--- Page 1 --- THE BANJO --- Page 2 --- --- Page 3 --- THE BANJO America's African Instrument LAURENT DUBOIS THE BELKNAP PRESS OF HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge,Massachusetts,and) London, England --- Page 4 --- Copyright O 2016 by Laurent Dubois ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Printed in the United States ofAmerica First printing Library of Congress Cataloging- -in-Publication Data Dubois, Laurent, 1971- author. The banjo : America's African instrument / Laurent Dubois. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-674-04784-6 (alk. paper) 1. Banjo-History. 2. Banjo music- -History and criticism. 3. African Americans-Music-History and criticism. 4. Music-Social: aspects-United States. 5. Music- - United States- History and criticism. I. Title. ML1015.B3D83 2016 787881909-d:23 --- Page 5 --- For ANTON --- Page 6 --- --- Page 7 --- Contents Introduction 1 1. Sounding Africa 19 2. The First African Instrument 49 3. Three Leaves 93 4. The Sound of Freedom 139 5. The Banjo Meets Blackface 173 6. Rings Like Silver, Shines Like Gold 209 7. Black Banjo 239 8. Sounding America 271 Epilogue 305 Notes 309 Acnouledgments 351 Index 357 --- Page 8 --- --- Page 9 --- THE BANJO --- Page 10 --- Page 6 --- --- Page 7 --- Contents Introduction 1 1. Sounding Africa 19 2. The First African Instrument 49 3. Three Leaves 93 4. The Sound of Freedom 139 5. The Banjo Meets Blackface 173 6. Rings Like Silver, Shines Like Gold 209 7. Black Banjo 239 8. Sounding America 271 Epilogue 305 Notes 309 Acnouledgments 351 Index 357 --- Page 8 --- --- Page 9 --- THE BANJO --- Page 10 --- --- Page 11 --- Introduction THE BANJO HAS HAD MANY NAMES. Banza Banjar Kitt Bangier Banja Bangil Bonja Strum strum Bonjour Banjaw Banjou African bango Banjah Bangoe Merrywang Bonjoo Bandjo Banjee Creole bania Bonjaw Banjor Congo banjo Banza nèg Guinée But they all name one sound: the sound of strings humming over skin. That is the sound a banjo makes, the sound that defines it. That sound has accompanied songs and stories, consoled lonely souls, and electrified crowds. It has had many meanings: it is the sound of Africa, the sound ofslavery, the sound ofblackness, the sound of progress, the sound of protest-the sound of America. But most of all, the banjo has been the sound of solidarity, of gathering in the midst of exile, ofbeing together and in SO doing being able to recount the past and imagine a future. This book is about that sound. When you step back and take a good look, the banjo is a rather strange concoction. A drum on a stick, it might be called. But the stick is a neck. And the neck has that odd peg sticking out ofthe top to hold a little short string. And the drumhead itself requires elaborate tacks or screws or --- Page 12 --- Introduction More often than not, banjos hum and brackets to hold it together. a hassle. When they are buzz. They get out oftune, it seems, just to cause on what obvious. And people can't quite agree in tune, it isn't always How did it end up SO strange? "in tune" means on the banjo in any case. persisted in it is SO strange, have SO many people And why, even though is it that this awkward kid has ended picking it up and playing it? How life in the Americas? up one of the great stars ofmusical to its Caribbean its African inspirations, The banjo's, journey-from: its humming in a bewildering and North American invention, through In this curious and forms-is our journey. array of music movements culture, a culture born out ofthe instrument lives a history of American and the diverse societies of encounters between Africa, Europe, layered This is a story about its unexpected the Americas, from north to south. what is needed. places, where it turns out to be just appearance in unlikely through the banjo's history And SO it is befitting to begin our journey Mountains or the Piedplace: not in the Appalachian in an unexpected but rather on the banks oft the mont or New Orleans or Philadelphia, sometime in the 1920s. Mediterranean, * ofmen from the town of Marseilles with a ragtag group Wandering port the United States, Lincoln Agrippa Daily Senegal, the Caribbean, and the banjo. But the instrument makes what little money he can by playing call him "Banjo' o"; than his livelihood; it is his identity. His friends is more he declares that he will never part with it: and, caressing the instrument, mahself." it is more than "a gal, moh than a pal; it's in 1929 main character of a novel published Banjo, the eponymous Cotton Belt" who has "wandered Claude McKay, is "a child of the by "a dream of vagabondage that he was perall over America": his life is incomplete but never pursuing and realizing in odd ways, always of petually he "hit upon the unique plan unsatisfactory." Wanting to go to Europe, 79 The problem was convincing immigration getting himself deported." had all been thunderstruck when officials that he was a foreigner. "They about himannounced that he was not American. Everything he calmly -shouted Dixie.' 99 Despite his insistence on accent, attitude, movementAmerican, espe77 he could "never convince any his foreign parentage," all over America": his life is incomplete but never pursuing and realizing in odd ways, always of petually he "hit upon the unique plan unsatisfactory." Wanting to go to Europe, 79 The problem was convincing immigration getting himself deported." had all been thunderstruck when officials that he was a foreigner. "They about himannounced that he was not American. Everything he calmly -shouted Dixie.' 99 Despite his insistence on accent, attitude, movementAmerican, espe77 he could "never convince any his foreign parentage," --- Page 13 --- 3 Introduction 99 The imone, that he was no Aframerican." cially a Southern-knowing helped him find passage on a boat headed migration officials nevertheless which dropped him in Marseilles.? across the Atlantic, ofthe Harlem Renaissance, was born McKay, one ofthe great writers and North Africa. In his and traveled a great deal in Europe in Jamaica the dramas, humor, and struggles of poetry and novels, he tried to capture by his time in Marseille African diaspora. In Banjo, inspired the far-flung he found a way to use the instrument as the and completed in Morocco, and encounters that had perfect symbol for the history of wanderings from which Africa, the Americas, and Europe. Thei instrument connected has long followed its own "dream of McKay's character got his name shape and vagabondage." which it has realized in "odd ways, changing the inLike the characters in his novel, sound across time and space. and nowhere is difficult to pin down. It is rooted everywhere strument African? Caribbean? African-American? in particular. Is it American? movement and White? Rural? For all its untethered Is it southern? because of it-it is nevertheless an instrument circulation-or perhaps "America's like McKay's character) to be fundamentally that seems (just boosters called it. instrument," >> which is what its late nineteench-century And yet it is an it from our culture would be a joke. Trying to deport certificate. It has seemed fundamentally at home instrument with no birth nowhere. because it is truly at home in SO many places ofthe banjo. Its protagonist is the instruThis book is a biography and layered meanings ment itself, its plot the story of the complicated It is the story of resonated out ofthe instrument over the centuries. that character deeply grounded in a range of an instrument with character, really be pinned down. contexts, but one that (thankfully) cannot object through understood that the banjo is in fact a perfect McKay the meaning of what is "American," precisely which we can understand that was, for hundreds of years, because it has its roots in the institution slavery. It is SO deeply Amerthe central pillar ofthe American economy: the Atlantic from Africa, it ican because, like the slaves who crossed and exchanges that The banjo embodies a story ofcrossings was uprooted. United States, highlighting the constant congo far beyond the mainland America in a world shaped by nections between the Caribbean and North and North American, plantation slavery. It is at once African, Caribbean, borders, but rather that respects no national its history a cartography can understand that was, for hundreds of years, because it has its roots in the institution slavery. It is SO deeply Amerthe central pillar ofthe American economy: the Atlantic from Africa, it ican because, like the slaves who crossed and exchanges that The banjo embodies a story ofcrossings was uprooted. United States, highlighting the constant congo far beyond the mainland America in a world shaped by nections between the Caribbean and North and North American, plantation slavery. It is at once African, Caribbean, borders, but rather that respects no national its history a cartography --- Page 14 --- Introduction movement and unpredictable encounters. By maps a story of unruly view of American history as a following the banjo, we get a privileged between defined as much by the intensive exchange crossroads, a story violent, and ongoing set ofstruggles between cultures as by a profound, collaborated in creating its sound. the communities that ultimately in Africa, in the long and deep The history of the banjo begins for instrument. instruments that were the foundation tradition ofs stringed were the result ofthe encounter, But the instrument's New World origins diverse range of African convergence, and ultimate solidarity among a in the exile in the Americas. Through its history, we dwell peoples in the passage of many millions from Africa American experience ofs fslavery: the and in the towns and the the lives they lived on ships to Americas; and the forms of communal and cultural plantations of the Americas; cultivated within the imagination that were, somewhat miraculously, instrument, The banjo was the first "African" interstices ofthat system. could bring together diverse peoples a result of the need for music that the midst of exile and oppresfrom different parts of the continent in African instrusucceeded in this context by being an sion. The banjo specifically tied to one or another ment in a general sense without being group. would emerge from this experience is, in That a unique instrument moment in world history: not surprising. For this was a unique a sense, speaking SO many different never before or since have SO many people, forced into the kind of languages and carrying SO many cultures, been of the conditions and life as those suffered on the plantations brutal who found themselves in this strange and Americas. How were those and document their exoverwhelming new world to interpret, express, and points of reference, perience? How, in the midst of many languages struggle, and resiswere they to find a way to share their pain, mourning, the foundation for tance? The responses to those questions ended up laying ultimately, the world. much of the musical culture of the Americas and, and condenAnd the story ofthe banjo offers us a powerful illustration sation of this broader, transformative process. the Cuban anthropologist The banjo represents the triumph ofwhat which termed "transculturation"- a process by Fernando Ortiz famously whether from Africa, Europe, or the all ofthe cultures of the Atlantic, new.3 An Americas, shaped one another to create something indigenous share their pain, mourning, the