page_title: Xalam
hierarchical_section_title: Xalam
caption_attribution_description: A Griot performs at Diffa, Niger, West Africa. Playing a Ngoni or Xalam.
context_page_description: Xalam is 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. Many believe that it is an ancestor to the African American banjo.
  The xalam is commonly played in Mali, Gambia, Senegal, Niger, Northern Nigeria, Northern Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and Western Sahara; it, and its variants, are also known in other languages as bappe, diassare, hoddu, koliko, kologo, komsa, kontigi, gurmi, garaya, koni, konting, molo, ndere, ngoni, and tidinit.
  In Wolof, who plays the xalam is called a xalamkat.
  In Mande, this is ngonifola or konting fola.
  In Hausa, this is mai gurmi or mai kontigi.
context_section_description: Xalam (in Serer, or khalam in Wolof) is 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. Many believe that it is an ancestor to the African American banjo.
  The xalam is commonly played in Mali, Gambia, Senegal, Niger, Northern Nigeria, Northern Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and Western Sahara; it, and its variants, are also known in other languages as bappe, diassare, hoddu (Pulaar), koliko (Gurunsi), kologo (Frafra), komsa, kontigi, gurmi, garaya (Hausa), koni, konting (Mandinka), molo (Songhay/Zarma), ndere, ngoni (Bambara), and tidinit (Hassaniyya and Berber).
  In Wolof, who plays the xalam is called a xalamkat (a word composed of the verbal form of xalam, meaning "to play the xalam", and the agentive suffix -kat, thus meaning "one who xalams").
  In Mande, this is ngonifola or konting fola.
  In Hausa, this is mai gurmi or mai kontigi.
caption: A Hausa Griot playing the gurmi (a Hausa variant of the xalam with a signature spherical body) in Diffa, Niger.
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