Africa is not well known for its ethnic stringed instruments. Probably the most famous one is the KORA, but that is a kind of "harp", (see notincluded).
However there are quite a few instruments that are "guitar-like".
In North Africa you can find several types of lute.

This page is here divided in West Africa, Southern Africa, Madagascar, East Africa and North Africa.

For the Canary Islands and Cape Verde see West Europe.

The typical African lute-like instruments are all basically of the same construction, whatever the name (like ngoni, or hajhuj, or gunbri) : a wooden bowl, covered with a hide, with a round stick as neck that has on the end tuning "pegs". The other side of the stick goes through a hole in the hide, where the bridge rests on the stick, and the strings are fixed to the end of it. A similar type of instrument was already found in the time of the Pharaos.

In Central and West Africa you can find this widely used type : the ngoni. Alternative names for it are : hoddu, tidinit, xalam, khalam, kontingo, koni, molo, konde, gaaci, ganbare, tehardent (with the Tuareg), etc.
The name depends usually more on the area it is used, than on a difference in appearence. It is mainly found in countries like : Mali, Senegal, Mauretania, etc.

Although it has many different names, basically it is always a very similar instrument.
The body is a hollowed-out carved wooden bowl, with a hide stretched over the front. The leather covering of the front is often glued onto the edge of the bowl, with wooden pins around the edge to strengthen the join. A short round wooden (broom)stick is used as neck and stuck in the body through the hide, untill halfway the bowl.

The (usually 4, nylon) strings are fastened to leather hoops around the neck and tuned by moving those up and down the neck (although this seems primitive - you even have to lick the leather hoops to make them stick - the tuning stays put amazingly well).

At the other end the strings are fixed with knots to the end of the broomstick, which sticks through a small hole in the leather front. The 2 middle strings are almost full length, the shorter outer strings serve as a kind of drone (like the 5-string banjo). Some ngoni are nowadays electric. Others have more strings.

Amazingly these rather primitive looking instruments can be played quite virtuously. Only the two middle longer strings are fingered, the rest are picked open. Playing is in a kind of banjo-style (including frailing) without plectrum.

For more information on ngoni see Coraconnection and Malimusic.

	7 stringed ngoni (electric)
	tidinit type ngoni (electric)

The akonting is a kind of large ngoni from the Senegal/Gambia area. It is apparently now quite rare. The Jola call it akonting and the Manjak bunchundo.

The akonting has a large round body, made from a gourd of about 0.35m diameter. The skin is goat, fixed to the gourd with nails along the edge.
The neck (about 1.20m long) is a bamboo papyrus broomstick that pierces the body. The (nylon) strings are tunable with leather hoops and run over a loose heavy bridge on the skin, to the end of the broomstick.

It is played with clawhammer technique, in repeated riffs to accompany songs.

picture from website Ragtime.nu

Information about the akonting as prototype of the American banjo, can be found via the researchers Daniel Jatta /Ulf Jagfors : Akonting.

The gurumi (or gouroumi) is a kind of small ngoni from the Niger area. Other names are molo or kamsi. It also looks like a small akonting.

The gurumi has a rather small round body, made from a gourd or a piece of hollowed out wood, of about 0.20m diameter. The skin is goat, fixed to the body with nails along the edge. The neck (about 1.00m long) is a broomstick that pierces the body.

There are 2, 3 or 4 (metal or nylon) strings, tunable with leather hoops. They run over a loose heavy bridge on the skin, to the end of the broomstick.

It is played with clawhammer technique, in repeated simple riffs to accompany songs.

Left : Malam Maman Barka, gurumi master (from website Beautysaloonmusic.com)

The ramkie is the famous "blik kitaar" from Southern Africa; a home made guitar, using an empty oil-can for the body.

The wooden neck is sometimes stuck all the way through the can; sometimes it is fixed to a wooden "lid" on the top. The frets are made from U-shaped pieces of wire stuck in the front of the neck. The kind of capodastre construction is usually just an upside-down "bridge" and can not be moved.

The 4 to 6 strings (if not of nylon fishline) are made of unravelled bicycle brake wire. Usually an open tuning is used, like c f a c'.

