Bala in diatonic Gmaj just arrived from Bara Gnouma

[Nodrog]

Hi there,

Ok, My bala which I ordered from Bara Gnouma just arrived yesterday. I would like to thank Paul who contributes on this forum and also Fabrice who works with Bara Gnouma and he is the guy who I placed my order with. I had it custom made in the diatonic Gmaj. It has 22 keys which means three complete 7 note octaves starting and ending with a G.

I chose this scale and key because this was best suited to fit in with my African guitar recording projects I am playing around with. I like G and Em on the guitar, course ,if I want different chord positions I can use the good old capo.

It is a beautiful and wonderful sounding instrument complete with the buzzing effect from the calabash underneath. I must say, my main concern was how accurate the tuning would be. Well, it's absolutely spot on, no problems. It was a little damaged when I unpacked it. The curved end brace was broken in transport but out came the wood glue and I let it sit overnight with a couple of clamps squeezing it together and it seems fine now. Also, it came complete with four hammers, great stuff.

That would be my only recommendation to Bara Gnouma. When packing and transporting a fragile instrument like this, it does need plenty of padding in the box. In this case , there was none at all.

Anyway, it all ends well and I just need to learn how to play it now. I will post some recorded examples once we get to know each other.

Thanks again Paul and Fabrice.

Gordon.

[Dugafola]

pictures?

[Nodrog]

Hi there,

No pictures yet but here is a demo from Bara Gnouma's Youtube site. This one looks and sounds just like mine, course, he's lacking the speed and dexterity that I have, HA, HA, .....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qbGShvrCBI

Enjoy, Gordon..