African Art - RARE PIECE Donnu Arched Harp from the Mangbetu Ethnic Group Musical Instrument Donnu Harp The braided copper wire depicts geometric, dotted painting, a linear body, and painting done by Mangbetu women. The elongated head represents Queen Nenzima of Mangbetu and King Yangala. Although anthropomorphic harps are closely associated with the Mangbetus, stringed instruments are not native to their culture. In fact, the way in which the harp was introduced to the Mangbetu is a matter of much debate among scholars and can only be documented in the last decades of the 19th century. As an instrument used only by men for their personal entertainment, the harp did not occupy any role in the extensive musical repertoire that accompanies the significant political rituals of this people. The popularity of donnu from the turn of the 19th to the 20th century was short-lived, and ornamentally carved harps are no longer part of the rich musical culture of the Mangbetu ethnic group. It has even been suggested that the harp may have been less important to the Mangbetus as a musical instrument than as an art object to be traded with Europeans.