a sort of
guitar, and is the same as the bangou in the West Indies; the other is in
the form of a Welsh harp, but not above two feet long: the strings are
made of the fibres of a plant and the hair of an elephant's tail. (1966,
pp.105-6.) [Reported almost word for word, in French, by Durand,
1802, p.189.]
1799 (Park): I have now to add a list of their musical instruments, the principal
of which are the koonting, a sort of guitar with three strings; (1983,
pp.213-4.)
APPENDIX 2: References for Fig.2
I expect that there are more plucked lutes in West Africa than are indicated in
Fig.2 and in this Appendix, but I have not found any more documentation to that
effect. In the interest of inclusion I have listed some instruments here which were
left off the map because of sketchy documentation. I have tried to include a cross-
section of references, but this Appendix is by no means exhaustive, particularly
regarding recordings. The discographies of Nourrit and Pruitt should be
consulted for more recordings, as well as the Africa and related countries sections
of recent catalogues of recordings in print. The geographic location of certain
instruments should be taken with caution since some of the sources, such as
museum specimens or recordings, are not reliable as to the ethnic or geographic
origin of the instrument. For example, two very different kinds of lute, both
evidently called molo, have been attributed to the Songhay. In confusing cases
such as this where there is limited documentation, I have opted for inclusion in
the hope that regional experts might provide clarification or correction in the
future. In general, the more references listed for an instrument, the more visible
the instrument is within any given society. Dates with -disc or -vid appended to
22
them indicate sound or video recordings. Most of the -disc references also
contain photographs. Brackets indicate photograph [p] or drawing [d].
LUTES WITH FAN-SHAPED BRIDGES
gambare (Soninke)
Mahillon 1909: 118-19
Frobenius 1921: 53-60
Boyer 1953: 117-18 [d]
Guignard 1975: 171, p1.13
Coolen 1979: 116-17
Diawara 1990: 108-9
Mangara 1994-disc
hoddu (Fulbe)
Nikiprowetzky 1965a-disc
Wane 1969: 60-1, fig.9 [p]
Ministere de l'Information du Mali 1971a-disc
Arom 1975-disc
Coolen 1979: 118
Erlmann 1986: 10
Maal 1991-disc
kerona (Fulbe from Futa Jallon)
Van Oven 1970: 23 [p]
Jenkins 1979-disc
Coolen 1983: 481
Jenkins 1983: 22-3 [p]
koni/kontingo/nkoni/ngoni (Mande)
Frobenius 1921: facing 40 [d]
Joyeux 1924: 180-2
Sissoko 1971-disc
Fanta Damba 1971-disc
Charters 1975a-disc & 1975b-disc
Dalby 1980 [p]
Koita 1993-disc
Diabate family of Kela 1994-disc
molo (Djerma/Songhay)
B6art 1955: 685 [p]?
Nikiprowetzky 1966: 72, 91
Nikiprowetzky 1990-disc
Ministere de l'Information du Mali
1971b-disc
teharden (Tamashek/Tuareg)
Boulton 1939/1957-disc
Boulton 1969: fig. 13 [p] (repr. from above)
Bebey 1975: 19 [p]
tidinit (Moor)
Beart 1955: 684 [p]
Norris 1968: 61-3 [d]
Guignard 1975: 122, plates 5, 8, 11, 12 [p]
Coolen 1979: 112-15
23
Collaer & Elsner 1983: 176-9
Duvelle 1966-disc
Wegner 1984: 139 [p]
Eide 1990-disc
xalam (Wolof)
Mahillon 1909: 169 [d]
Nikiprowetzky 1966: 38 [p]
Charters 1975a-disc & 1975b-disc
Ames 1976-disc
Coolen 1979, 1982, 1983
Durnn 1981
Maal 1991-disc
NOT SHOWN ON MAP OR UNIDENTIFIED
diassare (eastern Senegal)

