Home › Glossary › Letter A

Akonting

Musical Instrument
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A three-stringed West African folk lute, considered a precursor to the banjo

Detailed Definition
The akonting appears in poetry as a symbol of African musical heritage and the transatlantic roots of American folk traditions; its gourd body and skin head evoke earthy, ancestral tones, and poets use it to foreground silenced histories or trace the lineage of vernacular expression from Senegambia to the blues.
Example
Example in poetry:
The akonting strings “pluck the same sorrow that birthed the banjo on stolen shores”; A narrative poem traces the akonting from Senegal to the American South as a symbol of cultural survival; In a lyric, the akonting’s skin head is “stretched like memory over a gourd of exile”; The poet invokes the akonting to reclaim the African roots of blues intonation and bent notes.
Additional Notes
The akonting is critically important in discussions of the banjo’s African origins, with its three strings (two melody, one drone) and skin-covered gourd resonator mirroring early gourd banjos; poets referencing the akonting often do so to reclaim pre-slavery African musical agency or to trace vernacular expression from Senegambia to the American South—making it essential for studies of transatlantic sound, cultural survival, and the poetics of lineage.
Also Known As
Ekonting Akonting lute
Skip to main content