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about the balafon    about the instruments    about oral traditions    about textiles and costumes   
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The balafon is a lamellophone with wooden keys. It is classified as an idiophone. There are many different balafons in Africa. They fall into two main categories: the free-key type, in which the keys are independent of one another and of their supports, and those with fixed keys, in which the keys are permanently strung together and attached to their support. In the free-key balafons, the loose keys are assembled on temporary supports; for example, the players legs, banana-tree trunks, straw bundles or logs padded with grass. The fixed-key balafons are generally mounted on or suspended from a frame, with or without calabash resonators.

The balafons that Fana Soro works with are fixed-key balafons with calabash resonators. They consist of wooden keys mounted on a frame formed by four uprights, to which are attached eight horizontal bars forming two rectangles one above the other, the whole thing being held together with leather thongs. Spherical gourds, open at the top, are suspended beneath the keys. The size of each of these resonators is adapted to the pitch of each note. Several circular openings have been bored in the gourds; these are covered with a very web obtained from the cocoon protecting the eggs of a type of spider. These openings add a certain stridency to the sounds produced. In order to accommodate all the gourds within the framework, they are arranged zigzag fashion, forming two rows, and are suspended from leather strips.

The keys themselves are suspended over the resonators by means of two lines of twisted leather cord which pass through two "vibration knots". Each key has its own particular length, width and thickness. The keys are struck with two beaters with rounded ends, formed by winding the tips with rubber strips.

Tuning the frame balafons of West Africa may be tetratonic, pentatonic or heptatonic. The balafon Fana uses is tuned to the pentatonic scale. The tuning is related to the language that is peculiar to each ethnic group or to the scales of their songs. Many variant types are to be found within each ethnic group. The balafon is not indigenous to some of then, but has been borrowed from other group.

Playing Techniques

There are two main playing techniques for the balafon:

1) The balafon reproduces the timbres and tonalities of the spoken language. A tonal language is one expressing difference of meaning by variation of tone. Thus, the same word pronounced at different pitches will have a different meaning.

If the musician plays and sings:

-the balafon repeats a phrase that has been sung,

-the singing repeats a phrase that has been played.

-the same phrase is played and sung simultaneously. In this case, as the balafon playing is faster than speech, the musician performs melodic phrases to fill in. For this, each interpreter develops his own particular formulas. These formulas may sometimes be as simple as the repetition of a single note.

If the musician plays without singing, he expresses himself in a coded manner by transferring his speech to the balafon.

2) The balafon plays a melody which may or may not accompany the singing.

Balafons are played alone or in pairs, with or without accompanient from other instruments. Some pieces may be played by two, or even three or four players on the same instrument. One or two of the keys of the balafon are sometimes struck rhythmically with the handle of the beater or with wooden sticks. The players sometimes wear metal jingles on their wrists.

Learning to play the balafon

According to the different ethnic groups, the players may or not be griots (i.e.. professional musicians, members of a class of poets, musicians and entertainers). Griots learn to play the balafon at a very early age. The child sits opposite his teacher and learns by imitation. He begins by playing a single note, in order to acquire a sense of rhythm. Then, as soon as he is able to talk, he is ready to learn how to make the instrument speak. He then plays from verbal dictation, repeating on the balafon the words he understands.

In many ethnic groups, young people learn to play on a practice instrument, a pit balafon. The keys are mounted over a pit in the ground. The reason for the existence of this type of balafons is that balafons are often sacred instruments and cannot therefore be taken freely from the storehouse where they are kept.

Sacrifices

Before a balafon can be taken out of its storehouse, a ritual sacrifice has to be made; this may consist in pouring out millet beer or sacrificing a chicken upon the fetish. This sacrifice is a means of obtaining the spirits’ permission to use the balafons and "give it voice". Likewise, when a new balafon has been made, a ritual sacrifice is also made for the occasion. The fetish is first questioned to find out the nature and quantity of the sacrifices required.

Ritual ceremonies

It would be impossible to enumerate all the ritual ceremonies in which the balafon takes part. The most representative ones include celebrations (weddings, circumcision ceremonies, the end of harvesting etc.), funerals, ceremonies to encourage farmers, ceremonies in hour of the fetishes.

The evolution of balafon practice

Balafon playing is very coded and differs from one ethnic group to another. Likewise, within one ethnic group there may be several types of balafon each used in different and specific circumstances (feast, funerals, various rituals) and usually with the same instrumental ensemble and repertoire.

NOTE: Information was taken from the CD, L'Art du Balafon, Disque Arion, Paris, France, 1997

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