Balafon
Encyclopedia
The balafon is a resonated frame, wooden keyed percussion idiophone of West Africa
; part of the idiophone
family of tuned percussion instruments
that includes the xylophone
, marimba
, glockenspiel
, and the vibraphone
. Sound is produced by striking the tuned keys with two padded sticks.
, 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 Côte d'Ivoire
. similar instruments are played in parts of Central Africa
, with the ancient Kingdom of Kongo
denoting the instrument as palaku.
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.
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).
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.
Often balafon players will wear belled bracelets on each wrist, accentuating the sound of the keys.
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.
The middle of the 20th century saw the popularization of a native folk music
called bikutsi
. Bikutsi is based on a war rhythm played with various rattle
s, drum
s and balafon. Sung by women, bikutsi featured sexually explicit lyrics and songs about everyday problems. In a popularized 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 guitar
s 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 Cuba
n and Zaire
an 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.
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 a long balafon traditions.
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.
(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.
, 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 named Bala Faséké Kouyate 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.
reported the existence of the ngoni
and balafon at the court of Malian
ruler Mansa Musa
.
European visitors to West Africa described balafons in the 17th century largely unchanged from 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.
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
; part of the idiophone
Idiophone
An idiophone is any musical instrument which creates sound primarily by way of the instrument's vibrating, without the use of strings or membranes. It is the first of the four main divisions in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification...
family of tuned percussion instruments
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
that includes the xylophone
Xylophone
The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets...
, marimba
Marimba
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
, glockenspiel
Glockenspiel
A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
, and the vibraphone
Vibraphone
The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
. Sound is produced by striking the tuned keys with two padded sticks.
The instrument
Believed to have been developed independently of the Southern African and South American instruments now called the marimbaMarimba
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
, oral histories of the balafon date it to at least the rise of the Mali Empire
Mali Empire
The Mali Empire or Mandingo Empire or Manden Kurufa was a West African empire of the Mandinka from c. 1230 to c. 1600. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa I...
in the 12th century CE. Balafon is a Manding
Manding
Manding may refer to:* Manding languages, a group of dialects in West Africa* Mandinka** Mandinka language, one of the Manding languages** Mandinka people, a West African ethnic group...
name, but variations exist across West Africa, including the Balangi in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
and the Gyil of the Dagara
Dagara people
The Dagaaba people ) are an ethnic group in the West African nations of Ghana and Burkina Faso. They speak the Dagaare language, made up of the related Northern Dagaare language, Southern Dagaare language, a number of sub dialects. They are related to the Birifor people and the Dagaare Diola...
, Lobi
Lobi
The Lobi are an ethnic group that originated in what is today Ghana. Starting around 1770 many of the Lobi migrated into southern Burkina Faso and later into Côte d'Ivoire. Currently the group consists of around 160,000 people...
and Gurunsi
Gurunsi
The Gurunsi are a set of ethnic groups inhabiting northern Ghana and southern Burkina Faso.-Pre-Colonial History and Origins:Oral traditions of the Gurunsi hold that they originated from the western Sudan near Lake Chad. While it is unknown when the migration occurred, it is believed that the...
from Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
and Côte d'Ivoire
Côte d'Ivoire
The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...
. similar instruments are played in parts of Central Africa
Central Africa
Central Africa is a core region of the African continent which includes Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda....
, with the ancient Kingdom of Kongo
Kingdom of Kongo
The Kingdom of Kongo was an African kingdom located in west central Africa in what are now northern Angola, Cabinda, the Republic of the Congo, and the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
denoting the instrument as palaku.
Types
Calabash
Lagenaria siceraria , bottle gourd, opo squash or long melon is a vine grown for its fruit, which can either be harvested young and used as a vegetable, or harvested mature, dried, and used as a bottle, utensil, or pipe. For this reason, the calabash is widely known as the bottle gourd...
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
Bene
Bene may refer to:* Bene AG, a European office furniture product and services company* Ferenc Bene , Hungarian football player* a prefix denoting a society in the fictional world of Dune, among them:** Bene Gesserit** Bene Tleilax...
