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Balafon
The balafon (pronounced , or, by analogy with ''xylophone'' etc., ) is a gourd-resonated xylophone, a type of struck idiophone. It is closely associated with the neighbouring Mandé peoples, Mandé, Bwaba Bobo people, Bobo, Senufo people, Senoufo and Gur languages, Gur peoples of West Africa, particularly the Guinean branch of the Mandinka people, 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 language, Mandinka name ''bala'' () with the word ''fôn'' () 'to speak' or the Greek root ''phono''. History Believed to have been developed independently of the Southern African and South American instrument now called the marimba, oral histories of the balafon date it to at least the rise of the Mali Empire in the 12th century CE. Balafon is a Manding languages, Manding name, but variations exist across West Africa, including the ''balangi'' in Sierra Leone ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Gyil
The balafon (pronounced , or, by analogy with ''xylophone'' etc., ) 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 ''bala'' () with the word ''fôn'' () 'to speak' or the Greek root ''phono''. History Believed to have been developed independently of the Southern African and South American instrument now called the marimba, oral histories of the balafon date it to at least the rise of the Mali Empire in the 12th century CE. Balafon is a Manding name, but variations exist across West Africa, including the ''balangi'' in Sierra Leone and the gyil of the Dagara, Lobi and Gurunsi from Ghana, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast. Similar instrum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Xylophone
The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African and Asian instruments, diatonic in many western children's instruments, or chromatic for orchestral use. The term ''xylophone'' may be used generally, to include all such instruments such as the marimba, balafon and even the semantron. However, in the orchestra, the term ''xylophone'' refers specifically to a chromatic instrument of somewhat higher pitch range and drier timbre than the marimba, and these two instruments should not be confused. A person who plays the xylophone is known as a ''xylophonist'' or simply a ''xylophone player''. The term is also popularly used to refer to similar instruments of the lithophone and metallophone types. For example, the Pixiphone and many similar toys described by the makers as xylophones have b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Struck Idiophone
Struck idiophones is one of the categories of idiophones (that is, any musical instrument that creates sound primarily by the instrument as a whole vibrating—without the use of Strings (music), strings or Acoustic membrane, membranes) that are found in the Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification. Struck idiophones are categorised as 11 in the Hornbostel-Sachs system. There are two main categories of struck idiophones, directly (111) and indirectly (112) struck. According to Curt Sachs, Sachs, Directly struck (111) Directly struck idiophones produce sound resulting from a direct action of the performer as opposed to the indirectly struck idiophones. The player strikes the instrument with a direct action, either by hand or by mechanical intermediate devices, beaters, keyboards, or by pulling ropes, etc. It is definitive that the player can apply clearly defined individual strokes and that the instrument itself is equipped for this kind of percussion. There a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Percussion Idiophone
Struck idiophones is one of the categories of idiophones (that is, any musical instrument that creates sound primarily by the instrument as a whole vibrating—without the use of strings or membranes) that are found in the Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification. Struck idiophones are categorised as 11 in the Hornbostel-Sachs system. There are two main categories of struck idiophones, directly (111) and indirectly (112) struck. According to Sachs, Directly struck (111) Directly struck idiophones produce sound resulting from a direct action of the performer as opposed to the indirectly struck idiophones. The player strikes the instrument with a direct action, either by hand or by mechanical intermediate devices, beaters, keyboards, or by pulling ropes, etc. It is definitive that the player can apply clearly defined individual strokes and that the instrument itself is equipped for this kind of percussion. There are two main categories of directly struck idio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Gourd
Gourds include the fruits of some flowering plant species in the family Cucurbitaceae, particularly '' Cucurbita'' and '' Lagenaria''. The term refers to a number of species and subspecies, many with hard shells, and some without. Many gourds have large, bulbous bodies and long necks, such as Dipper Gourds, many variations of Bottle Gourd and caveman club gourds. One of the earliest domesticated types of plants, subspecies of the bottle gourd, '' Lagenaria siceraria'', have been discovered in archaeological sites dating from as early as 13,000 BC. Gourds have had numerous uses throughout history, including as tools, musical instruments, objects of art, film, and food. Terminology ''Gourd'' is occasionally used to describe crop plants in the family Cucurbitaceae, like pumpkins, cucumbers, squash, luffa, and melons. More specifically, ''gourd'' refers to the fruits of plants in the two Cucurbitaceae genera '' Lagenaria'' and '' Cucurbita'', or also to their hollow, dried-ou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Marimba
