Friend, Well Come! (2002)

In northern Côte d'Ivoire, the balafon – a xylophone with calabash resonators – is a central part of Senufo culture. Forty years after first hearing balafon music in 1958, ethnomusicologist Hugo Zemp returns to the Senufo region. He reflects on his earlier visits in the early 1960s, culminating in a powerful musical ceremony. Six orchestras play at once, surrounding dancers as they participate in the burial of a deceased person wrapped in fabric by the men.