Topic: Balafon

The balafon (['bæləfɔ]̃ , [bɑlɑ'fɔ]̃ ; Bambara: ߊߟߓ bala) is a gourd-resonated xylophone, a type of
struck idiophone. It is closely associated with the neighbouring Mandé, Senoufo and Gur peoples
of West Africa, particularly the Guinean branch of the Mandinka ethnic group, but is now found
across West Africa from Guinea to Mali. Its common name, balafon, is likely a European
coinage combining its Mandinka name bala with the word fôn 'to speak' or the Greek root phono.

History
Believed to have been developed independently of the Southern African and South American
instrument now called the marimba, oral histories of the balafon date it to at least the rise of the
Mali Empire in the 12th century CE. Balafon is a Manding name, but variations exist across
West Africa, including the balangi in Sierra Leone and the gyil of the Dagara, Lobi and Gurunsi
from Ghana, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast. Similar instruments are played in parts of Central
Africa, with the ancient Kingdom of Kongo denoting the instrument as palaku.

Records of the balafon go back to at least the 12th century CE. In 1352 CE, Moroccan traveller
Ibn Battuta reported the existence of the ngoni and balafon at the court of Malian ruler Mansa
Suleyman.

European visitors to West Africa described balafons in the 17th century largely identical to the
modern instrument. The Atlantic Slave Trade brought some balafon players to the Americas. The
Virginia Gazette records African-Americans playing a barrafoo in 1776, which appears to be a
balafon. Other North American references to these instruments die out by the mid-19th century.

The balafon has seen a resurgence since the 1980s in the growth of African Roots Music and
World Music. Most famous of these exponents is the Rail Band, led by Salif Keita. Even when
not still played, its distinctive sound and traditional style has been exported to western
instruments. Maninka from eastern Guinea play a type of guitar music that adapts balafon
playing style to the imported instrument.

Etymology

In the Malinké language balafon is a compound of two words: balan is the name of the
instrument and fô is the verb to play. Balafon therefore is really the act of playing the bala.Bala
still is used as the name of a large bass balafon in the region of Kolokani and Bobo Dioulasso.
These bala have especially long keys and huge calabashes for amplification. Balani is then used
as the name of the high pitched, small balafon with small calabashes and short (3 to 4 cm long)
keys. The balani is carried with a strap and usually has 21 keys, while the number of keys on a
bala vary with region.

Construction
A balafon can be either fixed-key (where the keys are strung over a fixed frame, usually with
calabash resonators underneath) or free-key (where the keys are placed independently on any
padded surface). The balafon usually has 17–21 keys, tuned to a tetratonic, pentatonic or
heptatonic scale, depending on the culture of the musician.

The balafon is generally capable of producing 18 to 21 notes, though some are built to produce
many fewer notes (16, 12, 8 or even 6 and 7). Balafon keys are traditionally made from béné
wood, dried slowly over a low flame, and then tuned by shaving off bits of wood from the
underside of the keys. Wood is taken off the middle to flatten the key or the end to sharpen it.

In a fixed-key balafon, the keys are suspended by leather straps just above a wooden frame,
under which are hung graduated-size calabash gourd resonators. A small hole in each gourd is
covered with a membrane traditionally of thin spider's-egg sac filaments (nowadays more usually
of cigarette paper or thin plastic film) to produce the characteristic nasal-buzz timbre of the
instrument, which is usually played with two gum-rubber-wound mallets while seated on a low
stool (or while standing using a shoulder or waist sling hooked to its frame).

Regional traditions
As the balafon cultures vary across West Africa, so does the approach to the instrument itself. In
many areas the balafon is played alone in a ritual context, in others as part of an ensemble. In
Guinea and Mali, the balafon is often part of an ensemble of three, pitched low, medium and
high. In Cameroon, six balafon of varying size perform together in an orchestra, called a
komenchang. An Igbo variation exists with only one large tuned key for each player. And while
in most cases a single player hits multiple keys with two mallets, some traditions place two or
more players at each keyboard.

The Susu and Malinké people of Guinea are closely identified with the balafon, as are the other
Manding peoples of Mali, Senegal, and the Gambia. Cameroon, Chad, and even the nations of
the Congo Basin have long balafon traditions.

Often, balafon players will wear belled bracelets on each wrist, accentuating the sound of the
keys.

In some cultures the balafon was (and in some still is) a sacred instrument, playable only by
trained religious caste members and only at ritual events such as festivals, royal, funerial, or
marriage celebrations. Here the balafon is kept in a temple storehouse, and can only be removed
and played after undergoing purification rites. Specific instruments may be built to be only
played for specific rituals and repertoires. Young adepts are trained not on the sacred instrument,
but on free-key pit balafons.

