 Afixed-key balafon, showing resonators with membrane holes | |
| Other names | balafo,bala,balaphone,balaphon,balaphong,balani,gyil,balangi |
|---|---|
| Classification | West African woodenPercussion idiophone with up to 21 keys |
| Hornbostel–Sachs classification | 111.212 (Sets of percussion sticks) |
| Developed | 12th century or earlier |
| Related instruments | |
| gyil,marimba,xylophone,gambang kayu | |
| Cultural practices and expressions linked to Balafon and Kolintang in Mali, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire and Indonesia | |
|---|---|
| Country | Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and Indonesia |
| Reference | 02131 |
| Region | Asia and the Pacific, Africa |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 2024 (19th session) |
| List | Representative |
Thebalafon (pronounced/ˈbæləfɒn/, or, by analogy withxylophone etc.,/ˈbæləfoʊn/) is agourd-resonatedxylophone, a type ofstruck idiophone.[1] It is closely associated with the neighbouringMandé,BwabaBobo,Senoufo andGur peoples of West Africa,[1][2] particularly theGuinean branch of theMandinka ethnic group,[3] but is now found acrossWest Africa from Guinea, Burkina Faso,Mali.[2] Its common name,balafon, is likely a European coinage combining itsMandinka nameߓߟߊbála ([bala˦])[4] with the wordߝߐ߲fóo (nyáa) ([foː˦ɲaː˦]) 'to say / method of saying'[2][5] or the Greek rootphono.[1]
Believed to have been developed independently of the Southern African and South American instrument now called themarimba, oral histories of the balafon date it to at least the rise of theMali Empire in the 12th century CE. Balafon is aManding name, but variations exist across West Africa, including thebalangi inSierra Leone[6] and thegyil of theDagara,Lobi andGurunsi fromGhana,Burkina Faso andIvory Coast. Similar instruments are played in parts ofCentral Africa, with the ancientKingdom of Kongo denoting the instrument aspalaku.
Records of the balafon go back to at least the 12th century CE. In 1352 CE, Moroccan travellerIbn Battuta reported the existence of thengoni and balafon[7] at the court ofMalian rulerMansa Suleyman.
European visitors to West Africa described balafons in the 17th century largely identical to the modern instrument.[8] TheAtlantic Slave Trade brought some balafon players to the Americas. TheVirginia Gazette records African-Americans playing abarrafoo in 1776, which appears to be a balafon. Other North American references to these instruments die out by the mid-19th century.[9]
The balafon has seen a resurgence since the 1980s in the growth of AfricanRoots Music andWorld Music. Most famous of these exponents is theRail Band, led bySalif Keita. Even when not still played, its distinctive sound and traditional style has been exported to western instruments. Maninka from easternGuinea play a type ofguitar music that adapts balafon playing style to the imported instrument.
In theMalinké languagebalafon is a compound of two words:balan is the name of the instrument andfô is the verbto play. Balafon therefore is really the act ofplaying the bala.[5]
Bala still is used as the name of a largebass balafon in the region ofKolokani andBobo Dioulasso. Thesebala 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. Thebalani is carried with a strap and usually has 21 keys, while the number of keys on abala vary with region.
A balafon can be eitherfixed-key (where the keys are strung over a fixed frame, usually withcalabash resonators underneath) orfree-key (where the keys are placed independently on any padded surface). The balafon usually has 17–21 keys, tuned to atetratonic,pentatonic orheptatonic 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 fromkosso rosewood, 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 toflatten the key or the end tosharpen it.
In afixed-key balafon, the keys are suspended by leather straps just above a wooden frame, under which are hung graduated-size calabashgourd 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-buzztimbre 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).
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 akomenchang. AnIgbo 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.
TheSusu andMalinké people ofGuinea are closely identified with the balafon, as are the otherManding peoples ofMali,Senegal, andthe Gambia.Cameroon,Chad, and even the nations of theCongo 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 onfree-key pit balafons.
The balafon music of the Sambla (Sembla) people in western Burkina Faso is notable for its complex speech surrogate system,[10][11] where the words of the spokenSambla language are translated into music in a similar fashion to the more famous case oftalking drum communication.
Thegyil (English:/ˈdʒɪlə/ or/ˈdʒiːl/) is the name of a buzzingpentatonic balafon common to theGur-speaking populations in northernGhana,Burkina Faso, southeasternMali and northernIvory Coast inWest Africa. AmongMande populations in Ghana like theLigbi (Numu),Bissa andDyula, the same instrument is known asbala. The gyil is the primary traditional instrument of theDagara people of northern Ghana and Burkina Faso, and of theLobi of Ghana, southern Burkina Faso, andIvory Coast. The gyil is usually played in pairs, accompanied by a calabash gourd drum called akuor. 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 ofDagara 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 theGurunsi people of theUpper 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 theBewaa.
The gyil's design is similar to thebalaba or balafon used by theMande-speakingBambara,Dyula andSosso peoples further west in southernMali and westernBurkina Faso, as well as theSenoufo people ofSikasso, 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 calledliga attached to a wooden frame, below which hangcalabash gourds.[12] Spider web silk covers small holes in the gourds to produce a buzzing sound and antelope sinew and leather are used for the fastenings.[12] The instrument is played with rubber-headed wooden mallets.
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 asRichard 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 nativefolk music calledbikutsi. Bikutsi is based on a war rhythm played with variousrattles,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 wasMessi Me Nkonda Martin and his band,Los Camaroes, who addedelectric guitars and other new elements.
Balafon orchestras had remained popular throughout the 50s inYaoundé'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 toSpanish language-broadcasts from neighboringEquatorial Guinea, as well asCuban andZaireanrumba. 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 balafon,kora (lute-harp), and thengoni (the ancestor of thebanjo) are the three instruments most associated withgriot 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, theKouyaté family has been called thekeepers of the balafon, and twentieth century members of this family have helped introduce it throughout the world.
TheSosso Bala is a balafon, currently kept in the town ofNiagassola,Guinea that is reputed to bethe original balafon, constructed over 800 years ago. TheEpic of Sundiata, a story of the formation of theMali Empire, tells that agriot (praise-singer) namedBala Faséké Kouyaté convincedSosso kingSumanguru 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.[13]
Historians Jan Jansen and Francis Simonis have argued that the Sosso Bala was in fact 'invented' as a historical artifact by the Kouyaté family in the 1970s.[14] Regardless of the truth of this story, the Sosso Bala was named byUNESCO as one of the NineteenMasterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2001.[15]
The title of theSenegalese National Anthem is "Pincez tous vos koras, frappez les balafons" (Everyone strum yourkoras, strike the balafons).
A modern festival devoted to the balafon, theTriangle du balafon, now takes place annually atSikasso inMali.[16]
Famous balafon players have included:
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