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, 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 keeps the gourds together. 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 haired hide strap, and two thick wooden beaters are attached to the bottom frame.