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North-east Democrtic Republic of the Congo This harp, as one of the oldest known Kundi, was a highlight of the Mangbetu exhibition in the Royal Library in Brussels 1992. The neighbouring Azande and the Mangbetu share a love for harp music. This “Kundi” was played by aristocrats and professional musicians for storytelling and song. The instrument has a sound box covered in animal skin and uses a unique tuning system where the strings are adjusted by alternating loops along the conical neck. In this example, the summit of the five-stringed harp is carved to represent a human figure. The elongated representation of the head is a reference to the past Mangbetu practice of shaping the head during infancy by means of gentle pressure. The head is crowned with fine linear incising, indicative of traditional Mangbetu coiffures. There are two reasons we can assume that this is one of the oldest Kundi. Later Mangbetu harps with full figures are much more realistically carved and highly decorated. This Kundi on the other hand is of an archaic and expressive force that has no match; the sinous lines that follow the eyebrows into the ears, the exposed teeth in the protruding mouth and chin, and the short dangling arms and legs all minimalized to emphasize the phallic strength. The other reason is that it is important to note that this rare 19th century harp has clear signs of use. Mangbetu aristocrats surrounded themselves with a wide variety of finely crafted utilitarian objects. In the early 20th century, the importance of the harp as a musical instrument was replaced by its importance as an art object, this means that later instruments were completely unplayable.