Mali
Bamana

Gourd, cane, skin, metal, fiber, nylon strings
1970’s
Length: 57 inches
Chordophone – Bridge-Harp – Plucked

Donso (hunter’s) ‘ngoni’ in Bamana language.  Donso means hunting. Hunters use these spike bridge-harps to accompany the long, epic stories about famous hunters and generally hunter’s mythology. This six-string (arranged in two ranks of three strings) pentatonic instrument of the traditional hunters societies in Mali and Guinea, originates from the Wassoulou region of southern Mali.  At the top of the neck is a ‘nyenmyemo‘ (metal resonator fringed with metal rings).