The other day, the Kessels Instrument makers museum in Tilburg, where I volunteer, received a special request. From the reception centre for Unaccompanied Minor Asylum Seekers in Tilburg, they enquired about the possibility, under supervision, of a 'Krar-making' workshop. The Krar is a small Eritrean...
For the third time, we hit the road for the one-week festival 'Grobund Byggefest '23' in Ebeltoft in Denmark. As usual, I am offering a balafon-building workshop there where people can help me or make their own (simple) balafon. I had created an information page...
Since I have acquired a quantity of Padouk wood, I offer interested parties to make their own balafon under my guidance. Padouk is a type of wood with beautiful sound characteristics and is used in Cameroon and Mozambique (for the Timbela, among others). Earlier, I...
I was asked if I could do something at the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Vereniging Behoud Moerenburg in Tilburg (association to preserve the park). The landscape park is in the spotlight in our city, also because the Tilburg municipality has a controversial...
I made a general instructional video for Mounting of balafonkeys on a balafon. I made the videos some time ago, but had not yet got around to editing them and getting them ready for the website. Last week, a request from Brian from Ireland led...
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...
You may have thought: "I'd love to build my own balafon! What is normally done in Mali, Ivory Coast or Burkina Faso can now also be done in the Netherlands, in Tilburg.!". Until now, this was really only possible in Africa if you stayed there...
This summer, I carried out a repair of a Timbila, a sound bar instrument used by the Chopi from Mozambique.It's bars are from Padouk-wood.[vc_separator type="transparent" thickness="5"][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text]Origin[/vc_column_text][vc_separator type="transparent" thickness="5"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="full_width" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern"][vc_column][vc_column_text]I had not heard...
I will be giving a balafon frame-making workshop at the Grobund 'Byggefest' Building Festival on the coast of Denmark not far from Aarhus. It is a small-scale festival focusing on creativity and will be held from 15 to 20 July. My dear Karin is in...
I checked her Guinean balafon for Monique Derksen. She bought it at the time through Arafan Touré . Arafan Touré lived in the Netherlands for a long time and has made beautiful arrangements, some of which are included within the WAP pages, but there is...