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
Sharp (music)
In music, sharp, dièse , or diesis means higher in pitch and the sharp symbol raises a note by a half tone. Intonation may be flat, sharp, or both, successively or simultaneously...
it.
Fixed-key variations
In a fixed-key balafon, the keys are suspended by leather straps just above a wooden frame, under which are hung graduated-size calabash gourdGourd
A gourd is a plant of the family Cucurbitaceae. Gourd is occasionally used to describe crops like cucumbers, squash, luffas, and melons. The term 'gourd' however, can more specifically, refer to the plants of the two Cucurbitaceae genera Lagenaria and Cucurbita or also to their hollow dried out shell...
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).
Performance variations
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 IgboIgbo people
Igbo people, also referred to as the Ibo, Ebo, Eboans or Heebo are an ethnic group living chiefly in southeastern Nigeria. They speak Igbo, which includes various Igboid languages and dialects; today, a majority of them speak English alongside Igbo as a result of British colonialism...
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.
Often balafon players will wear belled bracelets on each wrist, accentuating the sound of the keys.
Modern balafon styles
The balafon has seen a resurgence since the 1980s in the growth of African Roots MusicRoots music
Roots music can refer to several styles or trends in music:* Americana * Folk music* Roots of hip hop, the conditions which led to creation of the hip hop genre* Roots reggae...
and World Music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
. Most famous of these exponents is the Rail Band
Rail Band
The Rail Band, formed in 1970, is one of the most popular groups in the history of Malian music; it was later known as Super Rail Band, Bamako Rail Band or, most comprehensively and formally, Super Rail Band of the Buffet Hotel de la Gare, Bamako...
, led by Salif Keita
Salif Keita
Salif Keïta is an internationally recognized afro-pop singer-songwriter from Mali. He is unique not only because of his reputation as the Golden Voice of Africa, but because he has albinism and is a direct descendant of the founder of the Mali Empire, Sundiata Keita...
. Even when not still played, its distinctive sound and traditional style has been exported to western instruments. Maninka from eastern Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
play a type of guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
music that adapts balafon playing style to the imported instrument.
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 popularization of a native folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
called bikutsi
Bikutsi
Bikutsi is a musical genre from Cameroon. It developed from the traditional styles of the Beti, or Ewondo, people, who live around the city of Yaounde. It was popular in the middle of the 20th century in West Africa...
. Bikutsi is based on a war rhythm played with various rattle
Rattle (percussion)
A rattle is a percussion instrument. It consists of a hollow body filled with small uniform solid objects, like sand or nuts. Rhythmical shaking of this instrument produces repetitive, rather dry timbre noises. In some kinds of music, a rattle assumes the role of the metronome, as an alternative to...
s, drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s and balafon. Sung by women, bikutsi featured sexually explicit lyrics and songs about everyday problems. In a popularized form, bikutsi gained mainstream success in the 1950s. Anne-Marie Nzie
Anne-Marie Nzié
Anne-Marie Nzié is a Cameroonian bikutsi singer. In the 1940s, Nzié began performing bikutsi, the music native to her home in central Cameroon. She signed with Pathé Marcom Records. Nzié remained active over the next five decades and helped to popularise bikutsi throughout Cameroon...
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 guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
s 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
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
-broadcasts from neighboring Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea where the capital Malabo is situated.Annobón is the southernmost island of Equatorial Guinea and is situated just south of the equator. Bioko island is the northernmost point of Equatorial Guinea. Between the two islands and to the...
, as well as Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n and Zaire
Zaire
The Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...
an 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.
