Mendzan

Description

This instrument was collected by Fred Merfield, who was based in Cameroon's East Region. It is a gourd-resonated, portable xylophone set of seven wooden keys (one missing), suspended and attached to a wooden frame with twine cord, rattan and canvas cloth. The frame is constituted by two longitudinal bars that hold the keys, a U-shaped handle, and a bottom rectangular frame that would keep the gourds together. Only one large gourd is still present, attached with twine, but loose from the frame. In this type of instrument, each key has a respective, graded-size gourd resonator underneath, which have a circular opening to receive mirliton membrane. In addition to the wooden handle, there is a partially haired hide strap, and two thick wooden beaters are attached to the bottom frame.