Balafon

Sound and Character

The sound of the balafon is warm, wooden, soft, yet very bright and resonant due to the natural gourd resonators under each plate, into which spiderwebs are glued for a rattling effect.

Design and Features

Hardwood bars are fixed on a frame above a row of dried calabash gourds of various sizes. Holes are made in the gourds and sealed with thin spiderweb or film, producing a characteristic rattling timbre when struck with wooden mallets with rubber tips.

Genres Used In

• Music of West African griots
• Ethnic jazz and global worldbeat