24 Jan Christmas activities Kessels Museum
In late 2022, I did some Christmas activities at Kessels Museum Tilburg.
At the museum, I have been doing balafon making one day a week for a while now, but with holiday period I also do activities with children. A nice story about the origin of the balafon (with the forest spirit Dondori), and sorting out sound bars yourself, putting them on the frame and trying out the balafon right away. It’s the idea of making a balafon, which I more actually offer adults to come and do under my guidance. At the museum and at my home.
In 2022, I bought enough Padouk wood to make some nice sound bar sets. Over the past few years, I have already worked to learn how to make the frame and make sure that all the parts are nicely in place to create a finely playable instrument. I have also repaired and restored numerous balaphones in recent years to the satisfaction of my customers. Youssouf Keita, my teacher/balaphone builder in Burkina Faso, advises his buyers of Balafons in Europe present to have them serviced or repaired by me (quite an honour for me….).
The Kesselsmuseum website has news items naming my Christmas activities Kessels Museum.
Here I am with Henriette at the museum repairing a balafon.
At the Kessels museum, other instrument makers also work daily on repairs and restoration of instruments. On Thursdays, I often work with Ton, who works on violins, among other things. He accidentally takes this funny picture.
No Comments