HiDERA|29 MAY 2020 | 541MB

This edition of Splice Sessions was recorded at Laboutique Studios Dakar with Sidy Koita, a world-renown balafonist who plays with the Orchestre National du Sénégal and many other acts. A member of the griot family in the Mandinka community of Senegal, Koita celebrates the marriage of traditional Senegalese instruments with modern music techniques. It brings him great joy to see the beloved balafon he was raised with incorporated into contemporary music around the world.

The Mandinka balafon also called the bala or the balphone, is a kind of idiophone (an instrument that creates sound by vibrating). In the West, it would be compared to a xylophone. The balafon is amplified by small gourds underneath the keys, with small layers of film covering holes to create a unique buzzing sound. The instrument can create a one-person band effect with a sound that is rich and full.