This roundtable features five scholars presenting original research drawing upon social associations, affective meanings, symbolic inventories, and material economies of musical instrument construction in different regions of the African continent. Individual areas of study include the following: the feminine gendering of the inzad fiddle and tende drum among the Tuareg of Niger, and the subversion of mores by the internationally renowned interethnic group, Etran Finatawa; the materiality and politics of local scarcity and global visibility in the construction of the electric likembe (Bakongo lamellophone) and baguitare ya biso awa in contemporary Kinshasa, DRC; the postcolonial negotiation of meaning and intangible cultural heritage surrounding a collection of musical instruments gathered from the Mandé region of West Africa and currently held in New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art; the role of the individual and community memories of builders and players of the àgídìgbo (Yorùbá lamellophone), and how this dialogue articulates issues of physical and social infrastructures; and the sonic development of the abangala (Kunama chordophone of Eritrea) that is mutually constitutive with the ceremonial inscription upon and adornment of specific instruments as a musician progresses to mastery. For this roundtable, the panelists will contextualize their work within their analytical approaches in short presentations. The table will then expand to general discussion with a senior scholar acting as respondent, and then open to general discussion with attendees.