Nikiprowetzky 1966: 45
goumbale (Diawara)
Boyer 1953: 117-18
kook (Tukolor)
Coolen 1979: 111
kouco/kubru (Tamashek?, Songhai?)
Jay 1976-disc
Sadie 1984: II, 477
xalam or cambreh?
Met. Mus. Art 1907: 19-20, 'Lute types' [p]
hoddu or xalam?
Chauvet 1929: 106, fig. 67 [d]
LUTES WITH CYLINDER-SHAPED BRIDGES
duru (Yoruba)
Thieme 1969: 384-92 [d, p]
Wegner 1984: 142 [p]
garaya (Hausa)
Ames n.d.b-disc
Ames & King 1971: 40-1
Erlmann 1986: 11
Kubik 1989: 80-1 [p]
Fujii 1990-vid: tape 17, no.16
also see komo
gimbri (Gnawa)
Salvador-Daniel 1863/1986: cover [d]
Ankermann 1901: 12-13
Met. Mus. Art 1907: 19-24, 'Lute types' [p]
Rouanet 1922: 2929-2931 [d]
Farmer 1928
Schuyler 1970-disc, 1972-disc, 1979, 1981
Collaer & Elsner 1983: 128-9, 162-3, 166-71 [p]
Wegner 1984: 123, 136-8, 255-7
24
Laswell & Horowitz 1990-disc
Gnaoua d'Essaouira 1993-disc
gulom (Kotoko, Chad/Cameroun)
Brandily 1984
gurmi a.k.a. kumbo (Hausa)
Ames & King 1971: 43-4
Gourlay 1984a: 111
gurumi (Dosso)
Jenkins 1983: 23, 31
Gourlay 1984a
gurumi (Mawri/Maori)
Harris 1932: 124-5
Nikiprowetzky 1965b-disc
kaburu (Gwari)
Anonymous 1970: 18 [p]
Enem 1975: 97 [p]
keleli (Teda)
Brandily 1974: 31-64, 1980-disc
Wegner 1984: 257
komo, a.k.a. babbar ('big') garaya (Hausa)
Nikiprowetzky 1965b-disc
Nikiprowetzky 1966: 77, 86-7
Krieger 1968: 408-9 [d]
Ames n.d.a-disc
Ames & King 1971: 40-1, fig.8
Wegner 1984: 258
also see garaya
konde (Bussance/Bisa)
Duvelle 1971-disc
Bebey 1975: 45 [p]
kuntigi/kuntugi (Hausa, Songhai, Djerma)
Harris 1932: 125
Nikiprowetzky 1990-disc
Krieger 1968: 409 [d]
Ames & King 1971: 45-6
Jay 1976-disc
Surugue 1980: 523
Gourlay 1984b: 487
Wegner 1984: 140, 142
kwamsa (Hausa)
Harris 1932: 124
Krieger 1968: 407-8 [d]

Thieme 1969: 385-6
Erlmann 1983: 23-4, 34 [p] (Fulani garaya)
lawa (Tem)
Kubik 1989: 167
25
molo/mola (Fulbe, Soninke/Diawara)
Boyer 1953: 117-8 [d]
Nikiprowetzky 1966: 36, 45-6
Nikiprowetzky 1966: 75 (Sonrai)
Coolen 1979: 116
Gourlay 1976
molo (Hausa)
Smend 1908: 72-3 [d, p]
Krieger 1968: 406-7 [d]
Thieme 1969: 387-90 [d]
Ames & King 1971:46-7
Gourlay 1976
Erlmann 1983: 23-4, 35-6 [p] (Fulani, Cameroun)
Wegner 1984: 137-40, 258
mulore (Cameroun)
Ankermann 1901: 12-13 (abb. 11) [d] ?
Wegner 1984: 257
Kubik 1989: 86-7, 194
unnamed (from Kanem in Chad)
Brandily n.d.-disc
NOT SHOWN ON MAP OR UNIDENTIFIED
genbra/gnaybra (Mauritania; calabash res.)

