CLASSICAL ICONOCLAST: Adventures with a Balafon:
A balafon is a type of African xylophone. They come in all sizes. There are even huge “orchestral” versions played by three men together at one time. They’re made from slats of wood cured and hardened for pitch, then strung together. Usually, large gourds are added below the slats for extra resonance. They’re played with hammers…
Another story about balafons : Olivier Messiaen wanted to experiment with one in the late 1940’s. He’d recently had the usual father-son scrap with Boulez, who, by way of making peace, tracked down a good balafon (quite a large one) and carried it across Paris and up into the organ loft at La Trinité. The source of this story is Pierre-Laurent Aimard who heard it first hand from Messiaen himself, who was thrilled and delighted. (more)
