● Instrument Reference · Desk-Verified Dossier
Balo xylophone
Documented in the archive in connection with Mandinka Kora Tradition (Casamance & Mandé, Senegal).
Classification
Instrument
Origin / Scope
Senegal
Connected Rooms
1 Tradition
Bibliography
1 Source
Archival note & context
Balo xylophone is attested in the primary archival record for Mandinka Kora Tradition in Casamance & Mandé, Senegal.
Built from a halved calabash gourd stretched with cowhide and a rosewood neck notched with braided leather tuning rings (konso), the twenty-one-string kora is the voice of the Mandinka jali.
Accompanying sung genealogies and the Epic of Sundiata Keita, the player interlocks ostinato bass patterns (kumbengo) with cascading improvisations (birimintingo).
Associated traditions
1Sources
1What’s on this page is sourced from the citation below.
| Source | Publisher | Licence |
|---|---|---|
| Mandinka Kora Tradition — Folkroom Primary Archive Dossier (Senegal) | National Inventory | CC BY-SA 4.0 |