Guignard 1975: 171, pl. 13 [p]
gora (Hausa)
gullum (Kilba)
Sadie 1984: II,110
gzopoli (Bana, Nigeria-Cameroun)
Wente-Lukas 1977: 257-60 [d]
kakanza (Lamang, Nigeria-Cameroun)
Wente-Lukas 1977: 257-60 [d]
kola lemme/gesere (Diawara/Soninke)
Boyer 1953: 117-8 [d]
Coolen 1979: 75, 119, 235
kologo/kono/kpono (Ghana)
Kaye 1987
kuban/kubangu (Bassari, Togo)
Ankermann 1901: 12-13 (abb. 12) [d] ?
Wegner 1984: 258
ngulan (Bana, Nigeria-Cameroun)
Wente-Lukas 1977: 236-7 [d]
yomshi (Birom, Nigeria)
Bouquiaux 1969: 105-6 (same as Hausa gurmi?)
unnamed (Manjak or Balanta, Senegal)
Kouyate 1991-video
unnamed (Togo)
Smend 1908: 72-4 [d]
26
NOTES
'Bowed lutes, also known as fiddles, are not covered in this artic
following common practice here in letting 'lute' refer to the plucked var
'fiddle' the bowed variety. Plucked lutes belong to a reasonably distinct
and are different enough from other string instruments in West Afric
form an initial justificatioil for treating them separately. The same kind
applies to singling out West Africa as a bounded area from the re
continent. Furthermore, this article is presented as part of a series d
distinct instrumental types in West Africa, the first of which covers harps
1994). For references to fiddles in West Africa see Jacqueline Cogdell D
2 See Henry Farmer (1924, p.158; 1928, especially pp.25-7; 1938, p.2
1939, pp.571-5). Similar, but less specific attributions of ancient
ancestry for West African lutes were made earlier by Curt Sachs (1921, p
Bernhard Ankermann (pp.120-3).
3 In the early part of this century little was known about West Afric
culture, and some scholars readily accepted prevailing hypotheses wh
ultimately rooted in theories of racial and cultural superiority. For exa
to the sixteenth century, the Western Soudan was a cultural offspring o
After the Moorish occupation . .. it is Morocco that determines the inte
world of the Soudanese' (Farmer, 1924, p.158). 'The Egyptian lute, w
handle ending inside the body, has survived in the Northwest of Afric
degenerated to a clumsy Negro instrument, used in Morocco and Se
and called gunbri in Sudanese' (Sachs, 1940, p.102). Scholarly work
recent decades, and the increasing number of recordings and world
musicians have illuminated the rich indigenous culture in West Africa t
extent that the above quotations are now of interest not for what they
but for what they say about the intellectual tradition of the authors.
4 Other minor features might be significant, but further research is
Such features might include the method of attaching the skin soundtab
resonator, the shape of the resonator, or the way in which the hide tun
are tied.
s For information and references on griots see Charry (forthcomin

