Gurmi (lute)

The gurmi is a two or three-stringed lute of the Hausa people of northern Nigeria.

"[5] It has a soundbox made from a half calabash or gourd, the opening covered with hide for a soundboard.

Strings are secured to the stump of stick at the bottom and run across a bridge on the hide soundboard to the neck.

While a member of the xalam family of instruments, the gurmi is specific to the Hausa people.

[4] The instrument has been traditionally played by Hausa men to make songs that praise wrestlers.

Hausa musician playing a gurmi
A gurmi as illustrated by P. G. Harris in his 1932 article Notes on Drums and Musical Instruments Seen in Sokoto Province, Nigeria .
A Hausa Griot playing the gurmi (a Hausa variant of the xalam with a signature spherical body) in Diffa , Niger.