Listening In, Understanding More: the balafon
When reading articles and stories about new music and sounds, it’s so important to actually do the listening as well as the reading. Otherwise it’s like reading about a sport without ever moving and putting the words into practice – how else are you really supposed to understand how to play the game, or understand […]
Balafon basics: what is it and where did it come from?
This article is about balafon basics, what a balafon is and where it came from. The balafon is a gourd-resonated xylophone, a type of struck idiophone. It is closely associated with the Mandé peoples of West Africa, particularly the Guinean branch of the Mandinka ethnic group, but is now found across West Africa from Guinea […]