Introduction
When you think of the banjo, what comes to mind? Perhaps you imagine it playing to the tune of an upbeat bluegrass song, along with fiddles, guitars, upright basses, and loud harmonies. It has a distinct, rich sound, and the song is hardly a bluegrass song without its lovely banjo contributing to the compilation of musical instruments.
Even if a different image came to your mind--an Indie folk song, a solo player--it's likely that you didn't think of the banjo as an ancient African instrument. Its popularity as a bluegrass and folk instrument has diminished our knowledge of its origin in West Africa. That said, let us delve deeper into the peculiar history of the banjo.
The Evolution of the Banjo
Now, I did say that the banjo originated in West Africa, but that's not entirely true. It is difficult to name an exact location in which the banjo was first made, because there are many varieties of the instrument all over Africa. Possibly the most direct ancestor is the akonting, still played today in Gambia, West Africa. It has a gourd covered in tight animal skin, a bridge with three strings, and players strum the banjo's top string with their thumb--much like they do with the modern American banjo.
Still, the akonting is not the only variation of the banjo, as they all had at least one thing in common: animal skin. Typically, a stringed instrument would be made of something hard, like wood or steel, but the banjo is uniquely made of flexible material.
When people from West and Central Africa were taken from their homes and forced to become the slaves of American landowners far across the other end of the sea, they had to leave their instruments behind with everything else. I can only imagine how desperately they longed for something that sounded like home, yet there was no familiar handcrafted instrument in sight.
It wasn't long before the itch to pluck strings resulted in a new creation--their old instruments were left behind, but perhaps they could make something similar. The gourds became calabashes, the elephant and camel hair became horse hair and vines, and the akonting became what the Americans called a "banjo." Soon enough, every plantation was filled with the soft echo of banjo strings.
It doesn't stop there. The banjo became so popular and familiar that even white Americans grew curious and started attending concerts to see the black people play. In fact, some of them began to dress up as slaves, painting their faces black and playing their own banjo to gain attention. One of these men, Joel Walker Sweeney, made a living out of playing the banjo, eventually adding a famous fifth string to his own. In fact, because of this, many people were led to believe that Sweeney invented the banjo, robbing its history as an African instrument.
As the white Americans became more interested, so evolved the African banjo. In 1837, the metal drumhead tensioning rod improved the usability of the banjo and made it much easier to tune. Banjos were being crafted in batches rather than one at a time, and makers started to paint them white--perhaps a crude metaphor as it changed from an African instrument to a white American instrument.
The banjo continued to evolve through 1840 to 1880, becoming close to what it is today. The little handmade instruments that were played by slaves in plantations lost their connection to the white version of the banjo, and the rest of America lost interest in hearing the slaves play. Eventually, in the mid 1900s, bluegrass music erupted and became one of the most popular styles of music starring the banjo.
It is a sad, angering story, but hopefully with a redemptive ending. The more people who know about the true history of the banjo, perhaps starting with this blog, the more credit is given where credit is due. The banjo may be a folk instrument, but it still carries the history of old Africa, and we must never forget that.
Musical Elements
Rather than discussing the changes in musical elements regarding the evolution of the banjo, I would like to note the similarities. I found a video of Ekona Diatta playing a beautiful song called "Gambia" on his akonting, and it is the best representation I can find of what an old, pre-America akonting would have sounded like. And, in case you need a reminder of what the modern banjo sounds like, "Laundry Room" by the Avett brothers highlights many of the wonderful things that a banjo can do.
Timbre - Between the akonting and the banjo, the instrument never lots its metallic, bubbly sound. I believe it's the softer, stretched material that makes its sound so unique from other stringed instruments. There could be a room packed full of all sorts of loud instruments, with only one banjo being played, and I can always hear the popping of its strings over everything else.
Articulation - While the notes of a banjo are loud and distinct, they still connect with each other well. The transition from one note to another is not necessarily smooth like a violin, but it still seems to blend nicely in both of the example videos I provided. The banjo has a bit of an echo after the initial note is played, drawing all the notes together in a pleasant harmony.
Conclusion
The history of the banjo is devastating to learn about. Black slaves recreated their instruments as a way to relieve their suffering through the process of dehumanization and tragedy, only to have that taken by the white people along with everything else. The least we can do today is give a tiny portion of it back and relearn the history of the ever-loved banjo.
Sources
Chuck Levy. “Ekona Diatta Plays ‘Gambia’ on the Akonting (Ekonting) June 2007.” YouTube, 25 Mar. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHCpjVrGDNk.
No comments:
Post a Comment