A wooden percussion instrument from West Africa, similar to a xylophone, with wooden bars struck by mallets to produce musical tones.
From Mandinka and other West African languages, the word 'balafo' is believed to come from 'bala' (striking) and 'fo' (with). This instrument has been used in African music for centuries.
The balafo is one of the oldest percussion instruments in the world, and it's the ancestor of instruments that spread across the African diaspora—its rhythms influenced jazz and modern music!
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