The History of the Banjo
While many associate the banjo with American culture – specifically country music, folk music and bluegrass – its origin can actually be traced back to Africa where its story of development eventually led it towards becoming what we know now as the instrument we know as banjos.
The banjo first made its debut in America during the slave trade. Enslaved Africans brought with them handmade string instruments similar to what we recognize today as banjos; many African lutes such as Senegambia’s Akonting, Frafra Koliko and Komo Lawa from Ghana as well as Togo/Benin’s Ajala or Akemi influenced its modern appearance.
Joel Sweeney was a white musician who performed minstrel shows, which exploited racist stereotypes of African slaves and played on their stereotyping for entertainment purposes. Due to Sweeney’s immense popularity among the general population, banjo ownership quickly became a status symbol and owning one became an identity marker among many Americans.
At this time, many black musicians formed string bands to preserve their culture and music. Some of them honored the traditions which led to the development of gourd banjos; while others did not respect these norms.
African lutes such as the akonting have heavily influenced the sound and style of modern banjos. This includes their characteristic twang and how they sound when fingered correctly – both techniques that take some practice to master, but when done well can create truly incredible music on banjo.
Bluegrass music had an immense effect on the development of modern banjo playing styles, as one of the first styles to incorporate banjo-playing instruments in popular songs. Bluegrass features fast-paced melodies and complex chord progressions which perfectly compliment the banjo’s distinct sound.
Earl Scruggs’ five-finger picking style was another key development in the evolution of the banjo. This technique uses your thumb and index finger to pluck strings with rolling, cascading motion. This gave the instrument its signature sound – now recognized worldwide – while remaining an important part of American culture. Today’s modern banjo can be found being played across genres and remains beloved as part of American life.
The History of Minstrel Music
Minstrel shows became a widely performed theatrical form throughout Europe and America during the nineteenth century, popular both across continents. While we might shudder today at their racist portrayals of blacks during this era, minstrel shows still play an integral part in American musical history; for example, they helped establish genres like ragtime and jazz by providing talented black performers an avenue to make money during that period; yet their impact can still be felt today as offensive stereotypes permeated American culture and perpetuated racial prejudice that still shape how we view people of color today.
White musicians, singers or actors wearing blackface would don the costume and perform songs featuring African American musical themes while lampooning aspects of their dance and dialect. It was essentially traveling entertainers; their tradition dates back centuries – or at least Occitan and French traditions called joglars (Occitan) or jongleurs (French). Minstrel shows had evolved into traveling theatre known as music halls.
Thomas D Rice became one of the most acclaimed minstrels during this era with his iconic character known as Jumping Jim Crow, making appearances across London and other locations as part of a minstrel show that became immensely popular across Britain by 1850s. White Americans dressed up as blackface were soon dancing around singing songs distorted to mock African American culture while dancing along.
Though its exact roots remain controversial, we know that minstrel music was heavily influenced by European traditions – particularly Irish and Scottish folk music – as well as being created out of American popular imagination, drawing inspiration from opera, English farce plays by Shakespeare, Irish jigs as well as traditional African folk melodies.
Minstrel shows generally featured three acts. The first act usually opened with a song, featuring entertaining banter between an impassive master of ceremonies or interlocutor and comic music performers, before transitioning into fractured play or musical performance, before concluding with an elaborate musical number by all the dancers and musicians of the troupe in its final act. Troups often made these shows standard by featuring grand finales that included all dancers and music performers from previous acts.
The History of the Five-String Banjo
The five-string banjo is a plucked spike-lute chordophone native to the United States. While originally associated with blackface minstrelsy, its popularity has since spread into numerous folk music genres as well as country and bluegrass musicians. Although different than four-string banjos, five-string banjos require special techniques when playing them and have also come to be known as plectrum banjos for using fingerpicks as opposed to clawhammers as players strum with them instead of clawhammers when plucked spike-lute chordophone chordophone chordophones instead of clawhammers when plucked strings strummed by plectrum instead of clawhammers when plucked spike-lute chordophone chordophones instead of clawhammers.
American inventors created the first five string banjos ever known in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. These instruments featured gourd bodies with flat fretless fingerboards. Tuned similarly to mandolin tuning GCGBD, their pitch was raised slightly higher so they could compete with other instruments for listening attention.
By the 1920s, banjo players began to change their instrument in response to ragtime’s popularity, adapting it more suited for strumming chords than old-time melodies from before. Steel strings made this banjo much louder and dance hall friendly; its fifth string was dropped as it interfered with strumming while plectrums were added; these changes became known as the “plectrum banjo.”
At that time, tenor banjo was widely utilized by jazz and blues bands alike, often being played using both clawhammer style and three-finger picking methods. Earl Scruggs 5-string banjo revolutionized bluegrass when he developed an innovative thumb picking style using index and middle fingers and striking downward strings with percussive hits using thumb picks he created using this new method he named Bluegrass Picking Style (BTS).
At present, 5-string banjos are most often associated with bluegrass music and women such as Alison Brown and Emily Erwin (who play alongside Alison Kraus and Union Station). You can catch many of them performing at Belknap Mill in Wolfeboro, Woods Tea Company or any one of the summer or fall festivals in Lakes Region New Hampshire.
The History of the Hot Banjo Break
Some people believe that leaving their new banjo in its box for some time will magically improve its sound and playability, similar to how marriage or home’settling in.’ A great banjo can be made great simply by fixing its neck set or tonal ring-to-rim fit issues – something which requires someone’s input versus just waiting around for something magical to happen!
Country-rock bands such as Poco, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and New Riders of the Purple Sage helped spread banjo music worldwide in the 1970s. Blending folk, country blues, rhythm and blues music and modern pop/rock sounds, these artists introduced it to an entirely new audience both domestically and abroad.
Scruggs style banjo players, like Jerry Douglas and Steve Martin, have had an enormous influence on modern country/bluegrass/Americana music. This genre, commonly referred to as American roots music, encompasses various styles including traditional folk, country blues, gospel music with elements of rock/pop. Artists such as Emmylou Harris, Neil Young and the Eagles all use banjo in their music which often features sounds of acoustic guitars, fiddles, banjos and other instruments combined together. This genre can be dramatic while inspiring; often conveying senses of place or telling a tale or conveying emotion or conveying emotion using soundscapes which feature banjos; other songs incorporate sounds such as acoustic guitars fiddles fiddles to convey emotions.