Thus, to play the balafon is Kouyaté’s inheritance, a sacred rite. As soon as Kouyaté could sit up, a mallet was placed in his hand. In the Mandinka language, the tradition Kouyaté was raised ...

The precursor of the xylophone and marimba, a balafon is made by carefully cutting 21 wooden slats into different lengths, fixing them atop hallow calabashes, and striking them with mallets wound ...

“Oral tradition holds that when the emperor Sundiata overthrew Soumaora Kante, he appointed the Kouyaté family to protect the balafon. Played with mallets, the balafon is made up of wooden slats and ...

The balafon is a West African xylophone that an ... and strike with special gum-rubber mallets. There are two kinds of balafons: Fixed key, in which the bars are attached to a frame above buzzing ...

Mallet-maestro Khan Jamal is one such artist ... he’s brought with him was well worth the wait instilled by his absence. Khan Jamal- vibes, African balafon; Jemeel Moondoc- alto saxophone; Roy ...

Much later, he invented the first chromatic balafon, which became one of his trademarks. Among those who came calling on this gentle genius of the mallet to ask him to share his gifts on stage or ...

The balafon (in Mali, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire) and kolintang (in Indonesia) refer to a set of wooden xylophones of different lengths. The Indonesian and West African instruments share ...

The balafon, a musical instrument from West Africa, is being considered for inclusion on Unesco's Intangible Cultural Heritage list. The instrument is built up from 17 to 21 wooden slats on top of ...

Paukum Bassi is a Cameroonian balafon musician. He plays an instrument that is a type of struck idiophone. Known as balafon, the sort of xylophone can be constructed of animal hors, skins and wood.

In conversation with balafon player Mamadou Diabate ahead of his performance in the city Born into a Griot family in Burkina Faso, known for their tradition of practising storytelling and music ...