Balafon

[solas]

Does anybody know of any Balafon resources on the internet or books on learning to play balafon?

Can much be learnt from say Jazz xyllphone players?

[James]

I've since found some resources or books refered to on the djembe-L list.

The Mandinka Balafon: An introduction with notation for teaching
by Lynne Jessup (Lynne Michael)
* Paperback: 191 pages
* Publisher: Xylo Publications; (1983)
* ASIN: 0916421015

Hard-spine paperback or spiral-bound.

Inquiries and information: lynne@gtepacifica.net

Lynne Michael
P.O. Box 941
Rota, MP 96951
Mariana Islands, USA
Cost is $25.00 each plus $2.25 postage


Unfortunately this is an old book and hard to come by.
The book covers history, legend, the Mandinka people, notation, posture,
holding the sticks/mallets, motor patterns, teaching approaches, tuning,
construction, stories, rhythms, etc.
One cd breaks down and teaches the rhythms and the second cd is those
rhythms in regular musical form.

Here's a few other balafon and marimba books I've seen out there:
"Xylophone Music From Ghana" by Trever Williams & Joseph Kobom. 1992. White
Cliffs Media

"Hot Marimba" book/CD By Walt Hampton (Zimbabwe)

"Marimba Mojo" by Walt Hampton

"Play Amadinda" book/cassette compiled by Peter Cooke (Uganda)

Balafon Marimba Ensemble
"Harare To Kisingani". Music on the traditional African marimba.

As always, check tried and true sites first such as Johnsmusic.com,
Percussionmusic.com, drumskulldrums.com, africanrhythmtraders.com, before hitting the
"amazon" sites.

[Onetreedrums]

If anyone has any specific questions regarding the bala, my housemate is a master balafola named Facinet Bangoura from Guinea. He was a member of Les Mervielle de Guinea as well as Wofa. He has joined our troupe, Kissidugu (http://www.kissidugu.org), and has brought an enormous amount of depth, melody, and experience. Facinet is currently playing at several dance classes around Boulder, and is teaches a regular bala class on Sundays from 5-7pm in Boulder, CO.

[steady]

Hi there,
I tried to contact Lynne for her book but .... her email address is wrong!
Any way of getting another email address, thanks?
Happy Dumming,
Steady Freddy

[James]

Hi Steady, I managed to get an email address from djembe-l. I'll pm it to you when I have it on me...

James

Can anyone clear up the various types of balfon?

Is the mandinka heptatonic (7 notes) like a piano?
Are all jola balafons heptatonic?

What is the tuning in Guinea like?

James

[bubudi]

"bala fo" is a term coming from mandinka, meaning "making the wood speak" (balafon is the french spelling). "bala" was the original name for the instrument and continues to be used. the original balafon was the susu bala. it was adopted by the mande empire after they defeated the susu c1235. the susu call this instrument balanyi, but it is the same instrument. these guinean instruments are heptatonic, that is, they follow a 7 note scale just like western scales do.

the same bala is traditionally also found in gambia, southeastern senegal, northwest sierra leone, maninka areas of mali and small areas of cote d'ivoire and burkina faso (i.e mande territory).

the only other balafon is the bambara one which has been adapted to their pentatonic scales. other resonated xylophones in west africa have other names and more variations.

some mande balas have 18-19 keys. 21 is typical.

there are 2 bambara balas - the balaba (big bala) and the baladen or balani (child or little bala). a very similar version ('balo') is played by the jula (not jola) people in the common border areas of cote d'ivoire, mali and burkina faso.

other resonated west african xylophones include the senufo 'jegele', the 'gyil' (pronounced like 'jill') of northern ghana and southern burkina faso, and the 'cooza' of the bwa.

with exception of the mande bala, all the above are pentatonic.

the heptatonic tuning is roughly in whole step (1 tone) intervals. for example: C-D-E-F#-G#-Bb. there are microtonal variations that vary from region to region. if you have a bala tuned in strictly equidistant intervals, it will sound noticeably different to a traditionally tuned one and will not sound good played alongside other traditionally tuned mande instruments, although it would sound better with certain western 'fixed tune' instruments such as piano keyboard.

for an instructional book on the pentatonic (jula and bambara) variety, click here
the book is ''la voix du balafon", by moussa hema. i have heard it is an excellent resource. the book goes into a lot of detail and you will learn lots, such as history and cultural background, correct way to hold the mallets (between index and middle fingers) and tuning as well as how to play the instrument. it comes with an accompanying cd. the only drawback is it is in french and german only. but if you intend on going to west africa, you will need to learn french anyway! plus the notation, pictures and cd alone make it worthwhile.

as for the mande bala, i think lynne jessup's book is the only thing out there worth getting... if you can get it! [james, were you able to get a working email address? can you post it on the forum please?]

[James]

Cool thanks for the clear up there. My friend was calling his pentatonic bala Jula (I thought he was saying Jola) it's from Burkina, so must be the same.

I have the email address on my other machine and am moving house at the moment. I definitely have it, but it'll take me a while to post it but promise I will....

Thanks for the link to that other book... Is it only in French and German?

[bubudi]

here are 3 very good videos of bala playing.

this first one is of the mande style, played solo by alya dioubate in conakry, guinea.




this next video is of some sambla balo players. sambla is a village west of bobo dioulasso in burkina faso. the video shows the process of baking the keys and scraping them to achieve the desired tune. a local with a very good command of the english language explains many facts about the instrument and its music as played in sambla.




my last pick is of the mandinka style in gambia, which is pretty much the old mande style. the picture is pretty dark, but you get a pretty good idea of the atmosphere.

[bops]

Eric Charry's book, Mande Music, is an excellent resource, and easy to find. Although it doesn't focus solely on bala, there's a lot of information there. It's the only book I know of that ties together the history and culture of Maninka and Mandinka drumming, kora, n'goni, bala, and modern guitar-based ensembles. There is an accompanying CD available with bala and kora patterns and variations (much of the music on the CD is performed by the author, just so you know).

[James]

No way. I bought the book and didn't realise there was supposed to be a cd with it....

[bops]

No way. I bought the book and didn't realise there was supposed to be a cd with it.... Sad

Sorry, I should clarify... there is a companion CD available. It's a separate purchase - not necessarily included with the book. What do you think about the book?

[skinsandstrings]

Hi ,
There is a great learning tool for balafon , kora , ngoni at
http://www.kora-music.com it's called JaliyaV4 developed by Harold Loaguenz.
I recommend it to all my Kora customers. Basically it brings up a scrolling notation and an interactive icon of the chosen instrument showing you which keys/strings to play at an adjustable speed. There are various traditional tunings to be explored as well as the ability to transpose the pitch to a different key.
Have fun!!!!
Nick

[BobF]

this has quite a bit of information on the bala:

http://www.lib.umd.edu/drum/bitstream/1903/3527/1/umi-umd-3360.pdf

If you can read music there's some parts transcribed near the end of the dissertation that might be useful.

Bob

[ndama]

Anyone needing an actual teacher rather than internet rescources can contact Oury Diallo (from Guinea), currently resident in Brighton, tel no 01273 624174 mob 07870589650. He also has balas for sale.

[bubudi]

I have the email address on my other machine and am moving house at the moment. I definitely have it, but it'll take me a while to post it but promise I will....

as for the mande bala, i think lynne jessup's book is the only thing out there worth getting... if you can get it! [james, were you able to get a working email address? can you post it on the forum please?]

hi james, were you able to find the email address?