The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the marimba has a lower range. Typically, the bars of a marimba are arranged chromatically, like the keys of a piano. The marimba is a type of idiophone. Today, the marimba is used as a solo instrument, or in ensembles like orchestras, marching bands (typically as a part of the front ensemble), percussion ensembles, brass band, brass and concert bands, and other traditional ensembles. Etymology and terminology The term ''marimba'' refers to both the traditional version of this instrument and its modern form. Its first documented use in the English language dates back to 1704. The term is of Bantu languages, Bantu origin, deriving from the prefix meaning 'many' and meaning 'xylophone'. The term is akin to kongo languages, Kikongo and Swahili ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ngoni (instrument)
The ngoni (also written ''ngɔni'', ''n'goni'', or ''nkoni'') is a traditional West African string instrument. Its body is made of wood or calabash with dried animal (often goat) skin head stretched over it. The ngoni, which can produce fast melodies, appears to be closely related to the '' akonting'' and the '' xalam''. This is called a ''jeli ngoni'' as it is played by griots at celebrations and special occasions in traditional songs called ''fasa''s in Mandingo. Another larger type, believed to have originated among the donso (a hunter and storyteller caste of the Wassoulou cultural region) is called the ''donso ngoni''. This is still largely reserved for ceremonial purposes. The donso ngoni, or "hunter's harp," has six strings. It is often accompanies singing along with the '' karagnan'', a serrated metal tube scraped with a metal stick. The donso ngoni was mentioned by Richard Jobson in the 1620s, describing it as the most commonly used instrument in the Gambia. He describe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ibn Battuta
Ibn Battuta (; 24 February 13041368/1369), was a Maghrebi traveller, explorer and scholar. Over a period of 30 years from 1325 to 1354, he visited much of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Iberian Peninsula. Near the end of his life, Ibn Battuta dictated an account of his journeys, titled '' A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling'', commonly known as ''The Rihla''. Ibn Battuta travelled more than any other explorer in pre-modern history, totalling around , surpassing Zheng He with about and Marco Polo with . Name "Ibn Battuta" is a patronymic, literally meaning 'son of a duckling'. His most common full name is given as Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battuta. In his travelogue, '' The Rihla'', he gives his full name as " Shams al-Din Abu ’Abdallah Muhammad ibn ’Abdallah ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Yusuf Lawati al- Tanji ibn Battuta". Early life All that is known about Ibn Battuta's life comes from the au ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Kingdom Of Kongo
The Kingdom of Kongo ( or ''Wene wa Kongo;'' ) was a kingdom in Central Africa. It was located in present-day northern Angola, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, southern Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. At its greatest extent it reached from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Kwango River in the east, and from the Congo River in the north to the Kwanza River in the south. The kingdom consisted of several core provinces ruled by the ''Manikongo'', the Portuguese version of the Kongo title ''Mwene Kongo'', meaning "lord or ruler of the Kongo kingdom", and its sphere of influence extended to neighbouring kingdoms, such as Ngoyo, Kakongo, Kingdom of Loango, Loango, Kingdom of Ndongo, Ndongo, and Kingdom of Matamba, Matamba, the latter two located in what became Angola. From to 1862, it was an independent state. From 1862 to 1914, it functioned intermittently as a vassal state of the Kingdom of Portugal. In 1914, following the Portuguese suppression ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and environments ranging from savannas to rainforests. As of the 2023 census, Sierra Leone has a population of 8,460,512. Freetown is its capital and largest city. Sierra Leone is a presidential republic, with a unicameral parliament and a directly elected president. It is a secular state. Its Constitution of Sierra Leone, constitution provides for the separation of state and religion and freedom of conscience. Muslims constitute three-quarters of the population, and there is a significant Christian minority. Notably, religious tolerance is very high. Sierra Leone's current territorial configuration was established in two phases: in 1808, the coastal Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate, Sierra Leone Colony was founded as a place to resettle retu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of cities in Ivory Coast, city and economic centre is the port city of Abidjan. It borders Guinea to the Guinea–Ivory Coast border, northwest, Liberia to the Ivory Coast–Liberia border, west, Mali to the Ivory Coast–Mali border, northwest, Burkina Faso to the Burkina Faso–Ivory Coast border, northeast, Ghana to the Ghana–Ivory Coast border, east, and the Atlantic Ocean's Gulf of Guinea to the south. With 31.5 million inhabitants in 2024, Ivory Coast is the List of African countries by population, third-most populous country in West Africa. Its official language is French language, French, and indigenous languages are also widely used, including Bété languages, Bété, Baoulé language, Baoulé, Dyula language, Dyula, Dan language, Da ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
