Minneapolis Institute of Art

Lamellophone

Luba artist

Date

mid 20th century

Medium

Wood, metal, organic materials

Culture

Luba

Department

Arts of Global Africa

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

This instrument is properly called a lamellophone, but most people call it something much more evocative: a thumb piano, as its metal keys (the lamelles) are played with the thumbs. Very popular and widespread in traditional Africa, it has been reinvented in urban settings as a large, electronically amplified instrument. Luba, Democratic Republic of the Congo

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