A Kwere Lamellaphone, "mucapata"

Sanza, lamellophone, "mucapata Kwere / Zaramo, Tanzania Ohne Sockel / without base Wood, iron. H 21 cm. W 12,5 cm. Provenance: Peter Stettler (1939-1998) and Erica Stettler-Schnell (1940-2019). Sanza, "thumb piano", called "mucapata" by the Kwere. Sanza, "Thumb Piano", called "mucapata" by the Kwere. The sanza, also known as "thumb piano", originated in Black Africa and belongs to the group of lamellophones. It consists of a board or resonance box to which metal strips are attached, which the musician vibrates to produce sounds. Sanza seem to have appeared twice in Africa according to popular opinion, once on the west coast about 3000 years ago (with slats of bamboo or wood), and a second time in the Zambezi Valley about 1300 years ago (with slats of metal). Widely spread are the Sanza still today in Central Africa (DR Congo, Angola, Zambia...). Due to the low volume, the mostly lovingly designed instruments are rather played on the occasion of intimate events than on big occasions. ----------------------------------------------------- The collection of non-European art of Peter Stettler and Erica Stettler-Schnell comprised about 500 objects with a focus on small bronzes, thumb pianos and textiles, which they acquired mainly in Switzerland and Paris. Excerpt from the "Jahrbuch z'Rieche" (zrieche.ch), author: Dorothea Christ. "Peter Stettler and Erica Stettler-Schnell." During their training period at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule Basel (today "Schule für Gestaltung"), they were not only both students of the Riehen artist Gustav Stettler, but also grew together with him to form a family: Peter Stettler (born 1939), the son, and Erica Schnell (born 1940), the daughter-in-law. They are both proud to have been students of Walter Bodmer, Martin Christ and Gustav Stettler, whom they found to be extraordinarily stimulating teachers, and they also acknowledge in all naturalness that the influence of their teachers is clearly noticeable in their early works. Why should one overlook or even negate the fact that one stands in a tradition? .... Particularly fruitful on the path to independence were the months spent in the Basel studio of the Cité des Arts in Paris, where Stettler and his wife were able to work in 1967. Continuously Peter Stettler developed the technical mastery of his means in painting and graphic art. CHF 100 / 200 EUR 100 / 200