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Soku
A soku () is a traditional West African instrument used in a type of music called Wassoulou which originated in the Wasulu region of southwest Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b .... It is a traditional fiddle, sometimes replaced by modernized versions of the instrument. Known as the n'diaraka or '' njarka'' in Songhai, and '' goje'' in Hausa, it is composed of a single string that usually wails the feminine vocal melody. References Bowed instruments Malian musical instruments {{Composite-instrument-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Wassoulou Music
Wassoulou () is a genre of West African popular music named for the Wassoulou cultural area. Wassoulou music is performed mostly by women. Some recurring themes in the lyrics are childbearing, fertility, and polygamy. Instrumentation includes soku (a traditional fiddle sometimes replaced with modern imported instruments), djembe drum, kamalen n'goni (a six-stringed harp), karinyan (metal tube percussion) and bolon (a four-stringed harp). The vocals are often passionate and emphatic, and delivered in a call-and-response Call and response is a form of interaction between a speaker and an audience in which the speaker's statements ("calls") are punctuated by responses from the listeners. This form is also used in music, where it falls under the general category of ... pattern. Prominent Wassoulou artists include Nahawa Doumbia, Oumou Sangaré, Coumba Sidibe, Dienaba Diakite, Kagbe Sidibe, Sali Sidibe, Jah Youssouf, and Fatoumata Diawara. Notes References * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
West Africa
West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo, as well as Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom Overseas Territories, United Kingdom Overseas Territory).Paul R. Masson, Catherine Anne Pattillo, "Monetary union in West Africa (ECOWAS): is it desirable and how could it be achieved?" (Introduction). International Monetary Fund, 2001. The population of West Africa is estimated at around million people as of , and at 381,981,000 as of 2017, of which 189,672,000 were female and 192,309,000 male.United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2017). World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision, custom data acquired via webs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Wasulu
Wassoulou, sometimes spelled Wassulu, Wassalou, or Ouassalou, is a cultural area and historical region surrounding the point where the borders of Mali, Ivory Coast, and Guinea meet. Home to about 160,000 people, it is bordered by the Niger River to the northwest, and by the Sankarani River to the east. Inhabitants are known as Wassulu, Wassulunka or Wassulunke. History The history of Wassoulou before the 19th century is poorly attested in surviving sources, but it appears to have been a relatively decentralized and egalitarian society composed of ''jamana'', alliances of small villages defended by walls. The region was in some respects tributary to the Segou Empire in the 18th and early 19th centuries, but still suffered regular slave raids. Wassoulou is also the name of an Islamic state, the Wassoulou Empire (1870–1898), ruled by Samori Ture and centered on his capital, Bissandugu. In 1870, Samori overthrew an older Wassoulou state whose ''faama'' (ruler) was Dyanabufar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Mali
Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east by Niger, to the northwest by Mauritania, to the south by Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, and to the west by Guinea and Senegal. The population of Mali is about 23.29 million, 47.19% of which are estimated to be under the age of 15 in 2024. Its Capital city, capital and largest city is Bamako. The country has 13 official languages, of which Bambara language, Bambara is the most commonly spoken. The sovereign state's northern borders reach deep into the middle of the Sahara, Sahara Desert. The country's southern part, where the majority of inhabitants live, is in the Sudanian savanna and has the Niger River, Niger and Senegal River, Senegal rivers running through it. The country's economy centres on agriculture and mining with its most promine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Njarka
The ''njarka'' ( Koyraboro Senni: nzarka) is a small fiddle made from a gourd, with one gut string, which is native to Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b .... Ali Farka Touré was a notable njarka player. References Malian musical instruments One-string fiddles {{mali-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Songhai Language
The Songhay, Songhai or Ayneha languages (, or ) are a group of closely related languages/dialects centred on the middle stretches of the Niger River in the West African countries of Mali, Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso and Nigeria. In particular, they are spoken in the cities of Timbuktu, Djenné, Niamey, Gao, Tillaberi, Dosso, Parakou, Kandi, Natitingou, Djougou, Malanville, Gorom-Gorom, In-Gall and Tabelbala. They have been widely used as a ''lingua franca'' in that region ever since the era of the Songhai Empire. In Mali, the government has officially adopted the dialect of Gao (east of Timbuktu) as the dialect to be used as a medium of primary education. Some Songhay languages have little to no mutual intelligibility between each other. For example, Koyraboro Senni, spoken in Gao, is unintelligible to speakers of Zarma in Niger, according to ''Ethnologue''. However, Songhoyboro Ciine, Zarma, and Dendi have high mutual intelligibility within Niger. For linguists, a m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Goje
The goje (the Hausa language, Hausa name for the instrument) is one of the many names for a variety of one or one-stringed fiddles from West Africa, played by groups such as the Yoruba people, Yoruba in Sakara music and west African groups that inhabit the Sahel. Snakeskin or lizard skin covers a gourd bowl, and a horsehair string is suspended on bridge (instrument), bridge. The goje is played with a bowstring. The goje is commonly used to accompany song, and is usually played as a solo instrument, although it also features prominent in ensembles with other West African string, wind or percussion instruments, including the Shekere, calabash drum, talking drum, or Ney. The instrument is tied to various pre-Islamic Sahelian rituals around jinn possession, such as the Hausa animism, Bori and Hauka traditions of the Maguzawa Hausa people, Maguzawa Hausa, Zarma people, Zarma, Borori, and Songhai people, Songhay. These instruments are held in high esteem and are their use are linked ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Hausa Language
Hausa (; / ; Hausa Ajami, Ajami: ) is a Chadic language spoken primarily by the Hausa people in the northern parts of Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Benin and Togo, and the southern parts of Niger, and Chad, with significant minorities in Ivory Coast. A small number of speakers also exist in Sudan. Hausa is a member of the Afroasiatic language family and is the most widely spoken language within the Chadic branch of that family. Despite originating from a non-tonal language family, Hausa utilizes differences in pitch to distinguish words and grammar. ''Ethnologue'' estimated that it was spoken as a first language by some 58 million people and as a second language by another 36 million, bringing the total number of Hausa speakers to an estimated 94 million. In Nigeria, the Hausa film industry is known as Kannywood. Classification Hausa belongs to the West Chadic languages subgroup of the Chadic languages group, which in turn is part of the Afroasiatic languages, Afro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Bowed Instruments
Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow rubbing the strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound. Despite the numerous specialist studies devoted to the origin of bowing, the origin of bowing remains unknown.Friedrich Behn, Musikleben im Altertum und frühen page 159 List of bowed string instruments Violin family * Cello (violoncello) * Pochette * Viola (altviol, bratsche) * Violin (violino) * Double bass (contrabasso) ;Variants on the standard members of the violin family include: * Baroque violin * Cello da spalla * Five string violin * Hardanger fiddle * Kit violin * Kontra * Låtfiol * Lira da braccio * Octobass * Sardino * Stroh violin * Tenor violin Viol family (Viola da Gamba family) * Alto viol * Bass viol * Tenor viol * Treble viol ;Variants on the standard four members of the viol family include * Baryton * Division viol * Lirone * Lyra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