term griot probably stems from seventeenth-century French renderings o
another of the following local West African terms: iggio (Hassaniya, the
of the Moors), gewel (Wolof), gawlo (Fulbe), jeli orjali (Maninka or Mand
jaare (Soninke). In French writing the term griot often has der
connotations. Therefore, it is with reservations that I use the term
convenient label for West African hereditary professional musician
locally by the terms above), who all have the exclusive right amo
respective peoples to play a related kind of lute. To use one of the local
such as gawlo lute or jeli lute, would privilege one people over another. U
term griot alleviates that problem while introducing one of using
indigenous term that some find offensive.
6 Further documentation of several other rare instruments ma
strengthen or cause a reassessment of my two categories of lutes base
bridge; see Roger Blench's (p.170) description of the Mawri gurumi from
(from Nikiprowetzky, 1965b-disc) and a Bana lute from North Camerou
Wente-Lukas, pp.256-7). The Mawri and Bana lutes, as well as a lut
Birom of Nigeria (Harris, 124-5) may be the same instrument. It appears
bridge on the Gawri kaburu from northwestern Nigeria is cylindrical,
27
unclear (see photograph in Anonymous, p.18). The bridge on what appears to be
a lute with a large calabash body played by the Manjak or Balanta people from
southern Senegal is in the shape of an upside down U (Kouyate 1991-video).
Ulrich Wegner (pp.136-8) has noted a western and eastern distribution of fan-
and cylinder-shaped bridges, respectively, in West Africa, but has not attributed
any great significance to this phenomenori.
7I am not aware of any exceptions to this kind of neck construction in
wooden-trough-resonator lutes. The Mawri, Bana, and Manjak (or Balanta) lutes
in note 6 above, and recent plucked lutes using sardine tins and the like as a
resonator (e.g. see the photo in Paul Oliver, p.85) may be exceptional examples,
where a neck goes all the way through a calabash or tin can resonator on a
plucked lute.
8 The description 'spike lute' has been used by Laurence Picken (1975,
pp.261-2) with reference to some ancient Egyptian lutes of similar, but not
identical construction in which the neck is threaded through the skin soundtable
and does not go all the way through the resonator. I know of only two non-spike
exceptions to a remarkably consistent West African spike harp tradition, and they
are discussed in detail elsewhere (Charry, 1994, pp.36-40). I suspect that there are
few, if any, non-spike exceptions to a West African fiddle tradition, but my own
research so far in this area is inadequate.
9 For other problems inherent in Fig.2 see Appendix 2.
10 Harps played by musician/priests associated with savannah hunter societies
may be much older than West African lutes, but griots do not play these hunters'
harps. Charles Bird (1972, pp.291-2) has suggested that with the rise of empires
in West Africa some of the musician/priests of the hunters' societies may have
been transformed into the hereditary professional musical/verbal artisans (griots)
of the noble class. I would add that they may have exchanged their hunters' harps
for the lutes which I call griot lutes.
" The spellings of the various lutes of the Mande complex present certain
problems. Throughout Mande regions there is much variation among nasal plus
consonant clusters (prenasals), producing the following dialect variants: nk : ng :
k : g (Bird, 1982, pp.26-8). Occasionally, one might find the pronunciation nkoni
for a Mande lute, although I have not indicated so in the text.
12 The status of the lute played by the Songhay-Djerma people of northeastern
Mali and western Niger is unclear, as documentation is very sparse. One
photograph shows it to have a fan-shaped bridge (Ministere de l'information du
Mali, 1971b). When the Songhay empire eclipsed the Mali empire in the
sixteenth century, they may have undergone Mande influence. This may explain
their use of this kind of lute as well as the presence of a griot which they call
jesere, a clear adaptation of the Soninke griot called gesere.
13 One or more varieties of a West African plucked lute was probably an
ancestor of the new world banjo. For documentation of the early banjo in the
Americas see Dena Epstein, and Ken Gourlay (1976).
14Farmer's (1939, p.571) use of 'pandores (gunibri)' as a paraphrase of
Al-'Umari's t-n-b-r may have misled some to believe that Al-'Umari actually used
the term gunibri. The French translation from which Farmer evidently worked
had 'guitares' (Al-'Umari 1337/1927, p.69), but it has since been transliterated by
Cuoq (p.272) as tanbar, and by Levtzion and Hopkins (p.267) as tunbr. A recent
facsimile edition of the Arabic text has t-n-b-r (Al-'Umari 1337/1988, p.40).
15 See Farmer (1928) for many of the nineteenth-century sources for the term
28
gunbri, Dozy (II, p.408) for other nineteenth-century sources, and al Faruqi
(pp.78, 84-7, 254, 267) for later sources.
16 Philip Schuyler's recordings of the Gnawa ginbri (Schuyler, 1972-disc), Arab
ginbri (Schuyler, n.d.-disc), and Rwais lotar (Schuyler, 1978-disc) demonstrate the
differences between these three instruments. The neck on the Gnawa ginbri is
spiked all the way through the resonator.
'7Wagadu is the Soninke name for the ancient Ghana empire; not to be
confused with Wagadugu, the modern capital of Burkina Faso.
'8Jeli is the Mande term for griot. See Charry (1992, 142-51) for further
references on the origin of the balafon.
91 have not been able to investigate the extent to which African musicians
endorse or refute the etymologies shown in Table 1.
20 Nasals assimilate to following bilabials in Mande languages so the consonant
cluster written as nb is pronounced as mb. Coolen's (1979, p. 116) suggestion that
gambare might come from the Soninke word gamba may be based on a faulty
translation (see Charry, 1992, p. 138).
21 Brackets from the original.
22 Wolof dictionary sources for baram (or baaraam) as finger include Koelle
(1854/1963, p.45), Gamble (1991, p.12), and C.L.A.D. (1977, vol.1, p.45).
Those for the Fulbe hondu (or honndu) as finger include Koelle (1854/1963,
p.45), Labouret (1955, pp.89-90), and Osborn et al (1993, p.143). Delafosse's
(pp.579-80) definitions of ngoni are also provocative: 'fingernail', 'to grab', 'scratch'.
23 Delafosse's definitions of these compounds of koni have been pointed out by
Judith Ann Lamm (pp.20-1).
24 Coolen may be mistaken about the Fulbe word meaning 'to beat or knock
on a door' which he gives as hoDu. The closest correspondences that I could find
are honkude (to knock on the door) (Gaden, 1914, p.101; Osborn et al, 1993,
p.143) and hesde hudo ('couper de l'herbe') where hudo means 'herbe' and hesde is
'couper' (Labouret, 1955, pp.83 & 106).
25 Recent archaeological research in West Africa has begun to reveal the rich
histories that can be constructed about prehistoric culture in the region.
Excellent surveys of this field have been written by Susan McIntosh and Roderic
McIntosh. Of particular relevance for future research is the idea of symbolic
reservoirs, 'the core of symbols, beliefs, values, and ideas on which cultures are
founded' (S. McIntosh, p.185). Archaeological investigation of climate shifts,
local domestication of foods, the presence of objects from the outside world, and
the introduction of the domesticated horse and of metal-working (see McIntosh
and McIntosh, pp.122-5) have contributed to a deeper understanding of West
African culture, and will need to be taken into account in historical investigations
of West African music. The observation that West African archaeology 'is no
longer a pale and unconvincing reflection of Euro-American theory and
practice', and the expectation that it could 'offer highly original insights into the
development of archaeological theory and culture process' (S. McIntosh, p.186)
have a ripe analogue in West African music research.
26 For brief surveys of early lute history see Laurence Picken (1975, pp.261-3)
and Klaus Wachsmann (1984, pp.551-3). Harvey Turnbull and Subhi Anwar
Rashid are authoritative sources for lutes in Mesopotamia, and Hans Hickmann is
the authoritative source for lutes in ancient Egypt. Rashid, Hickmann, and Sachs
(1921) are excellent sources for photographs. All of the lutes discussed in this
article are considered to be long-necked lutes, in contrast to short-necked lutes
29
such as those found in modern Egypt (e.g. 'ud), and various parts of Asia (see
Picken, 1955, and Wachsmann, 1984).
27 Among the very few string instruments that women play in West Africa is
the Moorish harp called ardin from Mauritania. The ardin is played in a position
that is not found in West Africa, but is typical of ancient Egypt, and some of its
morphological features are foreign to the region (Charry, 1994, pp.36, 38). Also
see the fifteenth-century quotation from al-Lamttini in Appendix 1 about
women playing the lute.
28 Archaeological research into the settling of the Dhar Tichitt region in
southern Mauritania may eventually turn up relevant information. Throughout
the second millennium B.C. this region supported a population engaged in cattle
and goat herding, hunting, fishing, seed and fruit collecting, pottery making, and
agriculture (toward the end of the millennium). The population, perhaps as many
as five or ten thousand strong in one study area 44 km long, may have been
proto-Soninke or proto-Mande, and their descendants may have been part of the
later Soninke Ghana empire, which encompassed southern Mauritania and
northwestern Mali. For further information see Patrick Munson (pp.459-63),
Augustin Holl (pp.88 ff ), and Susan McIntosh (pp. 169-70).
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37

