Mamane Barka Explained

Malam Mamane Barka (1958/1959 – 21 November 2018) was a Nigerian musician, and one of the world's most prominent players of the biram African harp.^[1] He died on 21 November 2018, aged 59.^[2]

Biography

Malam Mamane Barka was born in 1958 or 1959 in Tesker, a town in the east of the then autonomous republic of Niger. He came from the nomadic people of Toubou. As a player of the Ngurumi, a two-string plucked instrument, he gained popularity in his homeland and neighboring Nigeria. In 2002 he decided to devote himself to the study of Biram. It is a five-stringed instrument used by the Boudouma people, a fishing community on Lake Chad, for traditional songs.^{[1] [3]}

External links

• Bio on Mamane Barka included in his compact disc from World Music Network. Includes mention of performances on world stage at WOMAD.
  • • Video. Mamane Barka performing with his harp.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Sole. Deanne. Mamane Barka: Introducing Mamane Barka. Pop Matters. 4 February 2018. 18 May 2009 . A biram looks like a small canoe with hide stretched and bound over the top. The instrument’s five strings are attached to a point at the centre of this canoe and radiate outward like a triangular sail fastened to a ‘mast’ that comes out of the prow of the boat and moves up and back with a curve...this instrument belongs to, the Boudouma or Buduma, are “fishing nomads,” and it likens the shape of the biram to that of the shallow, narrow boat known as the pirogue..
2. Web site: Décès du musicien Mamane Mallam Barka ce mercredi à Niamey. aniamey.com. French. 26 November 2018.
3. Book: Yom biBagirmi. The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments . 1984 . MacMillan Press . Sadie Stanley . 3 . London . 885 . Six-or-seven stringed arched harp of the Birom people...reputed to originate from the Bagirmi people...formerly restricted to use by men by men to accompany singing...not appears on instrumental ensembles for general entertainment.