foundation for tance? The responses to those questions ended up laying ultimately, the world. much of the musical culture of the Americas and, and condenAnd the story ofthe banjo offers us a powerful illustration sation of this broader, transformative process. the Cuban anthropologist The banjo represents the triumph ofwhat which termed "transculturation"- a process by Fernando Ortiz famously whether from Africa, Europe, or the all ofthe cultures of the Atlantic, new.3 An Americas, shaped one another to create something indigenous --- Page 15 --- 5 - Introduction African was first built and played by instrument whose prototypes are and the U.S. South. It was taken up plantation slaves in the Caribbean century and musicians in the early decades of the nineteenth by white form of American theater, became the foundation for the most popular because it carried with the minstrel show. It could play this role precisely national and encounter that has defined our it the history of exchange the banjo also became a experience. But precisely through this process, ofslavery, and and condenser ofimages oft the plantation, central carrier became tied inextricably to a series of deeply of degradation. As such, it full of ambiguity, for the racist images. Even this process, however, was both attracted to it whites who were taken with the banjo were the many the same reason. It was linked to planand repelled by it for precisely fact, the instrument remained and to slavery. And, in tation, to blackness, vernacular and theatrical performance central to Affican-American twentieth centuries, even as it found throughout the nineteenth and early South. Invented at the crossnew roots in rural white communities in the survival, the banjo was the experience of diaspora, loss, and roads, through individuals and communities. It offered embraced by many different ofr frootedness in the midst itself up as an instrument that provided a sense of displacement. some people were eager to Starting in the late nineteenth century, from its African, Atlantic, and Affican-American unhinge the banjo it into the essential "American" instruhistories. They sought to transform them to a preeither seeking to forget its origins or relegating ment by which became what it was quel to the "real" history of the instrument, hands of whites. And SO the truly meant to be only once it was in the erase its roots carries with it a history of denial, the attempt to banjo also the American culturein Africa and in slavery. But of course banjo-like slave trade and in the its roots in Africa and the Atlantic cannot escape musicians, collectors, and African-American experience. Today, many ofthe understand this and are working to revive an understanding fans This book draws on the insights of instrument's complicated history. scholars and musicians who are part ofthis movement. the symbol deployed in larger The banjo has also served as a powerful the definithe ofslavery in the eighteenth century, battles over morality and the role oftradition and the "folk" tion of America in the nineteenth, tides of reinvention Here too, there have been many in the twentieth. musicians, collectors, and African-American experience. Today, many ofthe understand this and are working to revive an understanding fans This book draws on the insights of instrument's complicated history. scholars and musicians who are part ofthis movement. the symbol deployed in larger The banjo has also served as a powerful the definithe ofslavery in the eighteenth century, battles over morality and the role oftradition and the "folk" tion of America in the nineteenth, tides of reinvention Here too, there have been many in the twentieth. --- Page 16 --- Introduction those who made, listened to, and marketed its music. and redeployment' by forms of musical innovation that It has seen tremendous, near constant, cultural movements. At the same have been tied to a range of broader and symbol, there through its many iterations as both instrument time, in at least one aspect ofthe banjo's meaning. has been a striking consistency very old, a concentrated It has repeatedly been presented as something enough, an inform of tradition. Curiously, but perhaps appropriately people a sense defined most of all by its rootlessness has given strument ofd connecting with their own deep pasts. listen to the banjo, to conAs I tell these stories, I invite readers to instrument, to its what it is that draws people to this sider and remember of those whose hands made, symbols, and to its sound. I tell the story learn about the and times. As we and played, the banjo in many places learn about the communicommunities that created the banjo, we also and signified sang, listened, ties the banjo created as people gathered, about the instrument. ofthe banjo, and all Ifthis is a story about all of the representations also that there that it has encompassed, it argues the desires and phantasms and successful run as the instrument has had such a long is some reason to condense and crystallize a music maker. That reason is its capacity a and indeed its ability to condense both rhythm range ofmusical traditions, This can help explain and melody together in one sound. particularity forms, and creating how and why it has survived by taking on different At the heart ofplayers and listeners, over the years. diverse communities is the one element that remains conofits sound, and therefore its power, the use of a skin to cover sistent across the whole history of the banjo: between it and oft the instrument. That skin, and the resonance the body over it, is what identifies a banjo the strings strumming and humming around the banjo change, everywhere it goes. It is what makes the space just a bit, every time it sounds out. * from? How and why do they evolve a cerWhere do instruments come field of study devoted to answering tain way? There is an entire scholarly works of organology was One of the first this question: organology. publication Gabinetto Armonico, Filippo Buoananni's eighteenth-century oft the instrument. That skin, and the resonance the body over it, is what identifies a banjo the strings strumming and humming around the banjo change, everywhere it goes. It is what makes the space just a bit, every time it sounds out. * from? How and why do they evolve a cerWhere do instruments come field of study devoted to answering tain way? There is an entire scholarly works of organology was One of the first this question: organology. publication Gabinetto Armonico, Filippo Buoananni's eighteenth-century --- Page 17 --- Introduction instruments, including several which included 152 plates of"antique" ofhow they would have been African instruments, with reconstructions flourish as a result of European played. But the field really began to nineteenth century, when colonial expansion into Africa and Asia in the and in France, Belgium, a number of European thinkers-particnlarly collected in Africa, the Americas, Germany-began to gather instruments instruments. By and Asia and place them side-by-side with European from all over cataloguing, and analyzing musical instruments gathering, thinkers hoped they might gain a better understanding the world, these and perhaps even the origins, of music of some ofthe universal features, history of muand perhaps even to write a universal in human society, sical instruments." 4 basic musical inhave always confronted a problem: Organologists preserved and cared for, they tend struments are fragile. Unless intently ofEgypt, Greece, and Rome The ancient musical instruments to vanish. of them can be viewed; but not many of can be read about, and images heard. as Andre these instruments can be held, or played, or "History," where it leaves us 'archives' in the places Schaeffner noted in 1936, "only with "history' almost ended. When musicologists say they are dealing has late ones in which things are they are in fact focusing on very periods, is happening anyalready fixed, where to put it another way almost nothing tended to focus on have more." 19 Given material limitations, organologists of musical instruments: developments and changes in the forms recent varied technologies of pegs and strings and resthe changing nature and makers. onators or the history of different instrument of musicology and Still, the field of organology- and more broadly questions: y-has always been haunted by preoccupying ethnomusicologyWhy did they take one form rather How did musical instruments emerge? of the nineteenth and early than another? Along with anthropologists often they had centuries, scholars working on music thought twentieth but in a place: Africa. By the ninefound an answer not in a method of collections were full ofinstruments-many teenth century, European the African contithem brought back from colonial expeditions-from: could help them travel back nent. Scholars hoped that "primitive" objects scholars saw it, since in time to solve the question of origins. As some African inthan European ones, African societies were more backwards ofE European relics that could help explain the early history struments were had centuries, scholars working on music thought twentieth but in a place: Africa. By the ninefound an answer not in a method of collections were full ofinstruments-many teenth century, European the African contithem brought back from colonial expeditions-from: could help them travel back nent. Scholars hoped that "primitive" objects scholars saw it, since in time to solve the question of origins. As some African inthan European ones, African societies were more backwards ofE European relics that could help explain the early history struments were --- Page 18 --- Introduction Schaeffner, who was involved in ethnomusicological reinstruments. colonies in West Africa, noted that working in search in the French instruments which seem to have, at a Africa allowed scholars to "confront 'broken down'.' The certain moment and for mysterious reasons, stayed to take a journey was that musical instruments were meant assumption instruments, but some of them have culminating in modern European wrecked by the side ofthe road. ended up stuck along the way, literally Schaeffner, "mark the path crises," continues "Their apparent 'growth instruments to have gone from more primitive that should theoretically down" instruments might illuour own. 77 The hope that such "broken instruments helped to spur on a minate the lost history of Europe's own the nineteenth and great deal of collecting and scholarship throughout instrument museums of twentieth centuries, filling the great musical and Ocewith instruments from Africa, Native American groups, Europe the vision that the history of musical instruments ania. More broadly, to the "modern" shaped the was one of evolution from the "primitive" makers in the nineteenth cenattitudes of commentators and instrument continues to influence some toward the history of the banjo and tury history to the present day.