Mangbetu Harp

full view
                  Full front view

 

full side
                           Full side view

 

top view
                                  The neck

 

bottom view
                                 Sound box

 

Harps and trumpets are among the important art forms in Africa, used both as a musical instrument that were used by court musicians and as well as work of sculpture significant in many religious and secular ceremonial functions, including dance, rituals and story-telling.

The harps of the Mangbetu people were called ‘Kundi’. This harp in particular is named seto after a human figure which regularly appears in their stories and fables.
It’s a modeled full standing female figure where the body acts as a sound box with an antelope’s skin stretched over it. From the head comes a curved "neck" to which the strings are attached.

In some cases harps have no legs and have to be played keeping it in rest position, whereas in this case the harp has legs making it self-stand.

The sculpted head skillfully features the elaborate reed-reinforced flared coiffure called "tumburu”, the complex hairstyle which was worn exclusively by the ruling-class of the Mangbetu women. It was meant to accentuate the elongated shaped of the head achieved by massaging and tightly binding the heads of infants, which was considered as the ideal of Mangbetu beauty.

In the oldest examples the tuning pegs have also been skilfully cut and the method of attaching the strings to the tuning peg merits attention. The way the string is tied to the tuning peg makes it fairly simple for the musician to tighten and tune it. Importantly, the tuning of the instrument, which is mostly pentatonic, can be changed according to the song one wishes to perform.

 

Approximate dimensions: cm (H) x cm (W) x cm (D)

Weight: kg

Price: please send us an inquiry and we will answer as soon as possible

If you are in Uganda, you can view the products in our shop:

Entebbe
Queen's Road, Plot 12,
Inside Multi Garden Café
Open every day from 8:30 am to 8:30 pm

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