(1) The most common name for the double-headed cylindrical snare drum used in the music of a number of West and North African cultures, including parts of Niger, Benin, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Upper Volta, Libya, Algeria and Tunisia. The musical prominence of this kind of drum is largely a result of its use with the kakaki trumpet and the algaita oboe in Hausa ceremonial music, together with the spread of Hausa political influence from the beginning of the 19th century.
The term ‘ganga’ is applied generically by the Hausa to a number of double-headed cylindrical snare drums, the most common, in ascending order of size, being the kurya, a traditional infantry drum about 17 cm long and with a diameter of about 21 cm; the gangar algaita, used with the algaita, about 33 cm long and about 24 cm in diameter; the gangar fada or royal ganga (see illustration), used with the kakaki, about 45 cm long and with a diameter of about 33 cm; and the gangar noma, beaten for farmers, about 65 cm long and about 45 cm in diameter. Except for the gangar noma, which is occasionally laid on the ground, all these drums are suspended from the left shoulder and lie in a near-horizontal position under the performer's left arm. The drum has a wooden body with two goatskin heads lapped over leather hoops and laced together with leather thongs. A piece of cloth is sewn round the body under the lacing, the colour of the cloth indicating the emir to whom the instrument belongs.
The snared skin on the gangar algaita, gangar fada and gangar noma is to the front while on the kurya it is to the rear. Apart from the gangar noma, which is normally beaten with two sticks, the drums are beaten with a curved stick with a flattened head, held in the right hand, and with the fingers of the left hand. Two techniques, or series of strokes, are used in beating the drum; in hannun gaba the left hand beats the front skin and in hannun baya or taushi the rear. Free or open strokes produced with the flat of the stick-head on the centre of the front skin are the lowest in pitch. Notes of medium, high and extra-high pitch are produced from muted or closed stick strokes: medium notes are made with the flat of the stick-head on the centre of the front skin; high with the edge of the stick-head on the centre of the front skin; and extra-high with the flat or the edge of the stick-head on the centre of the front skin together with pressure from the fingers of the left hand on the top edge of the rear skin. A rising pitch is produced by a free stroke with the flat of the stick-head on the centre of the front skin followed by pressure with the knuckle of the left-hand thumb on the centre of the rear skin.
Performance on the Hausa ganga is based primarily on the high and low speech-tones of an unverbalized text and secondarily on its long and short syllabic quantities. Such a text, in praise of the patron of a performance, is called a take. The use of strokes of low, medium, high and extra-high pitch to realize the low and high tones of the take also allows the musician, if he so wishes, to superimpose certain intonational features on its tonal patterns. A straightforward take is shown in Kakaki, ex.1.
A drum of the name ‘ganga’ is used by many other peoples such as the Nupe, Gunga, Dakakari, Duka, Chawai, Jukun, Tigong, Yeskwa, Bolewa, Tangale, Burum, Ngizim, Tera, Bura, Bata, Zaberma and Kanuri in Nigeria, and in Niger by the Songhay, Djerma and Beri-beri, in Chad by the Salamat Arabs, the Mului, Kanembu and Barma peoples, and in southern Libya by the people of Fiwet, Ghat and Traghan. Other peoples using closely related terms for the instrument are: the nomadic Fulani (gunguru), in Nigeria the Janji, Kurama and Piti (oganga), Ankwe (kangak), Gurka (gungak), Kerikeri (gonga), Margi (akangga), Mumuye, Kam and Pero (ganggang), in Benin the Dendi (gangan) and the Taneka (gangangu), in Chad the Zaghawa (ganggang) and in Upper Volta the Mossi (gangado); in Libya in the Fezzan region and in Algeria in Batna the drum is known as gaga.
