Life-Cycle Celebrations in Senegal: The Balafon's Role in Early Balante Culture.

The balafon, etymologically derived from bala (instrument) and the suffix fô (playing music) in the Bambara lexicon of Mali, is among the oldest known musical instruments in sub-Saharan Africa. The history of this wooden xylophone with numerous keys and gourds extends at least back to the time of Soundiata Keita who founded the Mandinka empire in the thirteenth century. The instrument probably began its odyssey in Mali before spreading to other African regions. Various populations indigenized the balafon over time gradually entrusting it with specific roles in their performance traditions, including the Balante who migrated from Guinea-Bissau and now live in the Casamance region of Senegal. This region is now called Balantakounda (Balante homeland in the Mandingo lexicon), but it initially belonged to the Bainounk landowners across the Casamance. The importance of balafon music in Balante life-cycle celebrations is a neglected theme in the existing literature on Senegambia. This article seeks to close this gap by emphasizing some balafon-making techniques and the multiple roles of the Balafon in Balante cultural belief systems. It then goes on to describe the specific case of Omar Koréto Danfa whose musicianship and related matters cannot be overstated in Balante historical consciousness but has never been the subject of systematic historical investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]