° discussions of the instrument's of music, in which non-European This approach to the history down" particularly those of Africa, are seen as essentially"broken societies, by Europe, was, just one manion the path to the progress exemplified theory develfestation of the broader ways in which anthropological this the Fabian famously dubbed approach oped at the time. Johannes the world in which various con- "denial of coevalness," a way of seeing living in a different societies were interpreted as literally temporary moral, and political limitations-its historical epoch. Its interpretive, unfounded hubris-are by now misplaced confidence in progress and its world still undergirds a surscholars. But this vision ofthe clear to most within the field of music. prising amount work in which the core categories of That is partly because of the ways with distinctions behave, from the first, been imbricated music theory music and an evolutionary approach tween European and non-European of the French philosthe of music. Going back to the writings to history theorists have often differentiopherJean-jacques Rousseau about music, involve what they describe ated between systems of musical practice that in which players and or scientific approach and others as an analytic But this vision ofthe clear to most within the field of music. prising amount work in which the core categories of That is partly because of the ways with distinctions behave, from the first, been imbricated music theory music and an evolutionary approach tween European and non-European of the French philosthe of music. Going back to the writings to history theorists have often differentiopherJean-jacques Rousseau about music, involve what they describe ated between systems of musical practice that in which players and or scientific approach and others as an analytic --- Page 19 --- Introduction listeners do not consciously categorize the music. various According to this distinction, various components of the Europe and so-called kinds of folk music within the kind of primitive music in other parts oft the world lacked systems and languages of music that orchestral music, for instance, used and European composers of as a contrast between "artifice deployed. Rousseau defined this and and theory" on the one hand and practice" on the other. The different "nature necessarily have to be placed in a ways ofapproaching music didn't hierarchy; but in with music produced out of"artifice practice they often were, complex and theory" seen as a higher, more accomplishment, the pinnacle ofhuman This, in turn, has led to a kind of musical achievement. self-fulfilling cology, since music theory has almost prophecy within musiof a exclusively been based on the relatively narrow segment of human study art music.8 musical activity: European Traditionally, music theory revolves around sical trinity: melody, harmony, and interpretations ofa muinfused with rhythm. Each of these categories was meanings and associations: melody is mony to soul, and rhythm to linked to spirit, harbody. The music notes Gerhard Kubik, has ofthe African continent, and therefore anchored generally been seen as one driven by lin natural or bodily rhythm level of abstraction represented responses devoid ofthe higher born with a 'natural by harmony. Africans were "described as rhythm' but lacking higher intellectual symbolized by 'melody' and 'harmony." 9) In the 1920s development sicologist Hornbostel, for the German mufar as it exists) in instance, wrote that "rhythm and harmony (as the natural non-European music show characteristics which outcome ofp pure melody." 7 In this are and achievements oft the typology, the musical forms as the result ofr natural non-European or non-Western peoples were seen that generated performance rather than the artifice and science European musical achievement. As late as 1967, ethnologist could write that "primitive a French harmony. Such distinctions have peoples" did not understand lectuals, notes Kubik, who been taken up by certain African intelof'African culture" have argued that rhythm symbolizes the "core -reversing the "negative of types without upending the broader models charge", European stereoofthis does little to that had generated them. All help us understand the incredible plexity ofAfrican music itself. The best work in variety and comhas found ways to either skirt or directly African ethnomusicology confront these distinctions; write that "primitive a French harmony. Such distinctions have peoples" did not understand lectuals, notes Kubik, who been taken up by certain African intelof'African culture" have argued that rhythm symbolizes the "core -reversing the "negative of types without upending the broader models charge", European stereoofthis does little to that had generated them. All help us understand the incredible plexity ofAfrican music itself. The best work in variety and comhas found ways to either skirt or directly African ethnomusicology confront these distinctions; --- Page 20 --- Introduction thought and scholarship, though often but they linger in both popular 1 But even when deployed articulated through "substitute expressions." certain kind of these distinctions reproduce a with the best ofintentions, lines. The idea that certain kinds hierarchy, often along racial and cultural confined to musiare more "natural" was never of musical expression and therefore musical perforcology but influenced popular commentary this has taken the form of a consistent mance itself. In the United States, the period ofblackoften repeated during strand ofinterpretation-one Affican-Americans as being "naturally" face minstrelsy-that described musical expreskinds of more "pure" or "primitive" attuned to certain the ways that both African and sion. Such distinctions continue to shape African-American music are often discussed." ideas of cultural discussions ofmusic, then, are still haunted by Our vision ofmusical evolution and progdifference and alterity, along with a as much as Schaeffner urges scholars to "avoid, ress. How do we escape? 99 The "complexity" of possible, the use oft the terms evolution and progress. and the fact between different types of instruments, the relationship from one construction to anthat there just as often seem to be "leaps" of 1) force us to doubt the possibility other rather than smooth "passages," unilinear one." >9 He notes that "linear and "especially a writing a history," without an intricate relationinstrument was ever born "in a vacuum" no "From the beginning, something ship to the music that was being played. different seems more the collective birth of instruments of types like probable: >10 by the idea that the scholarship is still sometimes freighted Banjo only at the hands of white inbanjo essentially reached its full potential But the best work in the area strument makers in the nineteenth century. offering of earlier approaches in organology by has avoided the pitfalls African sources and inspirarich portrait of the possible an increasingly focused on an exploration tions for the banjo. Scholars have particularly instruments would resources and examples that West African ofthe many Africans who were at the origin oft the have offered to those Atlantic has offered a pioneering study banjo in the New World. Cecelia Conway work Philip Gura African roots of the banjo, and the recent by of the of the early history of the inand James Bollman builds on an analysis of the nineteenthto provide a rich and compelling history strument material archive of banjos and the instrument, based on a rich century the banjo. Scholars have particularly instruments would resources and examples that West African ofthe many Africans who were at the origin oft the have offered to those Atlantic has offered a pioneering study banjo in the New World. Cecelia Conway work Philip Gura African roots of the banjo, and the recent by of the of the early history of the inand James Bollman builds on an analysis of the nineteenthto provide a rich and compelling history strument material archive of banjos and the instrument, based on a rich century --- Page 21 --- 11 I I Introduction the instrument. Similarly, a series of exhibits written archive surrounding this history to a broader have illustrated and presented on the banjo public." the analysis in the following chapters, My own sense, which guides the notion of of music that is predicated on progress is that any history dead end. Although there are is likely to lead us to a or development cultural achievement that stand out as of course forms of music and contexts, there is no grand powerful and popular in certain particularly from a primitive past to a fully narrative of progress in music leading of ebbs Instead, we should embrace a history realized present or future. in which music and society have and flows, exchanges and crossings, one ideologies about music interacted over the centuries, and one in which do this, we can seek over time in different societies. Ifwe have changed constraints. And we can ourselves from earlier interpretive to emancipate musical instrument like the banjo began to tell a different story in which a and global, history in a new way. reveals our own Atlantic, * who invented the banjo, of the artisans To tell the story of the people a hall of mirrors where whose hands made it live, is to enter and musicians refractions. We almost never hear their voices. we see only reflections and together fragments left by archaeology, of piecing It is a work ofcultural the words left by a few observers who hapchance, taking advantage of by to take a deeper interest in something disregarded pened at one point and visual culture allows us most others. Still, a mosaic oftexts, images, in the the history oft the banjo's creation and consolidation to reconstruct emerges at the crossroads of a range Americas, showing us how the banjo and port towns and Central African cultures in the plantations of West oft the Caribbean and U.S. South. ofthe Americas, African From the beginning of the colonization produced their individuals and communities and Affican-American meant to analyze, depict, and representation own forms ofinterpretation One oft the most powerful and and survive what they were experiencing. thought and music. Through form and content, consistent ofthese was and confronting the performance, it offered a way of understanding produced by situation. The musical and performance cultures colonial banjo and port towns and Central African cultures in the plantations of West oft the Caribbean and U.S. South. ofthe Americas, African From the beginning of the colonization produced their individuals and communities and Affican-American meant to analyze, depict, and representation own forms ofinterpretation One oft the most powerful and and survive what they were experiencing. thought and music. Through form and content, consistent ofthese was and confronting the performance, it offered a way of understanding produced by situation. The musical and performance cultures colonial --- Page 22 --- Introduction alternative archive through which to Afro-Atlantic music represent an individuals and comtell the history of African and African-American advantage of in the Americas. This archive has the powerful munities of these communities, a space in which and being largely the creation their experience which they articulated their vision ofthe past, rich through for the future. It is extremely of the present, and their aspirations and sung lyrics both and diverse, and in its musical forms, instruments, and emancicondenses and reflects on the experiences of exile, struggle, of social life-religious practice, pation. Developed in critical spheres rites, carnival, and other spaces-it provides social dancing, funerary cultivated within the interstices of a record of the visions and ideals offers oflarger, life. Like