bala-012 - Buzz Aldrin (2)
bala-012 - Buzz Aldrin (3)
bala-012 - Buzz Aldrin (4)
Bobo Balafon – 18 Key – Buzz Aldrin
AU $1,700.00 – AU $1,950.00
Made for the Griot Keita family – Professional 18 key giant Bobo balafon from Burkina Faso.
Made from the densest kiln dried hardwood Khadi timber and calabash resonators
Tuned to Pentatonic and covers 3 octaves.
Comes with traditional mallets.
Watch this Balafon in action below >>
Country of Origin: Burkina Faso
Dimensions (L x W x H): 130cm x 60cm x 40cm
We recommend you purchase a bag to protect your Balafon. The hard-wearing cordura bag makes protecting and transporting your bala easy, as easy as carrying a back pack.
More Details
Balafon are a wooden keyed percussive idiophone of West Africa. Balafon is a Manding name, but variations exist across West Africa, including the Balangi (Sierra Leone), Gyil (Dagara), Lobi and Gurunsi (Ghana, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire).
This professional quality Bobo Balafon is hand made by master artisans from individually tuned Khadi hardwood keys, Cow hide and Calabash.
Bobo balafon are distinctive with their large calabash resonators (compared to Guinea balafon). The design shapes upwards at the lower register (notes). Some calabash have thin paper covering small holes on the calabash to produce the buzzing vibration synonymous with the Bobo balafon sound.
The keys of the Balafon are tuned to each other in a pentatonic scale scale. It is the wood which set these bala apart – Khadi is premier wood used in making the world’s best Balafon. Below the key bed are calabash gourds which serve as resonators. Each gourd has a small hole with very thin paper (traditionally a thin membrane) over it, which creates the buzzing resonance that is so characteristic of West African music.
LISTEN TO THIS INSTRUMENT
We recommend using good quality headphones for all our sound grabs – they’re recorded at high fidelity for your listening pleasure!
NEED ADVICE?
You’re welcome to call us on (03) 9525 3073 or email us [email protected]