History and culture
Susu people
The Soso are a major Mande ethnic group living primarily in Guinea. Smaller communities are also located in the neighboring countries of Sierra Leone, Senegal and Mali. The Susu are descendants of the thirteenth century Mali Empire...
and Malinké
Mandinka people
The Mandinka, Malinke are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa with an estimated population of eleven million ....
people of Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
are closely identified with the balafon, as are the other Manding
Manding
Manding may refer to:* Manding languages, a group of dialects in West Africa* Mandinka** Mandinka language, one of the Manding languages** Mandinka people, a West African ethnic group...
peoples of Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
, Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
, and The Gambia
The Gambia
The Republic of The Gambia, commonly referred to as The Gambia, or Gambia , is a country in West Africa. Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, surrounded by Senegal except for a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean in the west....
. Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
, Chad
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
, and even the nations of the Congo Basin
Congo Basin
The Congo Basin is the sedimentary basin that is the drainage of the Congo River of west equatorial Africa. The basin begins in the highlands of the East African Rift system with input from the Chambeshi River, the Uele and Ubangi Rivers in the upper reaches and the Lualaba River draining wetlands...
have a long balafon traditions.
Etymology
In the MalinkéMandinka language
The Mandinka language is a Mandé language spoken by millions of Mandinka people in Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea-Bissau and Chad; it is the main language of The Gambia. It belongs to the Manding branch of Mandé, and is thus fairly...
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
Kolokani
Kolokani is a town of approximately 13,000 inhabitants in Mali's Koulikoro Region.It is the capital of the Cercle of Kolokani, which consists of 10 rural communes . The cercle of Kolokani has an area of 14,380 km² and a population of 163,886 inhabitants....
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.
Griot balafonists of Guinea
The balafon, koraKora (instrument)
The kora is a 21-string bridge-harp used extensively in West Africa.-Description:A kora is built from a large calabash cut in half and covered with cow skin to make a resonator, and has a notched bridge. It does not fit well into any one category of western instruments and would have to be...
(lute-harp), and the ngoni
Ngoni (instrument)
The ngoni or "n'goni" is a string instrument originating in West Africa. Its body is made of wood or calabash with dried animal skin stretched over it like a drum. In the hands of a skilled ngoni instrumentalist, the ngoni can produce fast rapid melodies...
(the ancestor of the banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
) are the three instruments most associated with griot
Griot
A griot or jeli is a West African storyteller. The griot delivers history as a poet, praise singer, and wandering musician. The griot is a repository of oral tradition. As such, they are sometimes also called bards...
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
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
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.
Sacred ritual usage
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.The Sosso Bala
The Sosso Bala is a balafon, currently kept in the town of NiagassolaNiagassola
Niagassola is a town and sub-prefecture in the Siguiri Prefecture in the Kankan Region of north-eastern Guinea.It is located near the border with Mali.It has no electricity and three water pumps....
, Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
that is reputed to be the original balafon, constructed over 800 years ago. The Epic of Sundiata
Epic of Sundiata
The Sundiata Keita or Epic of Sundiata is an epic poem of the Malinke people and tells the story of the hero Sundiata Keita, the founder of the Mali Empire...
, a story of the formation of the Mali Empire
Mali Empire
The Mali Empire or Mandingo Empire or Manden Kurufa was a West African empire of the Mandinka from c. 1230 to c. 1600. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa I...
, tells that a griot named Bala Faséké Kouyate convinced Sosso
Sosso
The Sosso Empire was a twelfth-century Kaniaga kingdom of West Africa.-Medieval Sosso:The modern Sosso people trace their history to a 12th- and 13th-century Kaniaga kingdom known as the "Sosso." With the fall of the Ghana Empire, the Sosso expanded into a number of its former holdings, including...
king Sumanguru Kante to employ him after sneaking into Sumanguru's palace and playing the sacred instrument. Sundiata Keita
Sundiata Keita
Sundiata Keita, Sundjata Keyita, Mari Djata I or just Sundiata was the founder of the Mali Empire and celebrated as a hero of the Malinke people of West Africa in the semi-historical Epic of Sundiata....
, 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
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
as one of the Nineteen Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity
Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity
The Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity was made by the Director-General of UNESCO starting in 2001 to raise awareness on intangible cultural heritage and encourage local communities to protect them and the local people who sustain these forms of cultural...
in 2001.
