African Arts Gallery

Very common in Central Africa, this musical instrument or sanza with a figurative motif consists of a sound box on which metal blades have been fixed in parallel. The slats, of variable lengths, are sometimes made of bamboo. The thumbs of both hands will rest on the body to vibrate the front ends of the tongues. In Zaire however, where all the fingers are used as for the piano, groups of instruments play on complementary registers. The instrument will also sometimes accompany a singer. The motif in this case refers to the Songye kifwebe masks and the nkishi fetishes. Satin brown patina, abrasions.