other forms of music, it "glimpses plantation undocumented worlds. >12 and pieces of obserThis archive has to be reconstituted out ofbits itself. visual and material culture, and the music vations by outsiders, fragments requires a geographically and Gathering these widely scattered across regions and adventurous approach that ranges chronologically its formative period oft the sixteenth periods in the Atlantic world during diverse histories, centuries. If we link imperial through the eighteenth drawn from multiple sites in the with texts, archives, images, and music in the play of research and interpretation grows exponentially Atlantic, terms. Music offers not only accounts and both material and interpretive aspiration but also in reflections of historical experience and political that the and meaning of the very cultural processes many cases story the and objects ofthat music are noproduced it. Embedded within songs reconstitute, often out of fragtions of what it has meant to continually alternative future in the both ofrooted history and of an ments, a sense and refusal. I have taken as my task here to face ofs spirals of dispossession the 's history, especially during gather shards of evidence relating to banjo's of evidence to tell a larger its earliest periods, and to offer up those pieces communities ofs fsound and story about how this instrument created new absent," ?? for we have few meaning. The early musical history is "sonically in the seventeenth, eighteenth, ways of capturing what banjo playing This though, is a nineteenth century sounded like. problem, and early the experience and perspective of familiar one for historians studying and connecting the enslaved. It can be confronted by interpreting 13 with precision and imagination." available fragments gather shards of evidence relating to banjo's of evidence to tell a larger its earliest periods, and to offer up those pieces communities ofs fsound and story about how this instrument created new absent," ?? for we have few meaning. The early musical history is "sonically in the seventeenth, eighteenth, ways of capturing what banjo playing This though, is a nineteenth century sounded like. problem, and early the experience and perspective of familiar one for historians studying and connecting the enslaved. It can be confronted by interpreting 13 with precision and imagination." available fragments --- Page 23 --- 13 1 Introduction explorations of slave music in The foundation for most subsequent in Sinfiul Tines and Spirituals, published North America is Dena Epstein's found an "almost total her research, Epstein 1977. As she was beginning the colonial period when documentation": about music during lack ofany in the New World." Then, in 1969, she "Africans were newly arrived which cited "numerous read Orlando Patterson's The Sociology of Slavery, ? She of African music and dancing in Jamaica." contemporary descriptions the Caribbean and found many "conbegan looking for sources from and music" that descriptions of African dancing, instruments, contemporary hopes." 97 Since these sources "were quite "far exceeded") her "highest mainland, ? their use "made it sistent with the fragmentary accounts ofthe documents the introduction possible to demonstrate from contemporary for in some of African music in the New World, its survival generations -Afro-American or and its transformation into something differentareas, Creole music. >14 is where we first find traces It is not surprising that the Caribbean in North America. The of the banjo and more developed sources than it is often considered Caribbean, rather than being on the margins as center of the seventeenth- and eighteenthto be today, was at the very in the Americas that Atlantic imperial world. It is the region the century number of African slaves over the course of consumed the largest Brazil. At the height ofthe Atlantic planslave trade, followed closely by North America was on the tation system, in the late eighteenth century, work, while the Caribbean was at its center. Epstein's edge of this system, show how the book Christopher Smith, powerfully as well as a recent by oft the banjo, allows us to study ofthe history of music, and particularly and to understand cultural connections between the areas see the tight boundaries there was a shared world and national that beyond imperial exchange, and influence.5 of circulation, reflections on how music One of the earliest and most powerful is a chapter historical experience emerged from the Affican-American E. B. Du Bois famously turned to of The Souls of Black Folk in which W. music-those what he called "The Sorrow Songs" in African-American to men." in which the soul of the black slave spoke "weird old songs Du Bois wrote, "at once I knew them When he first heard these songs, "voices ofthe past. 9 of me and of mine." 7 These songs were not just as "the sole American music"; "the most beautiful They were, he argued, ical experience emerged from the Affican-American E. B. Du Bois famously turned to of The Souls of Black Folk in which W. music-those what he called "The Sorrow Songs" in African-American to men." in which the soul of the black slave spoke "weird old songs Du Bois wrote, "at once I knew them When he first heard these songs, "voices ofthe past. 9 of me and of mine." 7 These songs were not just as "the sole American music"; "the most beautiful They were, he argued, --- Page 24 --- Introduction born this side ofthe seas : . the singular expression ofhuman experience ofthe Negro people." ofthe nation and the greatest gift spiritual heritage form of American culture, Du Bois inThe purest and most important ofits music was culture. This interpretation sisted, was African-American had laid the founofhis broader argument: just as slavery the culmination and the struggle for dation for the country's economic development, culture, it was Africanfreedom had expanded and perfected its political what America best voiced and embodied American music that ultimately should be.' 16 Bois's claim about music, however, The soaring universalism ofDu a much older from the way it was expressed through gained its power African-American songs, he wrote, were past in Africa. Contemporary than the of centuries," 77 the music "far more ancient "indeed the siftings was seized by an evil Dutch words." >7 "My grandfather's grandmother of the Hudson and centuries ago; and coming to the valleys trader two she shivered and shrank in the harsh Housatonic, black, little, and lithe, and often crooned a heathen north winds, looked longingly at the hills, child it to his chilthe child between her knees. The sang melody to children, and SO two hundred years it dren and they to their children's as little traveled down to us and we sing it to our children, knowing has mean, but knowing well the meaning as our fathers what its words may ofits music. >17 and of music Du Bois's attempt to grapple with the power meaning Folk. It was the ofhis entire project The Souls of Black was at the center technique" he developed in inspiration for the "polyphonic montage Black Folk begins with a the work: each chapter in The Souls of or writing one drawn from European counterpoint between two epigraphs, other from a slave song. We might American romantic poetry, and the make words speak as powerthat Du Bois was trying to find a way to say experience as the music did. As such, fully about the African-American be considered the founding his chapter on The Sorrow Songs" might about black music." 18 text in writing and illuminate a set of contraDu Bois's thoughts on music embody debates about black that have continued to animate and haunt dictions American and therefore a kind of music. Was black music fundamentally oft the nation' "? Or universal heritage, "the singular spiritual experience to it, transmitted within community and particular was it something that Du Bois was trying to find a way to say experience as the music did. As such, fully about the African-American be considered the founding his chapter on The Sorrow Songs" might about black music." 18 text in writing and illuminate a set of contraDu Bois's thoughts on music embody debates about black that have continued to animate and haunt dictions American and therefore a kind of music. Was black music fundamentally oft the nation' "? Or universal heritage, "the singular spiritual experience to it, transmitted within community and particular was it something --- Page 25 --- 15 I Introduction linked fundamentally by a particular social on the approaches taken by experience? This book builds black music in more recent interventions into the history of insisting that ultimately there is no two stories, to write any history of America way to separate these tally about Africa. One that is not also fundamenoffer here way to say this is that the of is the history ofthe black history the banjo I banjo, a history. But it is also to fundamentally Afro-Atlantic "Black point out that the term "Black Banjo" like Atlantic"is a redundancy. The banjo, like the just which it emerged, was always Atlantic world in need to keep repeating this is fundamentally "Black." That we feel the a sign ofhow far we our history and remain from accepting incorporating it into how we imagine the present." * A musical instrument is the extension of the while our subject is an musician who plays it. So it sound. It is object, our story is also an ode to those who a celebration of what they achieved. made ofmany ofthem-from We know the names from Trois-Feuilles and Pompée, two banza players eijghteenth-century Haiti, to Picayune Butler and early pioneers who helped create blackface Joel Sweeney, St. Cyr and Pete Seeger. These minstrelsy, and on to Johnny the musicians all found the banjo found them. banjo. Or maybe knowThey-and all the others whose names we -propelled and changed the don't what it could mean, each time instrument, what it meant and head hum. they struck its chords and made that skin But there is a special place in this story for the ofwhom probably made their early musicians, many nameless. own instruments and who remain They were the ones who first largely mately consolidated the experimented with and ultispaces of the Atlantic. instrument. They were Africans in exile in the because The Atlantic was a "catalytic historical "if you went out into it, whether space" or anywhere else, had leaving from Africa or Iberia you to learn how to deal of strangers." 97 It was a world of with an incredible variety ports and ships, of many African plantations in which had languages were spoken. Music made in and to be able to travel, not just in for these spaces ditions and forms ofcultural space, but also through different traalso to address the fact that imagination. It had to be recognizable but the world had become alien for many trapped if you went out into it, whether space" or anywhere else, had leaving from Africa or Iberia you to learn how to deal of strangers." 