Molo is the name given to a lute by the Hausa people of Niger and northern Nigeria and the Songhay people of Niger. In

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

, it is called Mɔɣlo in Dagbanli. ''Molo'' is the name used for a specific type of African lute, one that has a boat-shaped body or soundbox, carved from wood and a round dowel for a neck. The soundbox has an open top, covered by

duiker A duiker is a small to medium-sized brown antelope native to sub-Saharan Africa, found in heavily wooded areas. The 22 extant species, including three sometimes considered to be subspecies of the other species, form the subfamily Cephalophinae ...

hide or goatskin. ''Molo'' has also has become a generalized term for "any plucked string instrument" among the Hauser people in Nigeria. As the name of a specific type of lute among the Hauser, the instrument is one of at least seven different Hausa lutes, also including the round bodied garaya (2-string. wood body), gurmi (3-string gourd bodied), ''gurumi'' (2-sting calabash bodied), the ''komo'' (2-sting gourd body), the ''kwamsa'' (or ''komsa'', 2-string, gourd bodied) and the '' kontigi''.

Relationship to the banjo

The instrument found some fame when it identified by Lorenzo Dow Turner as possibly being the instrument in

The Old Plantation ''The Old Plantation'' is an American folk art watercolor probably painted in the late 18th century on a South Carolina plantation... It is notable for its early date, its credible, non-stereotypical depiction of slaves on the North American mainl ...

print, the earliest depiction of the banjo in the United States. However, the hypothesis has been disputed by researchers examining the details of both instruments. Where the ''molo'' has a boat shaped body, a round neck that only goes through the body at one end, and 2-3 strings tied to slip rings around the instrument's neck, the African-American banjo in the painting has a round gourd body, flat neck that goes through 2 sides of the body, and four strings attached to tuning pegs on the instrument's neck. Victor Grauer, another who credited the instrument as a possible ancestor to the banjo, based his idea on the ''molo's'' short string, designed to play only one note being similar to the banjo's 5th string, which plays only one note).

Cultural uses

Both the garaya and the molo have been used for religious ceremony, the "'' Bori'' spirit possession cult." All three are used today for entertainment and to accompany "praise singing."

References

{{reflist Spike lutes Drumhead lutes Nigerian musical instruments Hausa musical instruments West African musical instruments