Southern Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Senegal
Bambara

Wood, gourd, rubber, spider web silk, leather, sinew
Early 20th century
Height: 30cm / Length: 55cm / Width: 35 cm
Idiophone – Struck Directly

This older field collected balaba (balafon) was used by the Mande-speaking Bambara people, a region that shares many musical traditions.  It is made with six wooden keys of an African hardwood called liga attached to a wooden frame and below are hanging calabash gourds that serve as resonators.  Finely detailed figures are carved on each leg with cowrie shells added on the sides.  Spider web silk covers the small hole in each gourd to produce a buzzing sound and antelope sinew and leather are used for the fastenings.  The instrument is played with rubber-headed wooden mallets called bats.