Historical records and diaspora encounters
Records of the Balafon go back to at least the 12th century CE. In 1352 CE, Morroccan traveller Ibn BattutaIbn Battuta
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta , or simply Ibn Battuta, also known as Shams ad–Din , was a Muslim Moroccan Berber explorer, known for his extensive travels published in the Rihla...
reported the existence of the ngoni
Xalam
Xalam, also spelled khalam, is the Wolof name for a traditional stringed musical instrument from West Africa. The xalam is thought to have originated from modern-day Mali, but some believe that, in antiquity, the instrument may have originated from ancient Egypt...
and balafon at the court of Malian
Mali Empire
The Mali Empire or Mandingo Empire or Manden Kurufa was a West African empire of the Mandinka from c. 1230 to c. 1600. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Musa I...
ruler Mansa Musa
Mansa Musa
Musa I , commonly referred to as Mansa Musa, was the tenth mansa, which translates as "king of kings" or "emperor", of the Malian Empire...
.
European visitors to West Africa described balafons in the 17th century largely unchanged from the modern instrument. The Atlantic Slave Trade
Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade, also known as the trans-atlantic slave trade, refers to the trade in slaves that took place across the Atlantic ocean from the sixteenth through to the nineteenth centuries...
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.
Also
- The title of the SenegalSenegalSenegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
ese National Anthem is Pincez Tous vos Koras, Frappez les BalafonsPincez Tous vos Koras, Frappez les Balafons"'" is the national anthem of Senegal, adopted in 1960. The lyrics were written by Léopold Sédar Senghor, who became Senegal's first president, and the music by Herbert Pepper, who also wrote the national anthem of the Central African Republic, "". The kora and balafon are Senegalese musical...
(Everyone strum your koraKora (instrument)The kora is a 21-string bridge-harp used extensively in West Africa.-Description:A kora is built from a large calabash cut in half and covered with cow skin to make a resonator, and has a notched bridge. It does not fit well into any one category of western instruments and would have to be...
s, strike the balafons).
- A modern festival devoted to the balafon, the Triangle du balafon, now takes place annually at SikassoSikassoSikasso is a city in the south of Mali and the capital of the Sikasso Region. With 130,700 residents, Sikasso recently passed Ségou to become Mali's second-largest city.-Geography:...
in MaliMaliMali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
.
Famous players
Famous balafon players have included:- Ba banga nyeck, Cameroun Balaphone Player, live in ivory coast
- Aly Keita, Aly Keita and the Magic Balaphone, Malian Balaphone Player
- El Hadj Djeli Sory Kouyaté,
- Ibrihima Dioubate, from Guinea, of Delou Fatala, Miami FL
- N'Faly KouyateN'Faly KouyateN'Faly Kouyate is a Guinean musician. He is a member of the Mandinka ethnic group of West Africa. His father was the griot Konkoba Kabinet Kouyate, who lived in Siguiri, Guinea....
of the Afro Celt Sound SystemAfro Celt Sound SystemThe Afro Celt Sound System is a musical group which fuses modern electronic dance rhythms with traditional Irish and West African music... - Modibo Diabaté, from Mali.
- Keletigui Diabaté, playing for Habib KoitéHabib KoitéHabib Koité is a Malian singer, songwriter and guitarist. His supporting cast, Bamada, is a super-group of West African talent, including Kélétigui Diabaté playing balafon.- Musical style :...
's Bamada group, - Rokia TraoréRokia TraoréRokia Traoré is a Victoires de la Musique award-winning Malian singer, songwriter and guitarist. Born in Mali as a member of the Bambara ethnic group, her father was a diplomat and she travelled widely in her youth. She visited such countries as Algeria, Saudi Arabia, France and Belgium and was...
, Malian singer, guitarist, and band leader. - Gert Kilian,
- Yaya DialloYaya DialloYaya Diallo is a Malian drummer, author, and recording artist in the genres of traditional African music and world music...
