PERFORMANCE

Music and Power

Kougue Niger Ethnic group: Hausa Canadian Museum of Civilization

     

Made of two hollow metal tubes of different sizes, the kougue is a double bell that is struck with an antelope horn. In the past, it was a symbol of power, and was used by chiefs to call their wives or their subjects. Up to ten kougue may be played together. Some of them are very large. The Bamoun people of Cameroon, for example, have kougue that are 60 centimetres high.