Musical Instruments in the South Kensington Museum: West African Marimba, or Balafo, 1870. 'A singular implement of negro music, called the marimba or is about 3 ft. 2 in. long,...consisting of a series of wooden slabs, having gourds suspended beneath them to give fulness of sound. The slabs are beaten with a pair of drum-sticks, the ends of which are knobs of caoutchouc [rubber]. This instrument has a solemn and rather doleful effect. It is used at funerals by the negroes of Kooranko, near Sierra Leone'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870.

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Photo credit: © The Print Collector / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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