, - Kimi DjabateKimi DjabateKimi Djabaté is a Bissau-Guinean Afro-beat/blues musician. Based out of Lisbon, Portugal, he continues to be one of the contemporary links in a chain of West African music that extends back in time hundreds of years.-Early life:Djabaté was born into a poor but musically accomplished family in an...
, Bissau-Guinean musician - Mory KantéMory KantéMory Kanté is a vocalist and player of the kora harp. He was born into one of Guinea's best known families of griot musicians...
, early in his career, - Neba SoloNeba SoloNeba Solo is the stage name of Souleymane Traoré, a musician based in Mali, West Africa. Neba Solo plays a kind of balafon, a marimba with wooden keys mounted on a wooden frame and attached to resonating chambers made from dried gourds....
(SenufoSenufoThe Senufo are an ethnolinguistic group composed of diverse subgroups of Gur-speaking people living in an area spanning from southern Mali and the extreme western corner of Burkina Faso to Katiola in Côte d'Ivoire. One group, the Nafana, is found in north-western Ghana...
balafon group, led by Souleymane Traoré) from SikassoSikassoSikasso is a city in the south of Mali and the capital of the Sikasso Region. With 130,700 residents, Sikasso recently passed Ségou to become Mali's second-largest city.-Geography:...
, - Bill SummersBill Summers (jazz)Bill Summers is a New Orleans based Afro-Cuban jazz/Latin jazz percussionist, a multi-instrumentalist who plays primarily on conga drums. Summers is probably most well known due to his work with Los Hombres Calientes along with his friend and co-leader of the group, trumpeter Irvin Mayfield...
, American jazz musician, performing with Quincy JonesQuincy JonesQuincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
, Herbie HancockHerbie HancockHerbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, and Los Hombres CalientesLos Hombres CalientesLos Hombres Calientes is a New Orleans based jazz group. They are most associated with Latin jazz, especially Afro-Cuban jazz, and contemporary jazz...
, - Pharoah SandersPharoah SandersPharoah Sanders is a Grammy Award–winning American jazz saxophonist.Saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Emerging from John Coltrane's groups of the mid-60s Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on...
, American jazz musician, - Lonnie Liston SmithLonnie Liston SmithLonnie Liston Smith, Jr. is an American jazz, soul, and funk musician who played with important free jazz artists such as Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis before forming Lonnie Liston Smith And The Cosmic Echoes, recording a number of albums widely regarded as classics in the fusion / Quiet Storm /...
, American jazz musician, - Lawrence Killian, American jazz musician,
- Stefon HarrisStefon HarrisStefon Harris is an American jazz vibraphonist. In 1999, the Los Angeles Times called him "one of the most important young artists in jazz" who is "at the forefront of new New York music" and "much in demand as a star sideman"...
, American jazz musician, - Richard BonaRichard BonaRichard Bona is a jazz bassist and musician. His real African name, as he said live in Montreal in a show with Bobby McFerrin, is Bona Pinder Yayumayalolo...
, Cameroonian jazz musician, - Mama OhandjaMama OhandjaMama Ohandja is a Cameroonian singer, musical arranger, dancer and choreographer. In the early 1970s, he became the most prominent musician in the region to marry traditional music with modern international styles, combining tom-toms, traditional balafons and other instruments with electric...
, Cameroonian composer and performer, - The Symmetric Orchestra led by Toumani DiabatéToumani DiabatéToumani Diabaté is a Malian kora player. In addition to performing the traditional music of Mali, he has also been involved in cross-cultural collaborations with flamenco, blues, jazz, and other international styles.-Biography:...
, Malian musician and griot, - Mohamed Kafando, Abou Kanazoé, and Kassim Drabo from the Bobo-DioulassoBobo-DioulassoBobo-Dioulasso is a city with a population of about 435,543 , the second largest city in Burkina Faso, Africa, after Ouagadougou, the nation's capital. The name means literally, "home of the Jula who speak Bobo," and is possibly a creation of the French who misunderstood the identity complexities...
