The ngoni or "n'goni" is a string instrument

String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...

 originating in West Africa

West Africa

West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...

. Its body is made of wood or calabash

Calabash

Lagenaria siceraria , bottle gourd, opo squash or long melon is a vine grown for its fruit, which can either be harvested young and used as a vegetable, or harvested mature, dried, and used as a bottle, utensil, or pipe. For this reason, the calabash is widely known as the bottle gourd...

 with dried animal (often goat) skin stretched over it like a drum

Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

. In the hands of a skilled ngoni instrumentalist, the ngoni can produce fast rapid melodies. It appears to be closely related to the akonting

Akonting

The akonting is the folk lute of the Jola people, found in Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau in West Africa...

and the xalam

Xalam

Xalam, also spelled khalam, is the Wolof name for a traditional stringed musical instrument from West Africa. The xalam is thought to have originated from modern-day Mali, but some believe that, in antiquity, the instrument may have originated from ancient Egypt...

and this instrument family is believed to be the ancestor of the American banjo

Banjo

In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...

.
This ngoni is called a jeli ngoni, played by griot

Griot

A griot or jeli is a West African storyteller. The griot delivers history as a poet, praise singer, and wandering musician. The griot is a repository of oral tradition. As such, they are sometimes also called bards...

s to perform at celebrations and other special occasions to play the traditional songs (fasa's in manding-language).

Another type of ngoni is believed to have originated among the donso

Donsö

Donsö is a small island in the Southern Göteborg Archipelago and a locality situated in Göteborg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 1,405 inhabitants in 2005.- References :...

, a hunter and storyteller caste of the Wasulu people. The larger donso ngoni is still largely reserved for ceremonial purposes while the smaller kamale ngoni has entered popular musical styles such as Wassoulou music

Wassoulou music

Wassoulou is a genre of West African popular music, named after the region of Wassoulou. It is performed mostly by women, using lyrics that address women's issues regarding childbearing, fertility and polygamy...

.

Donso Ngoni

The donso ngoni, or "hunter's harp", is larger and older than the more popular kamale ngoni. It has six strings and a deep sound. Used for ceremonial purposes, it is often accompanied by singing and the karagnan, a serrated metal tube that is scraped with a metal stick.

Kamale Ngoni

The kamale ngoni or "young man's harp" was invented by the musician, Alata Brulaye in the 1960s. It is smaller, tuned a fourth higher than the traditional ngoni, often made of calabash

Calabash

Lagenaria siceraria , bottle gourd, opo squash or long melon is a vine grown for its fruit, which can either be harvested young and used as a vegetable, or harvested mature, dried, and used as a bottle, utensil, or pipe. For this reason, the calabash is widely known as the bottle gourd...

 rather than wood, and has eight, ten or twelve strings. It became popular in the Wassoulou

Wassoulou

Wassoulou is an historic region in southwest Mali, northeast Guinea and the area west of the Sankarani river and south of the Niger River in Mali and Côte d'Ivoire...

 region and contributed to the rise of Wassoulou music in the 1980s and 90s.

Notable players

• Cheick Hamala Diabate
  Cheick Hamala Diabaté
  Cheick Hamala Diabate is a musician from Mali, West Africa who has been nominated for a Grammy award. Using Adelphi, Maryland as his home he travels all over the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. He has performed at the Kennedy Center, the United States Senate, and the Smithsonian...
  
  
• Issa Bagayogo
  Issa Bagayogo
  Issa Bagayogo is a Malian musician. He has released four full-length albums all under the record label Six Degrees Records. Bagayogo lends his voice and plays the kamele n'goni while Yves Wernert is the producer and keyboardist.-Career:Bagayogo blends his native Malian traditions with western pop...
  
  
• Moriba Koïta
• Bassekou Kouyate
  Bassekou Kouyate
  Bassekou Kouyaté is a musician from Mali. His band is known as Ngoni ba.He was born in Garana, Barouéli Cercle, 60 kilometres from Ségou in 1966. At the age of 12, he started playing the Ngoni. In the late 80's he moved to the capital Bamako.Kouyaté's album Segu Blue was released internationally...
  
  
• Andra Kouyaté
• Baba Sissoko
  Baba Sissoko
  Baba Sissoko is a musician and vocalist. Sissoko is a master of the talking drums...