97 It was a world of with an incredible variety ports and ships, of many African plantations in which had languages were spoken. Music made in and to be able to travel, not just in for these spaces ditions and forms ofcultural space, but also through different traalso to address the fact that imagination. It had to be recognizable but the world had become alien for many trapped --- Page 26 --- Introduction space, to allow people to breathe. within it. Music needed to give people do that, it needed to sound strong and deep. And to those who aspire to Musicians within any community, particularly from playing, are exsometimes succeed in making) money make (and be shared, and many musiceptional. Though music is often to widely those instruments, those who emerge as regular performers, cians play around them, are able to do who define styles and condense community That talent is in large because of their particular and notable talents. SO the ability to reach and satisfy about responsiveness and flexibility, in part in a clearing or a barn, sitting whether they are gathered an audience, recordings. That is a hall, listening to the radio, or buying a concert challenge in the world out of challenge anywhere, but it was a particular ofthe Caribbean and the plantation zones which the banjo emerged: those zones. In time, of North America and the ports that sustained and other parts found other homes-in rural Appalachia course, the banjo complex. But there, South-far from the heart of the plantation ofthe existed-and helped to articulate-the pivot too, the instrument often ofanxiety and possibility created between the old and the new, the space musicians had to Ifthey wanted to be heard, by change and migration. speak for and to these contexts. André Schaeffner calls a individual musician is part of what Any the hub, the crossroads between tradition "society ofr musicians." They are between the abstract and the and immediacy, between past and present, the ideal of music and its and between concrete of musical expression, ofmusicians, And when we write from the perspective sonic production. need to be careful about forcing them into Elijah Wald reminds us, we They often saw the "aesthetic categories they themselves rarely respected. Being placed in of critics and historians as constraining. categories" musician, even as a "black" kind ofbox-asa' "folk" or "bluegrass" any and was a limitation, one that could undermine or"white" musician-is before recording, "it was the band's Especially in the days their livelihood. suited the dancers, rather than vice versa. job to play whatever music in which versatility was musicians played in a local context And most "A band in Clarksdale, Mississippi, or the key to regular employment. be able to the tango as well as Vermont, didn't have to play Montpelier, the as well as someone in St. Louissomeone in Buenos Aires or ragtime in the same price range in it just had to play them better than anyone , "it was the band's Especially in the days their livelihood. suited the dancers, rather than vice versa. job to play whatever music in which versatility was musicians played in a local context And most "A band in Clarksdale, Mississippi, or the key to regular employment. be able to the tango as well as Vermont, didn't have to play Montpelier, the as well as someone in St. Louissomeone in Buenos Aires or ragtime in the same price range in it just had to play them better than anyone --- Page 27 --- 17 I Introduction Clarksdale or Montpelier. In rural areas, meanwhile, bands were often made up of"locals who could scrape a little on fiddle or guitar and who might play one or two songs for the entire night. 77 Wald quotes musician John Jackson, who was from Virginia and played guitar and banjo and put it this way: "You started playing one thing, and ifit didn't suit them to dance you'd stop it and start on another one and, if that suited them, that's what they wanted. You sat right there and played that song all night, and when you got tired of playing it, two more people'd move in the corner and go to playing.' The history of music is the accumulation of such scenes. 21 This book is an invitation to listen to the sound of our history and to the remarkable and beautiful ways musicians-and the instrument makers they depended on-have created spaces ofsolidarityin the midst oflife's harshest and most violent conditions. From the beginning, banjo players needed to be in constant motion, and even to embody that motion by making music present: to offer up whatever audiences considered to be their tradition at the same time as they offered innovation in the form of new songs and forms, or simply surprise and delight in the way a song was played. The banjo has, in a remarkable range ofsites and contexts, allowed musicians to do that: to embody both the old and the new, to offer nostalgia and forward communal motion all at once. That, in the end, is the secret of its power, and its survival. That is how it has sung its own history. --- Page 28 --- --- Page 29 --- Sounding Africa WHAT SOUND WILL ACCOM, PANY THE END OF DAYS? One tenthcentury Spanish artist thought he knew: the music ofsixteen lutes played by sixteen saints. Creating an illustration for the Book of Revelation 14:2-5, he depicted elders holding books along with the Lamb of God holding the cross on Mount Zion. The saints surround the Lamb, playing, waiting, and seemingly ready.' In most times and places, the act of creating instruments left no record, either written, visual, or material. There are, however, evocative traces ofhow this all happened: in text, in paintings, in drawings, and sometimes in a few preserved instruments themselves. Through such images, scattered here and there in the historical archive, the practice of music-and the shape ofmusical instruments-is passed on to us. Often these traces tell a story that is as much about how and why people found it fitting to write about or paint musical linstruments in certain times and places as it is about the musical landscape itself. They have to be interpreted with attention paid to the context in which they were produced and with caution about how much we can really conclude from them. Still, they offer us an outline of a story. --- Page 30 --- THE BANJO 20 a -mE K EISRES SISISE - - 8 B el421261S tb a CeNGa A gurtaues oilt 324 a N Saint Beatus, Presbyter of (MS M.644) vol II, fol Liebana, d. 798, 174 verso. Commentary on the Courtesy of the Pierpont Morgan Apocalypse Library and Museum. and with caution about how much we can really conclude from them. Still, they offer us an outline of a story. --- Page 30 --- THE BANJO 20 a -mE K EISRES SISISE - - 8 B el421261S tb a CeNGa A gurtaues oilt 324 a N Saint Beatus, Presbyter of (MS M.644) vol II, fol Liebana, d. 798, 174 verso. Commentary on the Courtesy of the Pierpont Morgan Apocalypse Library and Museum. --- Page 31 --- 21 L L Sounding Africa theme, this artist reached for what he In illustrating a theological The music of lutes was observed around him in tenth-century Spain. was kings and courts, and SO it easy widespread and beloved, entertaining confronting the end of one world them in the hands ofsaints to imagine The image is striking for a particular deand the beginning of another. with an animal their oval bodies are covered tail about the instruments: bodies made entirely of skin. These are not the kinds of lutes-with would ultioften with a round hole underneath the strings-that wood, and elsewhere in Europe. These sainted mately become standard in Spain when strings resowould have sounded different as a result: instruments skin rather than a wooden drumhead made with an animal nate across a is created. The sound might be described body, a different sonic spectrum of it easy to perceive and some hum, a buzz, parts as an added perhaps difference would be felt in the ear, but also perhaps barely palpable. The the bones. distinction. Yet it turns out to be Itis a simple, seemingly innocuous define what For ifthere are many ways to precisely critical for our story. what remains is one key, is, when all of them are peeled away, a banjo oval covered with an animal skin. consistent feature: a rounded or body it from other This is what makes the sound particular and distinguishes kind of drum decision to make the resonator a instruments. The repeated constant flux, change, and has remained constant in a history defined by That is what defines a banjo. experimentation. artisan's or musician's choice of one or The reason for a particular form for his or her instrument is often relatively straightforward: another and certain styles of construction are certain materials are available, what is by the clifamiliar. There may be constraints placed on possible time and technology is available in a given mate or by what construction choice is by social or cultural Within these limitations, the guided place. assertion, the result ofthe explotraditions. But it can also be an aesthetic ofthe accumulation and dreams of an individual. Out ration, innovation, instruments. ofsuch choices is made the history of musical to instruments use the term "chordophone" Scholars of musical make sound through the use of describe the family ofinstruments that zithers, categorize them into four groups: lyres, strings. They broadly associated with the music ofancient Greece, harps, and lutes. Lyres, mostly a kind of harp. stretched within a frame and are effectively have strings . But it can also be an aesthetic ofthe accumulation and dreams of an individual. Out ration, innovation, instruments. ofsuch choices is made the history of musical to instruments use the term "chordophone" Scholars of musical make sound through the use of describe the family ofinstruments that zithers, categorize them into four groups: lyres, strings. They broadly associated with the music ofancient Greece, harps, and lutes. Lyres, mostly a kind of harp. stretched within a frame and are effectively have strings --- Page 32 --- THE BANJO Zithers are made up entirely ofa resonator with the entire body. The two other strings stretched across The key difference between groups ofinstruments. are harps and lutes. them is that the on along a plane strings a harp stretch whereas the perpendicular to the body or neck of the strings on a lute run parallel to the body and neck,2 instrument, European and African musical cultures have through a process going back influenced each other instruments known in centuries, indeed millennia. The stringed Europe during the lutes and guitars-were born Renaissance- -various types of Europe in the Iberian world out the interaction between Africa and from the seventh tury. But by the sixteenth through the fifteenth cenwith Africa and century, as the intertwined European contact expansion into the Americas egory of stringed instruments in Africa accelerated, there was a catEurope: lutes and harps whose that was essentially unknown in These instruments, resonators were covered with animal skins. Africa, created present in societies throughout West and a particular sound, and Central range ofmusical they were at the heart of a wide performance.3 There are today-and have long been-an profusion of both harps and lutes incredible diversity and Broadly speaking, lutes throughout the African continent. in Central are more common in West Africa than Africa, although there are many kinds they are But there are many parallels between ofharps in both areas. the are constructed. Both almost ways harps and lutes were and plify their sound. In always use some kind of resonator to amthe many cases these are carved way that the resonators entirely out of wood, other instruments, ofEuropean guitars and lutes are. But in resonators are made of either wooden many gourds or calabashes, covered with animal frames, or else familiar to international audiences skins. Such resonators are