Molo (lute)

A molo collected by Dr. Lorenzo Dow Turner, from the Hausa people of Nigeria in 1951.
Backside of the molo collected by Dr. Lorenzo Dow Turner, from the Hausa people of Nigeria in 1951. The soundboard is held on and properly tensioned by the rawhide stings on the back of the instrument.

Molo is the name given to a lute by the Hausa people of Niger and northern Nigeria and the Songhay people of Niger.[1] In Ghana, it is called Mɔɣlo in Dagbanli.[2]

Molo is the name used for a specific type of African lute, one that has a boat-shaped body or soundbox, carved from wood and a round dowel for a neck.[1] The soundbox has an open top, covered by duiker hide or goatskin.[1]

Molo has also has become a generalized term for "any plucked string instrument" among the Hauser people in Nigeria.[1] As the name of a specific type of lute among the Hauser, the instrument is one of at least seven different Hausa lutes, also including the round bodied garaya (2-string. wood body), gurmi (3-string gourd bodied), gurumi (2-sting calabash bodied), the komo (2-sting gourd body), the kwamsa (or komsa, 2-string, gourd bodied) and the kontigi.[3]

  1. ^ a b c d Gourlay, K. A. (1984). "Molo". In Sadie Stanley (ed.). The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Vol. 2. London: MacMillan Press. p. 681.
  2. ^ "Chapter I-12: Drummers and Other Musicians of Dagbon".
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Winans was invoked but never defined (see the help page).