File talk:Diffa Niger Griot DSC 0177.jpg

Instrument identification, copied from Commons talk page for this image

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)[reply]

^ ^a ^b ^c Pestcoe, Shlomo; Adams, Greg 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). "Gurmi". In Sadie Stanley (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 2. London: MacMillan Press. p. 111.

[BR&B-1] Pestcoe, Shlomo; Adams, Greg 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.]

[Grove-2] Gourlay, K. A. (1984). "Gurmi". In Sadie Stanley (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 2. London: MacMillan Press. p. 111.

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