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Lamellophone

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Shape: Solid wooden body with raised sides and a string hole, iron lamellae But the layout contains the characteristic "bend" in the pitch of the left hand - a zigzag movement in the pitches from lamella no. 3 to 5 to 7 and 9. Organologically, the mbira dza vadzimu also corresponds to the Zimbabwe/Zambezi mould circle. But there are the following elements, apart from the specific "layout" of the lamellae, which characterise the type. - The "board" is roughly tray-shaped. - This eliminates the need for a backrest or back bar. The slats can rest directly on the raised width of the upper edge of the tray. - The soundboard has a hole on the right near the edge, not a "sound hole" but a hole for the little finger to hold the instrument; a large calabash (absent here) serves as a resonator. The tray shape of the mbira dza vadzimu is thus the third isolable design form of the body of the large lamellophones of the Zimbabwe/Zambezi mould circle. Gerhard Kubik: Kalimba, Nsansi, Mbira - Lamellophones in Africa: Veröffentlichungen des Museums für Völkerkunde Berlin (SMB), 1998 - Neue Folge 68 - Musikethnologie X, p. 242 (Fig. 182)

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Cataloguing data

Object type
musical instruments
Dimensions
Height: 2,3 cm
Depth: 18 cm
Width: 21 cm
Material/Technique
Wood, Iron
Current location
Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Inventory number
III D 4165

Provenance and sources

  • Production
    where
    Zambesi
  • Assignment to a curated holding:
    Africa

Information about the record

Legal status metadata
CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED

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