Plucked Lutes in West Africa - Eric Charry

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Plucked Lutes in West Africa: An Historical Overview

Author(s): Eric Charry

Plucked Lutes in West Africa:

Very little supporting documentation was available to Farmer, and

No evidence suggests the persistence of this [ancient Egyptian] type of trough-

There are three major features which may be used to distin

Two other descriptions have been used to describe lutes in which

DISTRIBUTION OF PLUCKED LUTES IN WEST AFRICA

Plucked lutes are found among a wide variety of peoples ac

4, E ):i: fan-shaped bridge

) IEthnic Groups )(-S - Sonmke,

FIG. 2. Distribution of plucked lutes in West and North

area under consideration in this study covers all of W

EARLY HISTORY OF THE LUTE IN WEST AFRICA

The earliest known references to a lute in West Africa come from

ETYMOLOGIES OF THE GRIOT LUTES

Evidence from Soninke oral traditions suggests that the pluc

ethnic group: Soninke Maninka Mandinka Wolof Fulbe

t-n-b-r (Fa): g-m-b-r xalam (Ha)

griots that may dat

If one accepts konibara as an indigenous Mande term for their lute,

SOME COMPARISONS BETWEEN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN

The documentation of the hundreds, if not thousands, of musical

Bambara ngoni Ancient Egyptian lute

playing posture: sitting, instrument placed low standing, instrume

neck to body ratio: 0.8 : 1 (<1) 1.7 : 1 (>1.5)

unison (Hickmann, 1948, pp.649-56). By contrast, on Manink

There is a rich culture of lute playing in West Africa. Alth

This article is a reworked version of part of a chapter fr

Early documentation of West African lutes (14th to 18th centuries)

1337-8 (al-'Umaff): When the king of this kingdom [Mali] comes in

APPENDIX 2: References for Fig.2

LUTES WITH FAN-SHAPED BRIDGES

NOT SHOWN ON MAP OR UNIDENTIFIED

diassare (eastern Senegal)

LUTES WITH CYLINDER-SHAPED BRIDGES

Krieger 1968: 407-8 [d]

NOT SHOWN ON MAP OR UNIDENTIFIED

genbra/gnaybra (Mauritania; calabash res.)

s For information and references on griots see Charry (forthcomin

Andre Alvares d'Almada, Tratado Breve dos Rios de Guin6 (1594), e

Diabate, Kasse Mady

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