The Hausa term, commonly used, for a type of oboe of the savanna zone of West Africa, particularly southern Mali and Niger, northern Nigeria, southern Chad and the adjoining areas of Cameroon. The FulBe (Fulani) instrument is called algaitaru, while in parts of north-eastern Nigeria (e.g. Bauchi and among the Bolewa or Bole and Kilba or Huba peoples) it is called aligata; the Kanuri use the name alita and the Tiv people of east-central Nigeria agida. The agida is the principal instrument of a lively popular dance-style known as swange, and a statue of a performer has been erected at a central place in Makurdi, the Tiv capital of the state of Benue in Nigeria. The instrument is an importation from the Maghrib and has carried with it not only the name (gaita; see Gaita (i)) but, in most cases, the article ‘al’.
The algaita consists of a leather-covered pipe (with conical bore) about 30 cm long, and a bell end about 10 cm long, and is made from a single piece of wood. This is connected by a narrow pipe to a transverse circular disc, both usually made of brass, and to the double reed, which is made from stalks of wild grass. The Nigerian instrument usually has four finger-holes, though the ghaita of the Kanembu people of south-western Chad has five. The player presses his lips against the disc, blowing both round and through the reed and using his cheeks as an air reservoir so that the instrument can be blown continuously (see illustration).
The algaita is associated with the authority of traditional rulers and forms part of an ensemble that includes long metal trumpets (see Kakaki) and double-headed cylindrical drums (see Ganga). This group performs praise-epithets at the courts of rulers. The algaita may also be played solo, as in Kano, Nigeria, where the emir’s algaita player both sings and plays the praise-words associated with his patron. Outside traditionally stratified societies such as the Hausa, it has been adopted to local usage, for example, among the Bura and Tera (Cara) peoples of north-eastern Nigeria, where it is frequently played in instrumental dance ensembles or with xylophone and drums.
See also Cameroon; Chad; Congo, Republic of the; Hausa music; Morocco; Nigeria; and Oboe, §I, 1.
Ames–KingGHM
P.G. Harris: ‘Notes on Drums and Musical Instruments Seen in Sokoto Province, Nigeria’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, lxii (1932), 105
H.E. Hause: ‘Terms for Musical Instruments in the Sudanic Languages: a Lexicographical Inquiry’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, lxxiii (1948), suppl.7
T. Nikiprowetzky: Niger: la musique des griots, OCR 20 (c1965) [disc notes]
C. Duvelle and M. Vuylstèke: Anthologie de la musique du Tchad, OCR 36, 37, 38 (1966) [disc notes]
M. Brandily: Music of Chad (Kanem), BM30 L2309 (1967) [disc notes]
K. Krieger: ‘Musikinstrumente der Hausa’, Baessler-Archiv, new ser., xvi (1968), 373–430
P. Newman and E.H. Davidson: Music from the Villages of North-eastern Nigeria, AHM 4532 (1971) [disc notes]
ANTHONY KING/K.A. GOURLAY/ROGER BLENCH