"It is a sort of slide show of rough-grained sound objects, often abruptly linked together, and based on heterogeneous objects and instruments, in particular an African sanza. In this piece for magnetic tape, the sounds of the sanza have been transformed or distorted by manipulation. However, this lamellophone, whose sonic qualities make it a solo instrument "accompanying nocturnal loners and keeping sentinels awake", does not fulfil an insignificant function here. It is part of the way in which François-Bernard Mâche enhances the myth in his music, and gives this page a symbolic value at the very least.
By using this modest-looking instrument in his work, the composer has honoured "a kind of melodic aristocracy among idiophone instruments" in the service of the sanza.

Apollinaire Anakesa Kululuka: L'Afrique subsaharienne dans la musique savante occidentale au XXe siècle, p.255-259

"...As for Lanterne magique (1959), it falls within the framework of the enhancement of myth in music. The sound evoked by the African sanza plays a primordial role, through the image of which the composer sought to confer at least symbolic value on the work. "

Apollinaire Anakesa Kululuka, Approche de l'expression du sacré des musiques traditionnelles subsahariennes dans la musique savante occidentale contemporaine. In Internationale de l'imaginaire, Nouvelle série n°15 : les spectacles des autres. Questions d'ethnoscénologie II, Paris, Babel 2001, p.197-231