Owner: HWMC
Catalog#: AF-CHHP-31-14
Provenance: Alan Suits of “Coyote’s Paw Gallery” in Sante Fe, NM
Source: “Mande Music” by Eric Charry, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Bridge-Harps
Bamana 'Kamalen ngoni'
Mali
Bamana
Gourd, cane, skin, metal
Mid 20th century
Length: 46 inches
Chordophone – Bridge-Harp – Plucked
The Kamalen ngoni is a six to eight stringed, pentatonic instrument, tuned a fourth higher than the donso (hunter’s) ngoni from which it evolved. The name “Kamal” (means ‘young men’) because it was played by young men for occasions other than hunting, such as, young people’s initiation societies. Within the last 40 years the kamalen ngoni has become a popular instrument in Malian music.