Gyil

The gyil (English: or ) is the name of a buzzing pentatonic balafon common to the Gur-speaking
populations in northern Ghana, Burkina Faso, southeastern Mali and northern Ivory Coast in
West Africa. Among Mande populations in Ghana like the Ligbi (Numu), Bissa and Dyula, the
same instrument is known as bala. The gyil is the primary traditional instrument of the Dagara
people of northern Ghana and Burkina Faso, and of the Lobi of Ghana, southern Burkina Faso,
and Ivory Coast. The gyil is usually played in pairs, accompanied by a calabash gourd drum
called a kuor. It can also be played by one person with the drum and the stick part as
accompaniment, or by a soloist. Gyil duets are the traditional music of Dagara funerals. The
instrument is generally played by men, who learn to play while young; however, there is no
restriction on gender. It is also played by the Gurunsi people of the Upper East Region of Ghana,
as well as neighbouring Gurunsi populations across the border in south and central Burkina Faso.
A dance related to the gyil is the Bewaa.

The gyil's design is similar to the balaba or balafon used by the Mande-speaking Bambara, Dyula
and Sosso peoples further west in southern Mali and western Burkina Faso, as well as the
Senoufo people of Sikasso, a region that shares many musical traditions with those of northern
Ivory Coast and Ghana. It is made with 14 wooden keys of an African hardwood called liga
attached to a wooden frame, below which hang calabash gourds. Spider web silk covers small
holes in the gourds to produce a buzzing sound and antelope sinew and leather are used for the
fastenings. The instrument is played with rubber-headed wooden mallets.

Cameroon

During the 1950s, bars sprang up across Cameroon's capital to accommodate an influx of new
inhabitants, and soon became a symbol for Cameroonian identity in the face of colonialism.
Balafon orchestras, consisting of 3–5 balafons and various percussion instruments became
common in these bars. Some of these orchestras, such as Richard Band de Zoetele, became quite
popular in spite of scorn from the European elite.

The middle of the 20th century saw the popularisation of a native folk music called bikutsi.
Bikutsi is based on a war rhythm played with various rattles, drums and balafon. Sung by
women, bikutsi featured sexually explicit lyrics and songs about everyday problems. In a
popularised form, bikutsi gained mainstream success in the 1950s. Anne-Marie Nzie was perhaps
the most important of the early innovators. The next bikutsi performer of legendary stature was
Messi Me Nkonda Martin and his band, Los Camaroes, who added electric guitars and other new
elements.

Balafon orchestras had remained popular throughout the 50s in Yaoundé's bar scene, but the
audience demanded modernity and the popular style at the time was unable to cope. Messi
Martin was a Cameroonian guitarist who had been inspired to learn the instrument by listening to
Spanish language-broadcasts from neighboring Equatorial Guinea, as well as Cuban and Zairean
rumba. Messi changed the electric guitar by linking the strings together with pieces of paper,
thus giving the instrument a damper tone that emitted a "thudding" sound similar to the balafon.

Guinea

The balafon, kora (lute-harp), and the ngoni (the ancestor of the banjo) are the three instruments
most associated with griot bardic traditions of West Africa. Each is more closely associated with
specific areas, communities, and traditions, though all are played together in ensembles
throughout the region. Guinea has been the historic heartland of solo balafon. As griot culture is
a hereditary caste, the Kouyaté family has been called the keepers of the balafon, and twentieth
century members of this family have helped introduce it throughout the world.

The Sosso Bala

The Fr:Sosso Bala is a balafon, currently kept in the town of Niagassola, Guinea that is reputed
to be the original balafon, constructed over 800 years ago. The Epic of Sundiata, a story of the
formation of the Mali Empire, tells that a griot (praise-singer) named Bala Faséké Kouyaté
convinced Sosso king Sumanguru Kante to employ him after sneaking into Sumanguru's palace
and playing the sacred instrument. Sundiata Keita, founder of the Mali Empire overthrew
Sumanguru, seized the balafon, and made the griot Faséké its guardian. This honor is said to
have passed down through his family, the Kouyatés, and conveys upon them mastership of the
balafon to this day.

Regardless of the truth of this story, the Sosso Bala is an instrument of great age, and was named
by UNESCO as one of the Nineteen Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of
Humanity in 2001.

Senegal

The title of the Senegalese National Anthem is "Pincez Tous vos Koras, Frappez les Balafons"
(Everyone strum your koras, strike the balafons).

Mali

A modern festival devoted to the balafon, the Triangle du balafon, now takes place annually at
Sikasso in Mali.

