The balafon is a pentatonic xylophone of West Africa. The Susu people of Guinea are closely associated with it. Famous balafon players include El Hadj Djeli Sory Kouyaté and, early in his career, superstar Mory Kanté. It usually has 18-21 strings. The keys are cut from rosewood, and suspended on a bamboo frame, over gourd resonators of graduated sizes resulting in a continuous nasal buzzing sound due to small holes of spider paper in the gourds.