The Hausa are a people based in Northern Nigeria and Niger, but are present in many parts of West Africa, with sizable communities present in Ghana, the northern halves of Benin and Cameroon. They are also present in the western Sudan (Darfur region) and smaller urban communities in North Africa.
This is an old clip taken from Nigerien TV of a well known Nigerien singer Taguimba from Dogondoutchi town in Arewa region, Niger, (she passed away recently). She belonged to the Bori cult (a minority cult that mixed Islam with traditional cult beliefs) singing deep northern Hausa traditional praise songs.
As the Hausa are a predominantly Muslim peoples, praises would usually start off with those of Allah and the Prophet. Thereafter, patrons from among the audience then may literally "shower" money gifts upon the Maka'da (griot praise singers) and in return get their praises sung (as seen in this video). The amount of money depends on the amount of praise, and commonly whole songs are dedicated to patrons who had given large donations of money (Politicians, Emirs, Traditional Chiefs (Sarki/Shugaba), Mallams etc.
Praise-singing is one of the oldest genres of sung music in the world and has a long recorded-history in parts of Asia and Africa. It should be noted that although the Hausa are a predominantly Muslim people, musical traditions, as well as instruments, are purely indigenous to the region.
Instruments:
GOGE: Traditional fiddle
TSIRIKI: Traditional flute
KWARYA: Calabash bowl
SHANTU: Gourd Shaker
Tags: taguimba hausa singing griot bori cult sufi west africa niger money kud'i nigeria ghana haoussa music african