Collection of Drago Muvrin's African objects of art

Svira: --- 
Kamale ngoni
Inv. num. 185

West Africa
wood, leather, pumpkin, thread, cowry
shell
h=133 cm

Purpose: musical instrument

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The ngoni or African guitar is the instrument very similar to Cora, but with a lesser number of strings.  While the cora has 21 strings, the ngoni has between 8 strings at the least and 16 at the most.  The body of the ngoni is made from the calabash, wood, goat skin and nylon strings.  It is mostly tuned to a pentatonic scale.

In the past, it was the instrument of African hunters.  Nowadays it is a very popular West African instrument, played by the griots who have the role of narrators and repositories of oral tradition in the West African culture.