Khassonké
Encyclopedia
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
of Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
's Kayes Region
Kayes Region
Kayes Region is one of eight first level national subdivisions, called Regions in Mali. It is the first administrative area of Mali and covers an area of 120,760 km²...
. Descendants of the Fula
Fula people
Fula people or Fulani or Fulbe are an ethnic group spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and Sudanese North Africa...
and Malinké Khasso
Khasso
Khasso or Xaaso was a West African kingdom of the 17th to 19th centuries, occupying territory in what is today Senegal and the Kayes Region of Mali. Its capital was at Medina until its fall....
kingdoms, they speak the Khassonke/Xaasongaxango language
Xaasongaxango language
The Kassonke language, Xaasongaxango , or Western Maninka , is a Manding language spoken by the Khassonké of western Mali and by the Malinke of eastern Senegal. The Kassonke variety is a national language in Mali...
, a Manding language
Manding languages
The Manding languages are a fairly mutually intelligible group of dialects or languages in West Africa, belonging to the Mande languages. Their best-known members are Bambara, the most widely spoken language in Mali; Mandinka, the main language of Gambia; Maninka or Malinké, a major language of...
similar to Bambara
Bambara language
Bambara, more correctly known as Bamanankan , its designation in the language itself , is a language spoken in Mali by as many as six million people...
.
Their traditional musical instruments are the dundunba (a big cylindrical drum with two skins), the jingò
Jingo
Jingo can refer to:*Jingoism, belligerent nationalism*Jingu of Japan , a legendary empress of Japan*Jingo , from the Discworld series...
(a small cylindrical drum with two skins), the tantanwò (a small drum), the tamandinwo (an aisselle drum), as well as lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
s and harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
s and hunters' whistles.