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Sanza
This instrument was collected in the field by Antoinette and Diana Powell-Cotton, and is associated with chief Mwakambi at Mupa, circa 1937. It is a lamellaphone known as sansa ("tchansi") made of a wooden board with raised edges and without a resonator. The board has a central hole underneath the lamellas, and another hole on the top for a strap cord. It has ten lamellas ("geya") made of iron alloy, of which some have dark beeswax underneath the touches, for fine tuning. The pressure bar and the bridge are also made of iron alloy, and the former is attached to the board with metal wire pierced through the whole board. The backrest is made of wood. The bottom of the board has an iron wire with four iron rattle rings.
- Date:
1930–7 - Maker:
- Collection:
Powell-Cotton Museum - Inventory number:
Loading... - Place of production:
Cunene (province), Mupa (region), Angola - Hornbostel-Sachs classification:122.11 Lamellaphones (or plucked idiophones) with laced-on, or hooked-in lamellae, without resonator
- Culture:Tchokwe
- Period:
- Materials:
- Specific materials/techniques:
- Decorative elements:Geometrical incisions on the top of the soundboard, featuring a "woven" design and circles. The central hole has six surrounding circles carved on the back.
- Inscriptions:
- Hornbostel-Sachs category:122.11 Lamellaphones (or plucked idiophones) with laced-on, or hooked-in lamellae, without resonator
- Repository:Powell-Cotton Museum
- Measurements:Length: 245mm; Width: 128mm; Depth: 35mm