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The sanza is played by holding it in the cupped hands and plucking the strips with the thumbs. The pitch of the sounds produced is in relation to the length of the strips. More often than not, the arrangement of the strips is symmetrical, with the lowest sounds in the centre and the highest sounds at the external edges.
The commonest tuning is the pentatonic one, without half-tones, of the type C - D - E - G - A, but very different ones can be found according to the area of origin. In the repertory of music for the SANZA, there are polyrhythmic combinations with a superimposition of double and triple times. The instrument is often used to accompany individual singing, to great effect. The soundbox can be made of opened gourds of varying sizes but clay jars are also used to rest the instrument on in the absence of a real soundbox. The number of strips varies greatly according to the different cultures and construction techniques. As confirmation of the extreme originality of forms that can distinguish the same instrument, the sanza reproduced in the box (SANZA NGALA) which comes from Zaire, has a soundbox made from a tortoise shell to which the usual plank of wood with strips has been applied.
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