Famous players and ensembles

Famous balafon players have included:

Madou Kone, Balafon Master from Burkina Faso, living in Vienna, Austria

Richard Bona, Cameroonian jazz musician

Abdou Karim Diabate "Tunkaraba" King of Balafon, from the village of Tabatto, Guinea-Bissau

Djiby Diabaté

Kélétigui Diabaté, playing for Habib Koité's Bamada group

Mamadou Diabate, Knight of the National Order of Burkina Faso (2016), Winner of the "Grand
Prix" & "Prix de la Virtuosite de Festival Triangle du Balafon" in Mali (2012), Winner of the
Austrian World Music Award (2011)
Lassana Diabaté, Malian musician known for work with Toumani Diabaté's Symmetric
Orchestra and Afrocubism

Modibo Diabaté, from Mali

Zerika Djabate, Bissau-Guinean musician

Djiguiya, percussion band from Burkina Faso

Danny Elfman of Oingo Boingo

Les Freres Coulibaly, Burkina-based balafon ensemble

Stefon Harris, American jazz musician

Dominic Howard of Muse used a balafon on the band's second album, Origin of Symmetry

Mory Kanté, early in his career

Aly Keita, Aly Keita and the Magic Balaphone, Malian balafon player

Gertrude Kilian, DVD "The Balafon with Aly Keita & Gert Kilian", "Balafon Beat" / Verlag
Zimmermann

Lawrence Killian, American jazz musician

Mahama Konaté of John Cena, Burkina-based balafon ensemble

Balla Kouyate, from Mali/Guinea, whose father, Sekou "Filani" Kouyaté, is the current guardian
of the Sosso Bala

Mamadi Kouyate, from Mali/Guinea, (Germany since 2015), whose grandfather Sékou "Filani"
Kouyaté, is the current guardian of the Sosso Bala

El Hadj Djeli Sory Kouyaté

N'Faly Kouyate of the Afro Celt Sound System

Adam Malik, Burkina-based balafon ensemble

Dave Mann, jazz percussionist, played with the Dave Brubeck Group

Neba Solo (Senufo balafon group, led by Souleymane Traoré) from Sikasso

Mama Ohandja, Cameroonian composer and performer to his country

Qasim, Burkina-based balafon ensemble

Pharoah Sanders, American jazz musician

Saramaya, Burkina-based balafon ensemble

Raheel Sharif, British band leader originally from Senegal

Bill Summers, American jazz musician, performing with Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, and
Los Hombres Calientes

Lonnie Liston Smith, American jazz musician

Rokia Traoré, Malian singer, guitarist, and band leader

Le Troupe Saaba, Burkina-based balafon ensemble

Momo Werner Wevers, German balafon player, plays solo and with the "Ensemble M.Pahiya"
(balafon and classical guitar)

N'Camara Abou Sylla (Guinea; Les Ballets Africains)

See also
Music of Guinea

Music of Mali

Marimba, covers the modern instrument which developed independently in both South America
and southern Africa.

References
Sources
"BALAFON BEAT" by Gert Kilian, edition Zimmermann / Germany http://www.gert-
kilian.com/bb/index.html

"The Balafon with Aly Keita & Gert Kilian", edition "improductions" / Paris http://www.gert-
kilian.com/DVDbalafon.html

"Das magische Balafon" by Mamadi Kouyaté, Ursula Branscheid-Kouyaté, http://www.djembe-

kora.de/mamadi.html
Further reading
Lynne Jessup. The Mandinka Balafon: an Introduction with Notation for Teaching. Xylo
Publications, (1983) ISBN 0-916421-01-5 .

Eric Charry. Mande Music: Traditional and Modern Music of the Maninka and Mandinka of
Western Africa. Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology. University Of Chicago Press (2000).
ISBN 0-226-10161-4 .

Adrian Egger, Moussa Hema: Die Stimme Des Balafon - La Voix Du Balafon. Schell Music,
ISBN 978-3-940474-09-4.

Gert Kilian "Balafon Beat", Verlag Zimmermann, Germany

Gert Kilian "The Balafon with Aly Keita & Gert Kilian", édition "improductions" / Paris

"Das magische Balafon" by Mamadi Kouyaté, Ursula Branscheid-Kouyaté / Germany / LEU-

Verlag, Neusaess DVD

External links
Cora Connection: What is a balaphone?

Gallery of balafon photos, including the construction process.

The Making of a Mofu-Gudur Balafon An article with photos and illustrations on the
construction of a balafon in northern Cameroon.

http://www.djembe-kora.de/trommelbau.html a clip about the making of a balafon in

Niagassola / Guinea