Balafon: Burkina faso musical instrument
The balafon is a resonating frame and wooden keyed percussion idiophone of West Africa; part of the idiophone category of tuned percussion...
https://worldhitz4u.blogspot.com/2013/12/balafon-burkina-faso-musical-instrument.html
The balafon is a resonating frame and
wooden keyed percussion idiophone of West Africa; part of the idiophone
category of tuned percussion musical instrument that includes the xylophone,
the marimba, the glockenspiel and the vibraphone. Sound is manufactured by
striking the tuned keys with two protected sticks. Balafon is believed to have
been developed independently of the southern African and South American musical
instrument that is now known as the marimba, traditional histories of the
balafon traced it back 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,
with the Balangi in Sierra Leone and the Gvil of the Dagara, Lobi and Gurunsi
that is found in Ghana, Burkina Faso as well as Ivory Coast. Some instruments
that are similar to the balafon are used in parts of Central Africa, with the
ancient kingdom of Kongo referring to the instrument as “palaku”.
source: mandinkaoftheweek.word..
A balafon can either be fixed-key or
free key. The musical instrument often has 17 to 21 keys that are tuned to a
tetratonic, pentatonic or even heptatonic scale depending much on the culture
of the musician that is playing the instrument. The balafon is generally fit to
produce 18 to 21 notes, although some are carved to produce many fewer notes.
The musical instrument keys are traditionally produced from the “bene wood”
that is slowly dried over a low flame and then tuned by removing the bits of
wood from the underside of the key. The wood is taken off the middle to make
the key flat or to the end to sharpen the key. In a fixed-key balafon, the keys
are hanged by leather straps just above a wooden frame under which
graduated-size calabash gourd resonators are suspended. A small hole in each of
the gourd is covered with a membrane traditionally of thin spider’s egg sac
filaments to make the featured nasal-buzz tone quality of the musical
instrument that is often played with two-rubber-wound mallet while the player
is seating on a low stool.
As the culture of the instrument
differs across the West Africa, so does the approach to the instrument, in many
areas, the balafon is played singly in a ritual context and in others, it is
used as part of a group. In Guinea and Mali, the musical instrument is often
used as part of group of three, low pitched, medium and high pitched as well.
In Cameroon, six balafon of differing size plays together in an orchestra that
is known as “komenchang”. An Igbo variation exists with just one tuned key for
each of the players. While in most cases a single player hits the multiple keys
with two mallets, some other traditions keep two or more players at each
keyboard.
The balafon has seen strengthening
since the 1980s in the growth of African roots music and the world music as
well. Most prominent of this exponent is the rail band that is led by Salif
Keita. Even when the instrument is not played the popular sound and traditional
pattern has been transferred to the western musical instruments. Maninka, which
is found in the Guinea region play a kind of guitar music that took the playing
style of balafon to the imported musical instrument.
During the 1950s, bars came up across
Cameroon’s capital to oblige an arrival of new inhabitants and soon became a
sign for the Cameroonian identity in the face of colonialism. Balafon
orchestras, made up of 3 to 5 balafon and many percussion instruments became
popular in these bars. Some of these orchestras like Richard Band de Zoetele
became more famous in spite of disdain from the European elite.
The middle of the 20th century
made sure that the instrument was made popular of a native folk music known as
the bikutsi. The bikutsi is based on a war rhythm that was played with many
rattles, drums and the balafon. The balafon orchestras had remained famous all
through the 1950s in Yaoundé’s bar scene, although the audience asked modernity
and the popular style at the time was not able to cope with the demand.
The Susu and Malinke people of Guinea
are tightly identified with the musical instrument, also the other Manding people
of Mali, Senegal and the Gambia, also Chat, Cameroon and even the nations of
the Congo Basin has a history with this musical instrument. In the Malinke
language, Balafon is a combination of two words: “Balan” is a name of the
instrument and “fo” is the verb that means to play. So balafon really means
“the act of playing the bala”. Bala is still used as the name of a large bass
balafon in the Kolokani and Bobo Dioulasso regions. These bala have
exceptionally long keys and huge calabash for the amplification of the
instrument. Balani is then used as the name of a small balafon that has small
calabash and short keys and is pitched high. The balani is carried with the use
of a strap and often has about 21 keys while the number of keys on a bala
differs from region to region and sometime the musician. The balafon, kora and
the ngoni are three musical instruments that are much more linked with griot
tradition of West Africa. Each is more closely linked with the region where
they are found, although all the instruments are played together in the groups
throughout the region. In some culture, the musical instrument was and is still
a sacred instrument that is playable by only trained religious caste members
only at the ritual activities such as the festival, royal and funerals and also
some marriage celebrations. Here the musical instrument is kept in a temple
storehouse and can only be brought out and played after undergoing some series
of purification activities. Specific instruments may be carved to be played for
the particular rituals and repertoire. Young skilled persons are not trained on
the instrument that has been made sacred but on the free key pit balafon.