Lingala dictionary · browse all
ekembe
e-KE-mbe
musical instrument
French: l'instrument de musique
Azali kobeta ekembe.
He is playing the thumb piano.
Il joue du piano à pouces.
Thumb piano — metal tongues plucked into a lullaby of notes. Ekembe (the likembe) is a thumb piano, and by extension any musical instrument. Its soft, repeating melody is one of the oldest sounds of Central Africa — handheld, intimate, hypnotic.
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