most ofthe most elaborate African through the structure ofthe kora, one harps, which has they are a feature of many other twenty-one strings. But These traditions, chordophones throughout the continent. ofenslaved brought across the Atlantic in the minds and memories people, would nourish the creation ofthe Its form drew on a range oftechnical New World banjo. ferent parts of the African and aesthetic traditions from difclearly the most direct continent. While West African lutes were inspiration for the banjo, I in chapters that the instrument's: argue the following enced by the entire shape, aesthetics, and meaning were influspectrum of stringed instruments on the continent, strings. But These traditions, chordophones throughout the continent. ofenslaved brought across the Atlantic in the minds and memories people, would nourish the creation ofthe Its form drew on a range oftechnical New World banjo. ferent parts of the African and aesthetic traditions from difclearly the most direct continent. While West African lutes were inspiration for the banjo, I in chapters that the instrument's: argue the following enced by the entire shape, aesthetics, and meaning were influspectrum of stringed instruments on the continent, --- Page 33 --- 23 L L Sounding Africa between West and Central and that it emerged from a cross-pollination Africa understood that, musical cultures. Instrument makers in African human meant to have music, and SO many of on some basic level, to be style, instruments were constructed in an anthropomorphic the stringed and carved to resemble human beings. their bodies and necks shaped choice also influenced the Some aspects of this aesthetic and symbolic construction of some early banjos in the Americas. medieval North In this chapter, we journey back to ancient Egypt, understand and West and Central Africa in order to Africa and Spain, out of which the banjo emerged. these deep traditions and genealogies of ancient instruUnfortunately, there are very few surviving examples animal skins out calabashes, and ments themselves. The wood, gourds, 7) Only in Egyptof which they were made were "highly perishable: and protected the climate and the existence ofwell-sealed thanks to dry instruments survive, and tombs-did some specimens of ancient royal climates, concludes few. In more tropical even there they are relatively feels tempted to say no chancethere is "little chance-one: one scholar, beyond a few score years. . Because oft the survival of a chordophone is short, even, or perhaps chordophones are SO fragile, their life span it may ofmusicians: frequent use, however expert especially, in the hands tension on the strings the instrument out. The ever changing be, wears bearer." As a result, the first part of our eventually affects the string created here and there, collateral story is told from bits oftexts and image travel accounts, or relipieces generated from political commentary, evocative echoes of disdebate- a series of evanescent though gious tant soundings." * the Nile left behind the corpses of dead animals, Receding from a flood, but the creature's nerves tortoise. The flesh inside had decayed, including a The Mercury picked it up, and still stretched across the shell. god were sound that resonated within the turtle's plucked the nerves, creating a musician Ernst Gottlieb Baron, body. So it was, according to the German that the first stringed instrument was born.5 at least back to Baron was tapping into a long tradition stretching which describes how Mercury passed Homer's poem Hymn to Hermes, dead animals, Receding from a flood, but the creature's nerves tortoise. The flesh inside had decayed, including a The Mercury picked it up, and still stretched across the shell. god were sound that resonated within the turtle's plucked the nerves, creating a musician Ernst Gottlieb Baron, body. So it was, according to the German that the first stringed instrument was born.5 at least back to Baron was tapping into a long tradition stretching which describes how Mercury passed Homer's poem Hymn to Hermes, --- Page 34 --- THE BANJO on the gift of music to Apollo, who in turn passed it on to his son Orpheus. Renaissance thinkers, notably Ovid, returned to these ancient texts, making them enduring touchstones for European discussions about the origins and magic ofmusic. In 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley published a modern, adapted translation ofHomer's poem, calling it Hymn to Mercury. He cast the invention oft the original stringed instrument as an act of will by a child possessed by the desire to sing his own song. The infant Mercury exits his cave and, seeing a live tortoise, shouts: "A Treasure!" Having enticed the unsuspected creature into the cave, he tells it: "you will sing sweetly when you are dead." "Then scooping with a chisel of gray steel/He bored the life and soul out ofthe beast. 97 Shelley offers a richly detailed account ofhow Mercury then proceeded to make an instrument out of the shell and a piece ofleather. And through the tortoise's hard stony skin At proper distances small holes he made, And fastened the cut stems ofreeds within, And with a piece ofleather overlaid The open space and fixed the cubits in, Fitting the bridge to both, and stretched o'er all Symphonious cords of sheep-gut rhythmical." Such stories are ways of arguing about music itself, about what role it serves and what it should mean. In Shelley's version, it is an innate drive to communicate that ultimately creates instruments. In Baron's version, it is nature that actually inspires human music. Indeed in one version ofthe tale, preserved in the Persian tradition, it is the wind that whistles through the nerves inside the decaying tortoise shell that first makes the strings hum, inspiring Mercury's construction of an instrument meant to repeat nature's sound.? However they were first invented, lutes were a well-established part of the musical culture of ancient societies. Some oft the earliest known depictions oflutes come to us from the archaeological remains ofMesopotamia. A small carving from 3100 BC, now in the British Museum, includes a seated man playing a stringed instrument with a long neck. In Iraq another carving from sometime between 2900 and 2370 BC clearly shows a man playing an instrument with a small resonator held to his the strings hum, inspiring Mercury's construction of an instrument meant to repeat nature's sound.? However they were first invented, lutes were a well-established part of the musical culture of ancient societies. Some oft the earliest known depictions oflutes come to us from the archaeological remains ofMesopotamia. A small carving from 3100 BC, now in the British Museum, includes a seated man playing a stringed instrument with a long neck. In Iraq another carving from sometime between 2900 and 2370 BC clearly shows a man playing an instrument with a small resonator held to his --- Page 35 --- 25 L Sounding Africa From Susa in Western Iran comes to us a carving chest and a long neck. sculpture ofa naked, bearded oflutes on a boundary stone and a terracotta and seventh century BC." 8 from between the twelfth man playing a lute, there, or did they come to MesoWere these instruments invented detailed history ofthe potamia and Central Asia or elsewhere? The most culture in the reoriginated in Indian lute concludes that it "probably that it shows up in various forms gion that is now Afghanistan," noting scholars have noted these inIndian But other of ancient iconography. from Africa into these areas. It struments could just as easily have come invented in different that similar instruments were is also very possible discovered and perfected the possiplaces in parallel time, as musicians source or sources, and strings. Whatever their original bilities ofresonators culture of where we find the they ultimately became part oft the Egypt, of inof the instruments. There are pictures most detailed early depictions on the walls of many Egyptian struments humming and songs being sung tombs?" from the sixteenth century BC show instruWall paintings in Thebes and three strings. The musiments with round resonators, round necks, of a raucous the are often women. In one depiction cians in paintings women with elaborate headparty, painted on a tomb at Thebes, two for a range of other dresses and decorated lutes are creating the soundtrack offlowers, beheading and butchering a cow, enjoying bouquets activities: fair amount of drinking. In another part various types of fondling, and a Several such a male lute player is accompanying a harpist. ofthe painting, including one found at Thebes with a instruments found in excavations, with a skin, have been preresonator covered relatively large pear-shaped collections." served in Egyptian Arab culture and spread all across In time, the lute was adopted into the most beloved North Africa and the Middle East, rapidly becoming the in the region. A fresco from 728 BC from and prominent instrument lute played by a wellPalace of Qasr al-Hayr in Syria depicts a being as the text praised the instrument dressed woman. A tenth-century the ancient world, and by the fif instrument" produced in "most perfect nickname "The Sultan of teenth century it had earned the adulatory "one with a wide, Instruments." 97 There were, in fact, two types oflutes, club-shaped inrounded body and a wooden top, the other a narrow, spread with either a wooden or a leather belly." The instrument strument instrument lute played by a wellPalace of Qasr al-Hayr in Syria depicts a being as the text praised the instrument dressed woman. A tenth-century the ancient world, and by the fif instrument" produced in "most perfect nickname "The Sultan of teenth century it had earned the adulatory "one with a wide, Instruments." 97 There were, in fact, two types oflutes, club-shaped inrounded body and a wooden top, the other a narrow, spread with either a wooden or a leather belly." The instrument strument --- Page 36 --- THE BANJO into Iberia through Arab conquest: the term lute formation of the Arabic itselfis, in fact, a transname al-'ud into Spanish. 11 The history oft the instrument is interwoven There have long been with the history ofIslam. some Muslim who a "forbidden pleasure."' 99 Since the theologians have seen music as these Koran itselfis not explicit about arguments are articulated through music, tain verses of the Koran or else based subsequent interpretations ofcerMohammed. Some on the hadith, sayings attributed to early Islamic thinkers took instruments, which were seen particular aim at stringed times as "signs of the end ofthe they were banned. There has, world,". and at around the question of music; and however, never been unanimity often full ofi music and the courts ofthe Muslim world were dancing, often provided and trained for the by female slaves acquired purpose. One account ofan festival describes "fifty singing girls with lutes eighth-century Umayyad a famous singer named behind a curtain," fronted by Jamila. In some as possessing a "natural" quarters, black slaves were seen sense of rhythm and dance, One century description of slaves from East Africa eleventhrhythm are instinctive and claimed: "Dancing and uncouth, ingrained in them. Since their they are compensated with utterance is would have an enduring song and dance." Such attitudes also history in the ideology of raise an intriguing question about the Atlantic slavery. They from different parts of Africa, ways in which the many slaves and courts, many of them musicians in Arab might have shaped the musical culture houses The history of the lute in of this world. 