图：一对Balafon球员 - 美国大都会艺术博物馆展品查阅

品名（中）	图：一对Balafon球员
品名（英）	Figure: Pair of Balafon Players
入馆年号	1979年，1979.206.131
策展部门	迈克尔·洛克菲勒之翼（The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing）
创作者
创作年份	公元 1720 - 公元 1820
创作地区	马里（Mali）
分类	木雕（Wood-Sculpture）
尺寸	高 15 7/16 x 宽 5 3/4 x 深 6 1/2 英寸 (39.3 x 14.6 x 16.5 厘米)
介绍（中）	这两个人物被描绘成演奏巴拉丰琴，巴拉丰琴是一种木琴，由一系列连接在葫芦共鸣器上的木板条组成。巴拉丰琴在多贡社区并不常见，据信这座雕塑可能来自梅泰利，这是为数不多的将巴拉丰琴融入仪式生活的多贡村庄之一。有人认为，这幅特定的作品描绘了音乐家们在社区的精神和政治领袖霍贡的葬礼上演奏，而作品本身很可能就是在这个时候展出的。在这些独特的场合，演奏的乐器是被称为gingiru的特殊balafon 这部作品还可能涉及围绕马里帝国（约1230年）形成的史诗叙事中的一系列事件，在随后的几个世纪里，马里帝国的许多居民迁移到了梅泰利等村庄。根据这些口述历史，巴拉丰玩家在索索王国及其不可战胜的统治者苏马沃罗的失败中发挥了核心作用。在一次阴谋中，马里统治者Sundiata Keita派他的妹妹Sologon和宫廷音乐家Bala FassékéKouyaté作为间谍前往索索，以发现Soumaworo权力的来源。通过索洛贡的美丽和库亚特精湛的巴拉丰演奏，他们了解到了苏马沃罗的秘密，凯塔在战场上击败了他。凯塔用缴获的索索皇家巴拉丰作为对库亚特的奖励。鉴于巴拉丰琴通常由一个人演奏，两位人物与这一乐器的结合可能是对索洛贡和巴拉·法斯凯·库亚特的参考，以及他们对该地区历史的重要贡献。
介绍（英）	These two figures are depicted playing the balafon, a type of xylophone composed of a series of wooden slats attached to gourd resonators. Balafons are uncommon in Dogon communities, and it is believed that this sculpture may have come from Mételli, one of the few Dogon villages known to incorporate the instrument in ceremonial life. It has been suggested that this specific work depicts musicians playing at the funerary rituals of a hogon, the spiritual and political leader of the community, and that the work itself was likely exhibited at such times. On these unique occasions, the instruments played are special balafons known as gingiru. The work may also refer to a series of events related in the epic narratives surrounding the formation of the Mali empire (ca. 1230), many of whose inhabitants migrated to villages such as Mételli in subsequent centuries. According to these oral histories, a balafon player had a central role in the defeat of the Soso kingdom and its invincible ruler Soumaworo. In a ruse, Mali's ruler Sundiata Keita sent his sister Sologon and the court musician Bala Fasséké Kouyaté to Soso as spies to discover the source of Soumaworo's power. Through Sologon's beauty and Kouyaté's masterful balafon playing, they learned Soumaworo's secret and Keita defeated him on the battlefield. Keita rewarded Kouyaté with the captured royal balafon of Soso. Given that balafons are typically played by one individual, the association of two figures with this instrument may be a reference to Sologon and Bala Fasséké Kouyaté, and their important contribution to the region's history.