lute, dùngùrù

Lute system used by the Nupe people of Nigeria, described in Blench (2010). The instrument itself (dùngùrù in Nupe) is a spike lute with a wooden or gourd body and two twisted leather strings (Blench 2010:15). The strings are “tuned 3-400 cents apart” and plucked with the fingers or a leather plectrum (15).The language is tonal, with L, M, and H register tones, as well phonemic falling and rising contours (4).Writing generally about Nupe surrogate language, Blench says: “instrumental performance is characterised as a type of speech since instruments can imitate speech tones and thus ‘say’ things” (8). About the dùngùrù: “The lute is used both to create the rhythmic ostinati that underlie the refrains of hunters’ songs, and to ‘speak’ the praises of individual hunters” (15). It is played by hunters in hunting-specific ceremonies.

Blench, R. (2010). Oral literature genres of the Nupe of Central Nigeria. rogerblench.info