12 Europe is man who may well deserve the title inseparable from the story of a star: Ziryab. A black slave ofthe world's first international rock from the court of Ibrahim Baghdad, he made his way to Cordoba, al-Mawsili in musician of the Moorish Spain, and became the beloved court there. "The of considered something of a story Ziryab has to be writes Ned myth-true in the way that myths are Sublette, It comes to us true," an 1840 translation ofan through a labyrinth ofi mediations: early a lost manuscript from the eleventh seventeenth-century Arabic text based on '1-Hasan 'Ali Ibn Nafi, and his century. Ziryab's full name was Abu nickname was Black referring to the "sweetness ofhis Songbird, a way of Ziryab singing and his dark complexion." >913 apparently left the court ofBaghdad because skills ofhis teacher-the he surpassed the this caliph 's son-and needed to caused. Via Tunisia, and with the escape the jealousy help ofa a Jewish musician, he made from the eleventh seventeenth-century Arabic text based on '1-Hasan 'Ali Ibn Nafi, and his century. Ziryab's full name was Abu nickname was Black referring to the "sweetness ofhis Songbird, a way of Ziryab singing and his dark complexion." >913 apparently left the court ofBaghdad because skills ofhis teacher-the he surpassed the this caliph 's son-and needed to caused. Via Tunisia, and with the escape the jealousy help ofa a Jewish musician, he made --- Page 37 --- 27 T L Sounding Africa al-Rahman I in Cordoba, the center of his way to the court of Abd remarkable library of songsAl-Andalus. Ziryab was beloved for his He is said to his playing style. apparently more than a thousand--and the a "red the lute by adding a fifth string to instrument, have improved the middle." 9 He replaced the usual wooden string" which he "placed in didn't stop there: like any plectrum with an eagle feather. His influence specialized wardself-respecting star, he also reshaped fashion, sporting Cordoba that funrobes for different seasons, and "is said to have given >14 contribution of the singing star: a new hairstyle. damental cultural music school and created a Ziryab founded a Most importantly, the lute. In SO doing, he contributed method for teaching and learning centuries. Though his contriof music that would last for to a flowering almost certainly do what such bution was key, the stories about Ziryab cultural meant to do: they condense a much larger myths are generally Much of what is and complex into the figure of one person. movement and invention on his part attributed to him was less an act of pure genius learned in Baghdad as a ofl his ability to transmit what he'd than a result of Cordoba. In Spain, many other muyoung man to the musical context certainly played important sicians in his century and those that followed oflute playing and and transformation ofstyles roles in the continuation and much of what they played, simply lute making. Most of their names, all of them.5 can't be recovered; and SO Ziryab has come to embody A rocked the world of Andalusia for centuries. grouchy Lute music that, while stuck in bed sick, he visitor to Malaga in 1015 complained of instruments: rest because of the constant humming couldn't get any tunburs, and other instruments vibrated "Around me, the strings oflutes, "which was bad for me, and from all directions," ? along with singing, detest such tunes by dispoadded to my insomnia and suffering.""I. which I could hear neither, sition, SO that I wished to find lodgings in One can imagine a for me to do so, : he lamented. yet it was impossible of Cambridge or Greenwich Vilsimilar lament on the part of a resident lage a millennium later.' 16 culture, based on the "conAndalusia developed a unique musical and Today this is mostly preserved junction of strings and percussion. and Tunisian musicians, as played within the Maghreb, among Algerian This musical form represents a clear precedent Arab-Andalusian music. and tangled forms ofmusical for the kinds of ongoing, multidirectional, find lodgings in One can imagine a for me to do so, : he lamented. yet it was impossible of Cambridge or Greenwich Vilsimilar lament on the part of a resident lage a millennium later.' 16 culture, based on the "conAndalusia developed a unique musical and Today this is mostly preserved junction of strings and percussion. and Tunisian musicians, as played within the Maghreb, among Algerian This musical form represents a clear precedent Arab-Andalusian music. and tangled forms ofmusical for the kinds of ongoing, multidirectional, --- Page 38 --- THE BANJO that would take place in the Atlantic world influence and exchange music coming to Iberia, there centuries later. Ifitall began with Arab 29 going back to the Romance melodies, it mixed with "pre-existing from the music ofthe GypVisigoths. There were other influences as well, about by Ziryab, cross-fertilization brought sies to the transregional other traveling musicians from Baghdad, and certainly by many coming of musical creation and innovaas well. As Andalusia became a center outwards, including back there flowed tion, songs and styles composed were startlingly wellAfrica. The networks of1 musical exchange to North it took just a few months for a hit song to spread established and rapid: The ofthis style meant from Andalusia to Tunis and Baghdad. popularity world, gained an first to the region from the Arab that lutes, at brought Artisans began making the instruenduring place in European music. for the construction oflutes ments in Iberia itself. Seville became a center artisans made a variety and exported some back to North Africa. Iberian with a bow, instruments, including the rabâb, played of other stringed which the form and the name oft the and the kwithra, or kithara-from derived."7 guitar was ultimately ofIberia by Christian All ofthis long outlasted the slow Reconquista Seville in 1248, having kings. After King Alfonso established himselfin Moorish musiexpelled the Muslim court, he nevertheless retained many in 1293 were cians. More than half of his son's twenty-seven musicians documented Moors. This continuing musical exchange was described as the Cantigas de Santa Maria, whose in the legendary medieval manuscript in several illustrations. illuminations depict instruments and performance lutes side by One of these illustrations shows two musicians playing is depicted as Arab, the other a blond European. side. One ofthe figures The image is a powerful vestige of But their instruments are the same. Iberian and therefore musical encounter that shaped the transcultural European culture over centuries. throughout Europe. From its origins in Iberia, the lute spread thinkers celebrated the lute as the greatest of instruments, Renaissance Roman myths and writings surrounding the drawing on Greek and helped the lute gain a of Greek and Roman myth lyre. This deployment For Renaissance and Baroque-era "high status" as a European instrument. reminder that music once had truly writers, these origin stories were a be revived. A genealogy that magical powers that some hoped could therefore musical encounter that shaped the transcultural European culture over centuries. throughout Europe. From its origins in Iberia, the lute spread thinkers celebrated the lute as the greatest of instruments, Renaissance Roman myths and writings surrounding the drawing on Greek and helped the lute gain a of Greek and Roman myth lyre. This deployment For Renaissance and Baroque-era "high status" as a European instrument. reminder that music once had truly writers, these origin stories were a be revived. A genealogy that magical powers that some hoped could --- Page 39 --- Sounding Africa lute to the Greek lyre also allowed those connected the Renaissance-era link themselves to venerable poetic who played and wrote about music to oftheir art. 19 theoretical traditions that celebrated the importance and erased a crucial part of the story: the fact Such writings, however, Arab world and that the instrument'shisthat the lute's origins layi in the of cros-fertilization and in Europe had started through a process tory cultures. Part of a broader silencing of the contribuexchange between and culture, Renaissance versions of tions of Arabic science, philosophy, the actual history ofr many ofE Europe's musical history conveniently elided of the of an ancient God which were born not out genius instruments, and collective genius ofmusicians in North but out ofthe sedimentation the was the recognition of Africa and Iberia. What was lost in process the styles and dialogue that had shaped the centuries of transcultural continent. One day long ago, a instruments played on the European shell lying on the well have found a tortoise person-or a god-may instrument. But to get from there to banks of the Nile and created an courts took a different lutes that hummed in Renaissance the European invasions, migrations, and kind ofhistory, and magic: that ofjourneys, for several centuries. that connected Europe and Africa exchanges cros-fertilization in Iberia silenced, With the history of musical of North and West Africa as Europeans came to look at the cultures racial and cultural differsharply distinct from their own. The beliefin interactions between sustained and reinforced by the new ence was both late fifteenth century increasingly revolved the continents, which in the were primed, in a travelers to Africa around the slave trade. European often fascinated in particular to sense, to see difference. And they were unfamiliar forms of music, dance, and performance. encounter objects visitors in Africa saw were musical inAmong the unknown of animal skin, a style of construction struments made with resonators to Europeans. in Iberia but now novel and foreign-looking once present of resonators on stringed instruments The distinction between types regions. onto the distinction between geographical was largely mapped constructed with skin-covered Europe had few, if any, instruments made and throughout while they continued to be played slaves resonators, Africa. Enslaved individuals, brought as North, West, and Central who carried this ancient from Africa to the Americas, were the ones who encountered ofinstrument making. And the European settlers style struments made with resonators to Europeans. in Iberia but now novel and foreign-looking once present of resonators on stringed instruments The distinction between types regions. onto the distinction between geographical was largely mapped constructed with skin-covered Europe had few, if any, instruments made and throughout while they continued to be played slaves resonators, Africa. Enslaved individuals, brought as North, West, and Central who carried this ancient from Africa to the Americas, were the ones who encountered ofinstrument making. And the European settlers style --- Page 40 --- THE BANJO - 30 found them unfamiliar and new. The result instruments built in this way and African murenewed of exchange between European was a process history but taking shape in a new sical instruments, rooted in a deeper cultural and social context. the fifdrumhead resonators unfamiliar to Europeans by Why were Although they had been part ofthe music teenth and sixteenth