Balafon
A fixed-key balafon, showing resonators with membrane holes | |
| Other names | balafo, bala, balaphone, balaphon, balaphong, balani, gyil, balangi |
|---|---|
| Classification | West African wooden Percussion idiophone with up to 21 keys |
| Hornbostel–Sachs classification | 111.212 (Sets of percussion sticks) |
| Developed | 12th century or earlier |
| Related instruments | |
| gyil, marimba, xylophone, gambang kayu | |
| Cultural practices and expressions linked to Balafon and Kolintang in Mali, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire and Indonesia | |
|---|---|
| Country | Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and Indonesia |
| Reference | 02131 |
| Region | Asia and the Pacific, Africa |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 2024 (19th session) |
| List | Representative |
The balafon (pronounced /ˈbæləfɒn/, or, by analogy with xylophone etc., /ˈbæləfoʊn/) is a gourd-resonated xylophone, a type of struck idiophone. It is closely associated with the neighbouring Mandé, Bwaba Bobo, Senoufo and Gur peoples of West Africa, particularly the Guinean branch of the Mandinka ethnic group, but is now found across West Africa from Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali. Its common name, balafon, is likely a European coinage combining its Mandinka name ߓߟߊ bala ([bala]) with the word ߝߐ߲ fôn ([fôŋ]) 'to speak' or the Greek root phono.