Eleke

Unknown

19th century · Wood · Musical Instruments

Eleke with deep triangular soundbox. Lamellaphone is a term to designate instruments consisting of thin tongues of metal or split cane mounted on a resonating board or box, such as this triangular lamellaphone, known as an Eleke, made by the Mpongwe people of Gabon. Depressing the free ends of the tongues with the thumbs produces a gentle ringing sound. Lamellaphones are distributed across sub-Sahara Africa and were brought by slaves to Latin America.

Artist

Unknown

Date

19th century

Medium

Wood

Culture

Gabonese (Mpongwe)

Department

Musical Instruments

Credit line

The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889