Trough zither

Description

wood, dark brown patina, trough-shaped corpus, pierced on top and at the bottom for fixing the strings, crowned by a small “mwana hiti” figure with white glass bead eyes, min. dam., strings missing, missing parts through insect caused damage, cracks, on metal base;
the strings across the soundbox are not individual but consist of a single long thin woven twisted fibre thread that is wound around the whole soundbox and spans its length, resting in notches at either end. This instrument and its music was, and still is, intended for a limited audience which in the past would have consisted of the king (“mwami”) and his entourage of dignitaries and women.