Balafon

Balafon, also bala, balo, balangi is a xylophone with under hung calabashes as resonators. In West Africa it is especially played by the Manding speakers.

Known, the instrument was, because it was played at the Royal Court in Sikasso in Mali today. In the 16th century the arts flourished there under the patronage of the ruler. Thus, the court musicians were able to develop into virtuosos and establish a tradition that radiated far beyond Africa. Centers of the balafon music today are Guinea and Mali. There, the griot tradition is passed mainly within the Kouyaté family. In the second half of the 20th century the play has been especially developed by Kélétigui Diabaté.

Construction

The balafon is made of wood - tone bars and gourds - hollow gourds, which serve as a resonance chamber. In the pages of calabashes two or three finger-sized holes are drilled, glued over the cobwebs or bat wings (now increasingly common cigarette paper ). This Mirlitone be added and start by the resonance in vibration to buzz.

The bars and their resonators are held together by a frame of split bamboo and goatskin strips. Usually the balafon is tuned pentatonic or diatonic ascending from the low to the high notes. Fixed scales, according to which the instruments are tuned, there is not.