BAMANA MBIRA 1, Mali

Photographs © Tim Hamill

BAMANA, MBIRA 1, 17x10", $150 SOLD

Mbira are among the art forms in Africa, used both as a musical instrument and as a work of sculpture significant in many ceremonial functions, including dance, rituals and story-telling. Our selections are mostly abstract, with sounding chambers, sounding holes ,and metal or cane keys played with the thumbs, hence the term "thumb pianos". The small Chokwe mbira has a sounding board with a guord resonator. The body of the figurative Lega piece becomes its sounding chamber.

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