The ramkie is mainly found in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Malawi.

Quite recently a modern, electric version of the ramkie (also available in USA and Europe) with a proper professional neck is factory-made in Capetown by African Oil Can Guitars : Townshipguitars.

For more information about the history of the ramkie : Guitarfoundation (in German).

left: a "bass ramkie" , made from an empty plastic container; instead of frets, a piece of wood was used to shorten the (fish line) string. It was used in a group with an oilcan ramkie. (seen in Malawi, 2006) right: a souvenir ramkie, painted in African colours, with 4 nylon strings; bought in Capetown, 2003.

Madagascar is most famous for its valiha, which is in fact a tube zither (made of a piece of bamboo tube), played similar to the African kora, with hands from both sides and the notes alternating left and right.

Besides the normal Spanish guitar, this small "guitar" called kabosi, is very popular. It is often made of a quite primitive construction, but it has a very powerful sound. Notice that the name is quite close to the gabusi lute (see under), but that the instrument is quite different.

The body of the kabosi is made like a guitar, but the body shape can be various: round, square, like a guitar, like a mandolin, etc. Modern "professional" ones tend to be rectangular. The neck is fixed to the body and has a separate, thin fingerboard. The sound hole has extra holes around it as decoration.

Bits of metal fret are used only under the strings where they are necessary for the normally played songs. The 3 pairs of metal strings are made from unraveled bicycle brake cables. The bottom bass string is made of three wires twisted together.
Tuning is in open D : dd' ges'ges' a'a'.

The cheaper versions are usually painted in a red and/or orange colour (which is probably shoe polish).

The kabosi can be heard on many CD's from Madagascar, in typical Malagasy complicated rhythms, like (5+7)/12 and (6+6)/12, or a steady 4 beat with the kabosi strummed in fast triples.

This is a small primitive lute/guitar from Madagascar. It can also be found on the main land of Africa as tzetze or zeze, or as dzendzé ya shitsuva on the Comoros islands.

It is made from a gourd, with a black painted wooden stick attached to it. It has 3 wire strings and three "frets", carved out of the stick.

The lokango voatavo is not often played anymore. I have not seen or heard anyone playing this instrument.

kibangala / gabusi

In East Africa still exists here and there a small lute-like instrument, called kibangala on the Swahili coast, gabusi on the Comoros (see under), qabus in Saudi Arabia, gabbus in Oman or qanbus in the Yemen (see Middle East). It is replaced now almost everywhere by the much larger Arabian oud. It may have been the eldest of the lutes.

The body and neck are quite small and carved from one piece of wood. The lower part of the body is hollowed out, and covered with hide. It has a sickle-shaped pegbox, usually ending in a square to the front, with friction pegs on both sides. It has no frets. The strings run over a loose bridge on the skin to a quite large peg-like extension at the end of the body. It has 4-8 gut/nylon strings in 4 courses and is played with a plectrum.

This instrument has travelled centuries ago with the Arab sailors (just like the Oud) all the way to South East Asia, where the gambus is still played in Sabah and Brunei.

The example kibangala is a reconstruction, made by Athman Hussein for Werner Graebner, and played by Zein l'Abdin from Kenya. I tried in vain in 1988 to find a qanbus in San'a in the Yemen - they only had ouds. left : part of a blue print plan from the Guild of American Luthiers Instrument Plans GAL .

This is the gabusi (in French : gaboussi) from the Comoros Islands.

There are two main designs of gabusi :

The first type is very close to the Swahili kibangala (see above), except that it looks far more primitive and rustic. It is still widely used on Anjouan Island and on Mayotte / Mahore (French Comoros).

The entire instrument is carved out of a single piece of wood. The body and the neck is hollowed. The general shape is that of half a long peach. The larger part of the body is covered with a goat skin, which is glued and nailed on the soundbox.
There is a small soundhole in the middle of the skin. The neck is covered with a thin piece of wood. It is fretless.

The tuning head is straight and open, and does not have the characteristic sickle shape of the qanbus family. There are 3 friction pegs on both sides.

