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Shell zither

An elongated board, bent upwards at the rounded narrow sides, with ten or eleven V-shaped notches distributed over the curves - of decreasing depth towards the sides. Omitting the outer, flat notches, there are nine string tensioners. One end of the string is looped into a knot below a notch, the other is wound through two neighbouring middle notches. A leather loop running around the bowl below the string level, which simultaneously passes through a calabash sherd and a square, pointed extension carved under the base of the bowl. The extension penetrated through an opening into the interior of the resonator. An iron nail hammered into the rim of the bowl and hung with perforated metal plates. Two further, unoccupied holes. A leather carrying strap. In the centre of the bottom of the bowl [are] two carved cylindrical elevations. There is a linear notched pattern. from Ulrich Wegner: Afrikanische Saiteninstrumente, Staatliche Museen Berlin - SPK, 1984 (Appendix Object Catalogue)

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Data Provider
Ethnologisches Museum
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Cataloguing data

Cultural attribution
Wanyamwezi (Nyamwezi)
Object type
musical instruments
Dimensions
Länge x Breite: 44,4 x 11,4 cm
Material/Technique
Wood, Leather , Plant fibre , Pumpkin peel
Current location
Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Inventory number
III E 3059

Provenance and sources

where
Tanzania [Land/Region]
who
Wanyamwezi (Nyamwezi)

who
Hans Hermann von Schweinitz (1865-02-21 - 1918-02-09) - Collectors

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