Afrobeat that winks at jazz, world music that transcends language barriers and national borders, sweat-inducing and exhilarating: the six musicians of BallaBalla met in the south of France, but come from the Ivory Coast and Germany.

At the center of their energetic original compositions is the balafon, a West African instrument similar to the xylophone; however, its characteristic sound results from calabashes, which serve as resonating bodies. The balafon is the traditional accompanying instrument of the griot poets, but has also found use in modern African music - and this is precisely where BallaBalla hijacks its full and sparkling sound to play with it in a way that is as fast-paced as it is witty.

BallaBalla presents this in an unconventional line-up: they juxtapose the balafon with a two-piece horn section, whose sound is carried by bass and drums. These fireworks are crowned with virtuoso percussion sounds that provide the Latin American flair.

One of the group's special features is that this playing is also the only language in which all members can communicate, as the six musicians speak French, German and Spanish, but none of them speak all three languages; the shared music overcomes the Babylonian confusion.