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Tiohoun
Burkina Faso
Ethnic group: Bwaba
Made by Tabadi Kani
1995
Canadian Museum of Civilization
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This xylophone consists of a frame supporting 15 bars of yehoun
wood of different lengths, arranged from low pitch to high, with calabashes that act as resonators
suspended beneath them.
The bars are struck with wooden mallets. Musicians wear metal jingles on their wrists, creating
a dance of rustling objects that blurs the "contours" of the music or surrounds it with
ornaments. The tiohoun is played at weddings, gatherings, funerals and agricultural
festivals. It is said that its curved shape resembles that of the chairs of traditional chiefs,
for the tiohoun is also a piece of furniture. During moments of rest, musicians sit on
their instrument, and they may even use it as a bed.
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