The six nylon strings (all made of the same thickness fishing line) are arranged in four courses and run over a loose wooden bridge to nails at the end of the body.
Tuning would be something like : D g bb dd.


The second type looks even more primitive and rustic. This type is mainly used on Moheli Island and on Mayotte.

This type is also made from one piece of wood, with a hollow neck. However, the body is not pear-shaped, but quite small and square.
The tuning head is flat, and the strings go over the top nut through a hole to the back of the tuning head. It has small friction pegs on both sides.

This type of gabusi has usually only three or four single fishing line strings, though double strings can be found.
Tuning would be something like : (D) g b d.

Playing the gabusi is mainly strumming, with a plectrum or with the fingers.

The gabusi is very often paired with the mkayamba, a raft-shaped shaker. In Mayotte (French Comoros) it is widely used in M'godro music, a kind of dance music which is very influenced by Madagascan music, hence the gabusi player usually performs short cyclic patterns involving only two or three basic chords.

For lots of information about the different cordophones on the Comoros (especially on Mahore / Mayotte), see Mahorais (in French)

The hajhuj (or hajhouj) is often played by the Berbers and the Touaregs of the Sahara and it can thus be found both in the north (Morocco) as in the south (Mali) of the desert. Sometimes the name sentir (or sintir) is used for this instrument, and also gunbri or gunibri (but see also the instruments furtheron).

The hajhuj is basically similar to the ngoni, but it is much bigger and usually has a square (or almost square) body outline, with a half-cylinder or bowl shape back. The 3 thick coloured nylon strings (almost like washing line) are fixed to nylon loops around the wooden "broomstick" neck and can be tuned by moving those up and down the neck.

On the top of the neck is a brass device with rings, to add extra jingling effects to the sound. Often the hajhuj is decorated, (like in the example with pink painting), or with shiny nails around the edge of the body to fix the skin.

The hajhuj is played as a kind of bass instrument in a frailing banjo style (picking with the nails downwards), with usually only the longest (bottom) string fingered, the others are played open as drones.

The gunbri is another popular lute North of the Sahara, played mainly by the Berbers and Rwais tribes in Morocco. Other names are guimbri, gimbri, gambre, gombri.

The body is a rounded piece of wood hollowed out, with a (goat) skin glued over the front. A thick round neck goes all the way through the body. The neck and the tuning pegs are turned on a lathe. The wood is usually left plain.

The 4 silk or nylon strings run over a loose wooden bridge and are fastened to the end of the round neck stick, through a small hole in the skin.

The gunbri is usually played with the fingers. An extra hoop is tied around the neck to serve as "nut", giving all the strings the same scale length. However like on the ngoni, usually only the 2 middle strings are fingered.

A smaller version of the gunbri is called swisdi or suissen and used in popular urban style of singing. A larger version, which is called lotar (or lutar - see under), is used in the Middle Atlas region by the Amazigh imdyazn (bards).

For more information about North African instruments : Banjoancestors.

The example gunbri is quite decorated (which is rare) as it is painted red (even the skin is coloured), and it has a nice (painted) decoration on the back.

The gunibri is a small gunbri, with 3 nylon strings. There are several qualities; this one is with the body made of a tortoise shell and has quite a thick skin. The body could also be made like the gunbri from hollowed out wood. The neck here is painted black, with scratches to reveal the wood underneath as decoration.

The better quality ones - resembling more the gunbri - are sometimes called suissen and used in a certain type of Moroccan classical music.

The back of the body is made of a tortoise.

The lotar is another gunbri-like lute from the Rwais tribe in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco.

This type has 2, 3 or 4 nylon strings, with large round tuning pegs. The neck is turned on a lathe and usually painted with rings in bright colours - green, yellow, red and black. The body is made from a piece of wood, or a coconut, or any other bowl shaped object.

The lotar is usually played by a duo, which also includes a rebab, a one string spike fiddle.

There is another instrument called lotar (or lutar), used in the Middle Atlas region by the Amazigh imdyazn (bards). This instrument is much larger (0.9m), and very similar to the gumbri.
(picture from NicholasWood.net)

The example has the body made of a small empty (blue) plastic bowl.

