Garaya (lute)

The garaya or komo is an oval-bodied, two-string spike lute from Niger and Northern Nigeria.

[1] A garaya is around 50 centimeters long, plucked with a plectrum made from stiffened cowhide or hippopotamus hide.

[2] The instrument has a wooden soundbox in the shape of an oval, covered with goatskin or duiker-skin and a neck that goes through both sides of the bowl.

[2] A larger version of the instrument is called the babbar garaya or komo.

[3] The instruments have traditionally been played to make "praise" songs for hunters, accompanied by gourd rattles.

A man plays the garaya, a lute of Hausa and Fulani peoples. The Hausa version has a wooden body, while the Fulani use a gourd for the body. [ 1 ]