Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A large, usually pentatonic xylophone of West African origin, consisting of resonating gourds of graduated sizes under wooden bars which are struck with mallets.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A wooden-keyed
percussion idiophone ofWest Africa that is struck with two paddedsticks .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The balafon is a precursor to the vibraphone in jazz.
NPR Topics: News 2009
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He was playing with a much younger man who was playing a kind of balafon, the African instrument from which the marimba was developed.
Music, Ho Ho Walter Jon Williams 2007
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He was playing with a much younger man who was playing a kind of balafon, the African instrument from which the marimba was developed.
Archive 2007-09-01 Walter Jon Williams 2007
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He began by playing balafon , a wooden-keyed xylophone, with no thoughts of musical styles.
At Home in Music's World Larry Blumenfeld 2011
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The instrumental passages allowed all the musicians to solo, with no more emphasis on such traditional instruments as balafon a wooden-keyed xylophone and congas than electric guitar and bass.
In concert: Yoro Ndiaye at Millennium Stage Mark Jenkins 2011
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The numbers are mostly standards, but none emerge unchanged by the transatlantic dialogue between the masters of kora, balafon and tres guitar.
Afrocubism: Afrocubism Neil Spencer 2010
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Fassery Diabate on balafon , which is an African kin to a xylophone, and Mr. Segal on cello, double Mr. Sissoko's stately lines.
Warm Up to a Meeting of Two Classical Minds Jim Fusilli 2011
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The pentatonic piano figures — meant to evoke an African balafon — and swift 6/8 rhythm of the opening track, "Lady Sings the Blues," sound less like an homage to Holiday's music than an extension of Ms. Bridgewater's previous CD, "Red Earth," for which the singer immersed herself in the musical traditions of Mali.
Dee Dee Plays Billie, In Her Own Voice Larry Blumenfeld 2010
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The pentatonic piano figures — meant to evoke an African balafon — and swift 6/8 rhythm of the opening track, "Lady Sings the Blues," sound less like an homage to Holiday's music than an extension of Ms. Bridgewater's previous CD, "Red Earth," for which the singer immersed herself in the musical traditions of Mali.
Dee Dee Plays Billie, In Her Own Voice Larry Blumenfeld 2010
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The pentatonic piano figures — meant to evoke an African balafon — and swift 6/8 rhythm of the opening track, "Lady Sings the Blues," sound less like an homage to Holiday's music than an extension of Ms. Bridgewater's previous CD, "Red Earth," for which the singer immersed herself in the musical traditions of Mali.
Dee Dee Plays Billie, In Her Own Voice Larry Blumenfeld 2010
john commented on the word balafon
According to Wikipedia, this is a West African tuned percussion instrument, kind of like a vibraphone. For a really delightful example of one being played, listen to the first mp3 in the left-hand column of this story.
October 22, 2008