First things first. The gyil is a traditional West African xylophone with dried gourd resonators hung below most or all of its hardwood keys. (A similar instrument is called a “balafon” in Francophone ...

SK. Kakraba was destined to play the gyil—a 14 bar wooden xylophone from the northern region of Ghana—at birth. Mastering the skill is a tradition passed down directly through his family, most notably ...

You’re inevitably familiar with the xylophone. In Western culture, it’s a staple in children’s music classes — a toy ostensibly anyone can play. But for the Lobi tribe of northern Ghana, an ancestor ...

Ghanaian gyil melds with space-age electronics for a spluttering, time-warping and thoroughly compelling collaboration Percussionist Bex Burch was born in Yorkshire and trained at the Guildhall School ...

Eight musicians, aged 18 to 54, sit in a semicircle playing leather-cased bamboo flutes called atenteben. The sound of the atenteben resonates deep in the eardrums, creating eerie echoes in a variety ...

American professor Julier Strand reported today the passing of Kakraba Lobi. He died on Friday, July 20, at Ridge Hospital in Accra, Ghana. “Kakraba Lobi was one of the foremost players of the Lobi ...

Smithsonian Libraries Topic Dagari xylophones Xylophone Xylophone--Design and construction Music Musical instruments makers siris_sil_750148 SIL GYIL : THE DAGARALOBI XYLOPHONE Smithsonian Libraries ...

The calabash gourds attached to the base of the gyil’s frame jostle against each other as Valerie Naranjo carries it into the room. She places it in the centre, kicks off her soft, beaded moccasins ...