Usage varies according to the degree of social stratification: in highly stratified societies the ganga forms part of an ensemble of court musicians, usually with long trumpets or oboes; in others it is used mainly to accompany song and dance. In Nigeria court usage is exemplified among the Kanuri, where the ganga kura (big drum) is beaten only for the Shehu of Borno, and among the Nupe at Bida (where it is known locally as enyabo), Abuja, Bauchi and Wase. Elsewhere in Nigeria usage is more varied; the Gunga use two or three professional ganga players to accompany teams of wrestlers, the Burum play a large ganga in drumming for farmers, and the Bura have incorporated the ganga into their xylophone ensemble to accompany dancing, a practice common throughout the northern states, where drums of the ganga type but with local names are used: for example, dang and Mbangak.
In Benin the Taneka gangangu is played with side-blown horns and clapperless bell for masked dancing, and the Dendi gangan with hourglass drums in praise singing for a village chief. In Niger the Songhai ganga and the Djerma ganga at Dosso are similarly used for praise singing, and the Djerma, like the Beri-beri, use the drum with the algaita. In Upper Volta the Mossi gangado is used as part of a drum ensemble at the court of Tenkodogo to accompany praise singing and declamation of the history of the rulers.
In Chad the drum is played by professional musicians and is found particularly in the Kanem region. It has a wooden cylindrical body, 60 to 65 cm high and 30 to 35 cm in diameter, cowhide heads and leather lacing in a Y pattern. The upper head, which has two snares, is struck with a hooked stick with a flattened end; this provides the ‘masculine’ voice. The lower head is struck with the hands and has no snare but in its centre it has a baked disc made from brains, butter and charcoal; its sound is deeper and is the ‘female’ voice. Sometimes the ganga is used alone to convey signals but in a musical context it is always played with another drum, the trembel, and very often with the algaita. This ensemble also forms part of the orchestras of the sultans of the Kotoko.
The Zaghawa ganggang accompanies dancing during rites for a chief and is also used for special rites in case of drought. The Salamat Arabs and Barma are reported to use their ganga with other drums and end-blown flutes respectively to accompany dancing or to encourage canoeists, and the Kanembu and Mului with other drums and either long gachi trumpets or algaita oboes, or both, in the performance of praises and greetings for chiefs.
In Libya in central Fezzan the ganga drums are identical with those in Chad, except that sometimes the body is metal, and in performance instead of using the trembel two ganga drums are paired, one being considered ‘male’ and the other ‘female’. As in Chad these instruments are reserved for professional musicians who, in Fezzan, are usually of slave origin and from regions south of the Sahara. In the large oases in the extreme west of Libya (Ghat, Ghadames) the ganga has a comparatively flat body, 10 to 12 cm in height and 30 cm in diameter, although all other features are the same as in Chad. Playing is exclusively by professional musicians who in these oases are generally blacksmiths.
(2) Single-headed drum of the Sara people of southern Chad. It has a wooden body and its head is attached by wooden sticks driven into the body of the drum. The instrument is played upright and the head is struck with the hands.
Ames-KingGHM
J.F.J. Fitzpatrick: ‘Some Notes on the Kwolla District and its Tribes’, Journal of the African Society, x (1910–11), 16, 213
C.K. Meek: Tribal Studies in Northern Nigeria (London, 1931/R)
P.G. Harris: ‘Notes on Drums and Musical Instruments Seen in Sokoto Province, Nigeria’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, lxii (1932), 105–25
H.E. Hause: ‘Terms for Musical Instruments in the Sudanic Languages: a Lexicographical Inquiry’, Journal of the American Oriental Society (1948), suppl.7
M.F. Smith: Baba of Karo: a Woman of the Muslim Hausa (London, 1954)
M.-J. Tubiana: Survivances préislamiques en pays Zaghawa (Paris, 1964)
M. Brandily: ‘Music of Chad (Kanem)’, BM30 L2309 (1967) [disc notes]
K. Krieger: ‘Musikinstrumente der Hausa’, Baessler-Archiv, new ser., xvi (1968), 373–430
M. Huet: The Dance, Art and Ritual of Africa (London, 1978)
P. Newman and E.H.Davidson: ‘Music from the Villages of North-eastern Nigeria’, AHM 4532 [disc notes]
ANTHONY KING/MONIQUE BRANDILY, K.A. GOURLAY