The

Hausa Hausa may refer to: * Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa * Hausa language, spoken in West Africa * Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states * Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse See also ...

are one of the largest

ethnic group An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

s in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesGhana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

and in many West and Central African countries. Their folk music has played an important part in the development of

Nigerian music The music of Nigeria includes many kinds of folk and popular music, styles of folk music are related to the multitudes of ethnic groups in the country, each with their own techniques, instruments, and songs. Little is known about the country's ...

, contributing such elements as the

Goje The goje (the Hausa name for the instrument) is one of the many names for a variety of one or two-stringed fiddles from West Africa, almost exclusively played by ethnic groups inhabiting the Sahel and Sudan sparsely vegetated grassland belts lea ...

, a one-stringed fiddle. There are two broad categories of traditional Hausa music: rural folk music and urban court music. They introduced the African pop culture genre that is still popular today. Ceremonial music (''rokon fada'') is performed as a status symbol, and musicians are generally chosen for political reasons as opposed to musical ones. Ceremonial music can be heard at the weekly ''sara'', a statement of authority by the emir which takes place every Thursday evening. Courtly praise-singers like the renowned Narambada, are devoted to singing the virtues of a patron, such as a

sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

emir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cerem ...

. Praise songs are accompanied by

kettledrum Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally ...

s and ''kalangu''

talking drum The talking drum is an hourglass-shaped drum from West Africa, whose pitch can be regulated to mimic the tone and prosody of human speech. It has two drumheads connected by leather tension cords, which allow the player to change the pitc ...

s, along with the

kakaki The kakaki is a three to four metre long metal trumpet used in Hausa traditional ceremonial music. ''Kakaki'' is the name used in Chad, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Benin Niger, and Nigeria. The instrument is also known as ''malakat'' in Ethiopia. ...

, a kind of long

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

derived from that used by the Songhai

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

. Rural folk music includes styles that accompany the young girls' asauwara dance and the bòòríí or

Bori religion Hausa animism , "Maguzanci" or Bori is a pre-Islamic traditional religion of the Hausa people of West Africa that involves magic and spirit possession. Most of the adherents of the religion accepted Islam after the 18th century Jihad by the Isl ...

both well known for their music. It has been brought as far north as Tripoli, Libya by trans-Saharan trade. The bòòríí cult features trance music, played by calabash, lute or fiddle. During ceremonies, women and other marginalized groups fall into trances and perform odd behaviors, such as mimicking a pig or sexual behavior. These persons are said to be possessed by a character, each with its own litany (kírààrì). There are similar trance cults (the so-called "mermaid cults") found in the Niger Delta region. Popular Hausa music artists include

Muhamman Shata Alhaji (Dr) Mamman Shata (born in 1900 in Musawa, Katsina State, Nigeria, died on 18 June 1999) was a Nigerian singer. He was a well-known griot/musician among the Hausa people of West Africa. His vocals were often accompanied by talking drums, ...

, who sings accompanied by drummers,

Dan Maraya Dan Maraya Jos (also known as Adamu Danmaraya Jos; born Adamu Wayya in 1946 – 20 June 2015) was a Nigerian Hausa griot best known for playing the kontigi. Life Dan Maraya Jos, whose name means "The Orphan of Jos", was born in 1946 in Buku ...

, who plays a one-stringed

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

called a kuntikii,

Audo Yaron Goje Audo is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Joseph VI Audo (1790–1878), Iraqi Chaldean patriarch *Toma Audo Mar Toma Audo ( syr, ܬܐܘܡܐ ܐܘܕܘ), also spelled Thomas Audo (October 10, 1854 - July 27, 1918) was Archbishop ...

, who plays the

goje The goje (the Hausa name for the instrument) is one of the many names for a variety of one or two-stringed fiddles from West Africa, almost exclusively played by ethnic groups inhabiting the Sahel and Sudan sparsely vegetated grassland belts lea ...

, and

Ibrahim Na Habu Ibrahim ( ar, إبراهيم, links=no ') is the Arabic name for Abraham, a Biblical patriarch and prophet in Islam. For the Islamic view of Ibrahim, see Abraham in Islam. Ibrahim may also refer to: * Ibrahim (name), a name (and list of people ...

, who plays a small fiddle called a

kukkuma A kukkuma (Hausa: '' kukuma'') is a small fiddle (about cm long) used in Hausa music. A spike fiddle or spike lute, the instrument is made from a calabash Calabash (; ''Lagenaria siceraria''), also known as bottle gourd, white-flowered gourd ...

.Instrumentation: aglhaïta -

duma A duma (russian: дума) is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term ''boyar duma'' is used to refer to advisory councils in Russia from the 10th to 17th centuries. Starting in the 18th century, city dumas were for ...

- ganga - goge - kakati -

kontigi A kontigi or kuntigi is a one- or three-stringed African lute. The one string version is used among the Songhai and Djerma. The 3-string version ''teharden'' is used among the Tamashek. The instrument is also used in Hausa music, primarily i ...

- molo Turino, pg. 184; Bensignor, François and Ronnie Graham, "Sounds of the Sahel" and "From Hausa Music to Highlife" in the ''Rough Guide to World Music'', pgs. 585 - 587 and pgs. 588 - 600

References

Further reading