Amadou Ousmane Ali

Hausa music refers to the traditional and contemporary musical practices of the Hausa people of the central Sahel, especially in northern Nigeria and southern Niger. It blends pre-Islamic ritual and court repertoires with centuries of Islamic influence: long brass trumpets (kakaki) and double-reed shawms (algaita) sound at emirate courts, while the hourglass talking drum (kalangu), frame and barrel drums (ganga), and the one-string spike fiddle (goje) or gourd lute (kuntigi) anchor praise-singing, storytelling, and dance pieces. Melodies are often narrow-ranged and ornamented, with call-and-response vocals and cyclical polyrhythms in 6/8 or 12/8. Lyrics in Hausa celebrate lineage, leaders, and moral values (including Islamic devotion), and may also accompany spirit-possession (Bori) ceremonies. Today, the tradition spans royal ceremonial ensembles, folk praise specialists (mawaka), Islamic devotional song (madahu), and vibrant Kannywood film-pop and Hausa-language hip hop/afropop, all retaining characteristic timbres, rhythms, and poetic devices (kirari—epithets/boasts).