Marimbas!

They are possibly the coolest percussion instruments ever. Listening to marimbas is like eating candy. Only with your ears. And you don't get sticky. So I went to this percussion ensemble concert tonight. They had a section where they did a bunch of pieces from Ghana, with authentic instruments. There's this one instrument called a Gyil- pronounced "Jill," and it's like... so cool! It's like, a marimba, only low down so you sit practically on the ground to play it, and instead of the metal pipes coming down from the keys for the reverb, it's got gourds tied underneath, and the whole thing is curved like unto a hammock. It's nifty- sometimes it sounds like just two sticks being hit together, but with a tone, and sometimes it sounds like a freaked-out marimba, and sometimes it sounds like a weird buzzing guitar thing. I'm pretty sure the buzzing guitar sound came from the gourds reverberating all next to each other. It sounded SO COOL! To repeat my previous assertion, marimbas are the coolest percussion instruments ever.