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The story of the banjo's journey from Africa to the western hemisphere blends music, history, and a union of cultures. In Banjo Roots and Branches, Robert B. Winans presents cutting-edge scholarship that covers the instrument's West African origins and its adaptations and circulation in the Caribbean and United States.
Banjo music originated informally as a form of African folk music over a hundred years ago probably in the sub-Saharan region.When the Americans forced African slaves to work on the plantations, banjo music followed them, and stayed primarily a form of African folk music, up to the 1800s.
Each note Jake Blount plays on the banjo is a step toward helping his audience better understand a piece of Black history he believes has been lost. "It typically isn't thought of as a Black ...
Reflecting the cultures that settled North America, the roots of old-time music are in the traditional musics of the British Isles, [2] Europe, and Africa. African influences are notably found in vocal and instrumental performance styles and dance, as well as the often cited use of the banjo; in some regions, Native American, Spanish, French and German sources are also prominent. [3]
The music of the African diaspora makes frequent use of ostinato, a motif or phrase which is persistently repeated at the same pitch. The repeating idea may be a rhythmic pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody. The banjo is a direct descendant of the Akonting created by the Jola people, found in Senegal, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau in
According to the Encyclopædia Britannica: "West African plucked lutes such as the konting, khalam, and the nkoni (which was noted by Ibn Baṭṭūṭah in 1353) may have originated in ancient Egypt. The khalam is claimed to be the ancestor of the banjo. Another long-necked lute is the ramkie of South Africa." [15]
(The blackface minstrels popularized the banjo in the 1830s and 40s. Prior to that the banjo was a folk instrument exclusive to African American and African Caribbean musicians.) This was the prevalent form of playing the 5-string banjo until the advent of the guitar style of up-picking in the late 1860s, also referred to as finger-picking.
The ngoni (also written ngɔni, n'goni, or nkoni) is a traditional West African string instrument. Its body is made of wood or calabash with dried animal (often goat) skin head stretched over it. The ngoni, which can produce fast melodies, appears to be closely related to the akonting and the xalam.