(Burkina FasoBurkina FasoBurkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...
)-based Djiguiya, - Balla Kouyate, from Mali, who plays with Oran EtkinOran EtkinOran Etkin is an internationally acclaimed jazz/world artist and composer who is known for giving music classes for children in New York City. He recently released Wake Up Clarinet!, his first release in the genre of family music...
- Other Burkina based balfon ensembles include:
- Saramaya,
- Les Freres Coulibaly ,
- Djeli-Kan,
- Adama Dramé,
- le Troupe Saaba,
- FarafinaFarafinaFarafina is a music and dance group from Burkina Faso, established in 1978. The eight-member group is Burkina Faso's best known musical group, and one of Africa's most internationally prominent musical groups....
, specifically Mahama Konaté.
- Various CameroonCameroonCameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
based BikutsiBikutsiBikutsi is a musical genre from Cameroon. It developed from the traditional styles of the Beti, or Ewondo, people, who live around the city of Yaounde. It was popular in the middle of the 20th century in West Africa...
ensembles,
- Momo Werner Wevers, German balafon player, plays solo and with the "Ensemble M.Pahiya" (balafon and classical guitar)
- Danny ElfmanDanny ElfmanDaniel Robert "Danny" Elfman is an American composer, best known for scoring music for television and film. Up until 1995, he was the lead singer and songwriter in the rock band Oingo Boingo, a group he formed in 1976...
of Oingo BoingoOingo BoingoOingo Boingo was an American new wave band. They are best known for their influence on other musicians, their soundtrack contributions and their high energy Halloween concerts. The band was founded in 1972 as The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, a performance art group... - Dominic HowardDominic HowardDominic James "Dom" Howard , is the drummer for the English rock band Muse.-Early life:Howard was born in Stockport, Greater Manchester, in England. When he was around 8 years old he moved with his family to Teignmouth, a small town in Devon. He began playing drums at about the age of 12, when he...
of MuseMuseThe Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths...
used a balafon for Screenager on the band's second album, Origin of SymmetryOrigin of SymmetryOrigin of Symmetry is the second studio album by English alternative rock band Muse, released on 17 July 2001 by Taste Records. In the UK it reached #3 and was certified platinum. The title for the album comes from a concept put forward by Michio Kaku in his book Hyperspace.On Origin of Symmetry,...
.
See also
- Music of GuineaMusic of GuineaGuinea is a West African nation, composed of several ethnic groups. Of these, the music of the Mandé has been particularly popular and internationally well-known, even outside of West Africa....
- Music of MaliMusic of MaliThe Music of Mali is dominated by forms derived from the ancient Mande Empire. The Mande people make up most of the country's population, and their musicians, professional performers called jeliw , have produced a vibrant popular music scene alongside traditional folk music...
- MarimbaMarimbaThe marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
: covering the modern instrument which developed independently in both South America and southern Africa.
Further reading
- Lynne Jessup. The Mandinka Balafon: an Introduction with Notation for Teaching. Xylo Publications, (1983) ISBN 0916421015 .
- 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 0226101614 .
- Adrian Egger, Moussa Hema: Die Stimme Des Balafon - La Voix Du Balafon. Schell Music, ISBN 978-3940474094
External links
- Ba banga nyeck: creator of chromatic balafon, world master of arts and culture ".
- marimbalafon.com: website of the French/African association Marimbalafon. News and resources covering what they call the "African Xylophone".
- Gallery of balafon photos, including the construction process.
- Balafon Beat: web companion to a book of music and history. Includes essays, music, and detailed photos of the construction of a balafon in Mali.
- Balla Kouyaté, Griot and touring balafon master.
- Neba Solo, Mali's "Genius of Balafon" on Afropop Worldwide
- Mali on the Mall, 2003 also on Afropop Worldwide. Bambara court musicians (N'Goussoun), with images of a particularly large two player balafon.
- information about the German balafon player Momo Werner Wevers