Chokwe (Batshioko, Jokwe, Tshokwe), Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia

Mbira Musical Instrument . More than 1 million Chokwe constitute the largest ethnic group in eastern Angola; they also live in DRC and Zambia. Chokwe art covers many diverse areas: prestige statuary, chiefs’ staffs and stools, masks, combs, ceramics, tobacco mortars, and musical instruments. The mbira is a traditional African musical instrument, consisting of metal keys mounted over the bridge on a hardwood sound board, played with the thumbs or thumbs and both index fingers. The mbira may have eight or more bars. The keys of the present mbira are sitted in flanking symmetry about a central keys and this reaffirms heraldry in sound and structure. In this case the mbira, elaborated as a work of art, has been added with a squash increasing its musical possibilities.

Material: wood, metal, squash

Size: 11”x4”x4”