The oud is the well known lute of the Arabs. It is played not only in the northern part of Africa, but in most of the other Muslim countries of Africa as well.
In fact two different kind of ouds exist :
- the oud with 4 courses
- the oud with 5 or 6 courses (also known as oud sharqi - "lute of the east").
This last one is nowadays by far the most popular instrument. See for a full description of this oud the next section : Middle East.

The four-course oud is now quite rare. It exists only in Algeria (in Tlemcen province) as the kwitra (see under), and in Tunisia and in East Algeria (in the Constantine province) as the oud arbi (or ud / oud tunsi or Tunisian ud / oud). In Morocco (where it was called ud / oud ramal) the four-course oud is not used anymore.

The oud arbi looks like a normal oud, but it has a smaller body and the neck looks a bit longer. The back is made of 15 to 20 ribs, glued together. The top half of the (unvarnished) soundboard sticks out a few milimeters over the edge of the body; the bottom half has dark purfling along a decorative top rib around the edge. The join between neck and body is covered with extra star-shaped ribs.

Although the pegbox also bends back, the curve is different from that of the oud, and it ends in a violin-like curl.

It may have one or three decorated round rosettes (usually carved in the soundboard, unlike the separate ones of the oud), and a (diamond shaped) scratchplate between rosettes and bridge. The bridge usually is decorated and has "moustaches". The fingerboard is flush with the soundboard, and it has no frets.

The oud arbi has (like the kwitra) 4 courses of double nylon strings (lowest are wound). The tuning is : gg e'e' aa d'd' (note the octave jump on the 3th course). The oud arbi is played with a long, flat thin plectrum, and used in Arab-Andalusian music, in orchestras that often also include (besides many violins) several oud sharqi and mandolas. The strings are often used as drones.

oud arbi (picture from website UMBC)

For lots more information about the oud arbi (and kwitra) see Diapason de Skikda (halfway the blog, in French).

Although the kwitra is quite similar to the oud arbi (see above) in having 4 courses, the body is more elongated (more like a Renaissance lute), with smaller dimensions, and the pegbox less bend back and often quite straight. This type of four-course oud is now also quite rare. It exists only in Algeria (in Algiers and in Tlemcen province) where it is called kwitra (or kuitra or kouitra or even quwaytara).

picture left from CD by Beihdja Rahal

The single rosette is often in the shape of a pot of flowers.

The kwitra has (like the oud arbi) 4 courses of double nylon strings. The tuning is also the same : gg e'e' aa d'd'. The kwitra is played with a long, flat thin plectrum, and used in Arab-Andalusian music, in orchestras that often also include (besides many violins) several oud sharqi and mandolas.

For lots more information about the kwitra (and the oud arbi) see Diapason de Skikda (halfway the blog, in French).

In North Africa (mainly in Algeria), a special plucked instrument is getting popular since the 1960's, which is a combination of an oud, a guitar and a mando-cello. It is known as the mondol, or mandol or mandole. It developed from a large mandola, with 4 double strings, but now it often has 5 courses. It is mainly used in popular music, especially in Chaabi and Kabylie music.

The mondol is a mando-cello, with a guitar-style neck, and raised fingerboard. The body has always a flat back, never rounded like an oud. The soundhole is often diamant-shaped, but you may also find round rosettes and even multiple rosettes (like on the oud). There is usually a scratch-plate between soundhole and bridge.

The neck has metal frets like a guitar, but the modern mondol can be recognized by two extra (quarter tone) frets : between the 1st and 2nd, and between the 3th and 4th frets. Some players use even more. These are mainly used in Kabylie music.

The 5 double metal strings are tuned with guitar-like tuning machines on a slotted peghead. The strings run over a thin loose bridge to small pins or a string-holder on the edge of the body.

mondol with rosettes like an oud (picture from website Takil.net)

Tuning of a mondol can be (EE) AA dd gg bb (lower strings of a guitar), or like an oud, or similar to a mando-cello : (DD) GG dd aa e'e'.

It is played with a plectrum, to accompany singing.