centuries? from Iberian instrumentaof Andalusia, they seemed to have vanished instruments that And, unlike lutes and other stringed tion by this time. culture, they never spread to other parts emerged from Arab-Andalusian for this, and it has to do with of Europe. There is one probable reason the and in Animal skins expand and contract with temperature, climate. affixed to a piece of wood when cold weather they tighten. To keep a skin techdifficult with the type ofinarument-building it contracts was quite this period. This didn't innology that was available in Europe during reshape the and brackets that would eventually clude the tension hoop States. Although skin heads were United banjo in the nineteench-century was less serious for such used in drums throughout Europe, the problem drums ifthey contracted Heads could be switched easily on instruments. built with a skin head included a or wore out; whereas a chordophone bridge, and strings that construction with a neck, much more complex finding lumber suitable would have to be redone. In much of Europe, surrounding The difficulties for building instruments was relatively easy. with animal skins, along and maintenance ofinstruments the construction conideration-inchuling perhaps with other aesthetic and cultural constructed during the Rethe lutes being the inclination to differentiate culturefrom those associated with Arab-Andalusian naissance period of a tradition in which resonaall likely contributed to the solidification out of wood became the norm in Europe. tors made entirely different in both West and Central The environment was quite the tightconditions made it easier to maintain Africa. There, temperature other mechanisms. with tacks or holding ness of a skin over a resonator offered up a gift for the the environment in Africa And, importantly, calabashes. These fruits could be grown makers ofinstrument: gourds and crafted into in different sizes and shapes and then carefully and harvested and calabashes are relatively resonators for instruments. Both gourds difficult. As a rea neck to the side of one is very fragile, and attaching ofbuilding "spike-neck" instrument makers developed the technique sult, mechanisms. with tacks or holding ness of a skin over a resonator offered up a gift for the the environment in Africa And, importantly, calabashes. These fruits could be grown makers ofinstrument: gourds and crafted into in different sizes and shapes and then carefully and harvested and calabashes are relatively resonators for instruments. Both gourds difficult. As a rea neck to the side of one is very fragile, and attaching ofbuilding "spike-neck" instrument makers developed the technique sult, --- Page 41 --- 31 I Sounding Africa the stick that makes the neck of the instrument lutes and harps, where providing a strong anchoring for goes all the way through the resonator, and stretch either above the strings that are tied on both ends ofthe stick allowed arti- (for harps) or across it (for lutes). This technique resonator that took advantage of the beautiful sound sans to make an instrument and through the walls ofa created by strings humming over a drumhead instruments were everycalabash. Going back centuries, such gourd or and speaking in a variety of different musical where in Africa, humming tongues. 21 * understood that music is power. They made sure their West African kings They traveled with music, official audiences were accompanied by song. the fourteenththe ofMali returned from a journey, wrote too: when king and a standard are held over his scholar Al-"Umari, "a parasol . century while ahead of him came musicians playing drums, head as he rides," made out of the horns of the country guitars, and trumpets, which are Ibn Battuta described consummate art. 79 The legendary chronicler with a of Mali arrived for an audience, "the singers similarly how when the king instruments in their in front ofhim with gold and silver stringed come out 300 armed slaves." A 1655 account of the hands and behind them about empire, described the seat ofthe Songhay court of Askia Mohammed-Gào, the along with by "instrumentalists who played guitar" >22 him surrounded the tent, behind the dais."' sitting "under pasha's other instruments, Arabic terms to describe the instruments: These writers used various inused tanbir or tunbir, a Persian term for a long-necked Al-Umari rendered as kanabir in the 1922 while Ibn Battuta used a term strument, one. And the "Kano edition, the more recent English French quinburiin basis of earlier materials, menChronicle," 77 first published in 1804 on the called the "Algaita" - that was requested by a tions a stringed instrument these writers were using the terms Kano ruler for his court in 1703. But can't assume that this familiar stringed instruments, SO we for their own themselves or draw conclusions about was the name used by the musicians analogy. 23 of the instruments beyond a general the construction of metal plaques from the in a series There is a fascinating glimpse the earliest Kingdom of Benin. These renderings, thirteenth-century the called the "Algaita" - that was requested by a tions a stringed instrument these writers were using the terms Kano ruler for his court in 1703. But can't assume that this familiar stringed instruments, SO we for their own themselves or draw conclusions about was the name used by the musicians analogy. 23 of the instruments beyond a general the construction of metal plaques from the in a series There is a fascinating glimpse the earliest Kingdom of Benin. These renderings, thirteenth-century --- Page 42 --- THE BANJO visual depictions of West African instruments, include holding a stringed only one figure Akan instrument: a small harp. A gold people ofGhana, however-dated sculpture from the and seventeenth sometime between the centuries- shows a musician fifteenth ment with a curved neck and a rounded playing a stringed instrufrom a calabash,24 resonator that looks as if made To understand what the music with practices of meant, and how it was intertwined the lessons carried storytelling, in the memory, and power, we need to turn to music itself, And that means griots, the "expert hereditary looking to the makers of instruments and professional musicians" whose practice as meaning and performers of music defined the uses of stringed instruments in cultural gion over the past centuries. The many societies in the repower ofmusic and the history ofthe griots is a story about the Griot traditions attempts made over time to channel that offer a version oftheir origin power. Sundiata Epic, which story in the was passed down in Mali legendary for generations and legitimizes their within family lineages the region's political social role by anchoring it deep in Balla history. One oft the key characters in the Fasséké, who plays a vital role in story is griot hero Sundiata assuring the victory of the Keita, an early king of the of epic the epic explains, serve as empire Mali. The griots, as "Every "depositories oft the >> king wants to have a knowledge ofthe past. singer to perpetuate his explains: with their songs, they memory," the epic rescue "the memories oblivion, as men have short memories. : But of kings from extension of griots in the role of Fasséké, and by general, is not only to cultivate epic, the power he has to recount memory. In the He helps to history enables him to help make it. prepare Sundiata's forces for battle by history of old Mali" and calling "to mind the "I have told spurring them on to their own feats you what future generations will learn ofheroism: What will we be able to relate to about your ancestors. alive?" With the final our sons SO that your memory will stay victory assured, Balla Fasséké hymn 'Niama' which the griots still >9 composes "the great musicians of all countries sing." At the great celebration, "the manded were there," " but it was Balla Fasséké them all. His prize for his who combut for his descendants: loyalty was won not just for himself, follow him Sundiata Keita declared that the who would always "choose their kings would The role would come with griot from among your tribe." a particular privilege, that of being able to é hymn 'Niama' which the griots still >9 composes "the great musicians of all countries sing." At the great celebration, "the manded were there," " but it was Balla Fasséké them all. His prize for his who combut for his descendants: loyalty was won not just for himself, follow him Sundiata Keita declared that the who would always "choose their kings would The role would come with griot from among your tribe." a particular privilege, that of being able to --- Page 43 --- 33 L I Sounding Africa all the tribes, and in particular about the royal tribe "make jokes about ofKeita." how and why SO many The Sundiata Epic can help us understand in which societies have cultivated and maintained a system West African "castes," groups-like the griots-whose role music is provided by special families. That such work is passed on, and guarded, within particular musical skills, instrument became hereditary is of course logical enough: could be preserved, probuilding, and the corpus of song in memory in West Africa also tected, and passed on within families. But griots but also a kind of curious double role. They were respected occupied also excluded. Within the social and political strucfeared, included but of musicians was tures of West Africa, the creation of hereditary groups the power ofmusic. for containing and channeling probably a mechanism another might absorb its former In some cases, one group that conquered apart within society enemies' musicians, establishing them as a group the power oftheir music. But in many cases griots in order to capture from place to place, groups to be appropriated became itinerant, moving those in power. 27 or deployed by In the Sundiata Epic, Fasséké What instruments did the griots play? infinite sweetness, which creates "sounds of an plays the bala, or balafon, dust." But at some point in this history notes clear and as pure as gold instruments that, in time, would many griot musicians adopted stringed to instruments oftheir signature practice. The turn stringed become part considerations: they are lighter and could have been driven by practical became not only the players of easier to carry than the bala. The griot In the long term, the widethese instruments but also their makers. musicians helped to adoption ofharps and plucked lutes by griot of spread throughout West Africa. In particular, a group assure their presence wooden body covered with an animal skin instruments with an oblong or hoddu (among resonator-and known variously as the xalam, ngoni, familiar in many different regions. Their use by griots other names)-were celebrated and understood as vital also meant that these instruments were and history, as well as acparticipants in the transmission of memory ofpraise and humor griots offered to communities. companying the songs condensing history These instruments functioned as powerful symbols, of their their sound connecting the living to generations and lineage, ancestors,2 covered with an animal skin instruments with an oblong or hoddu (among resonator-and known variously as the xalam, ngoni, familiar in many different regions. Their use by griots other names)-were celebrated and understood as vital also meant that these instruments were and history, as well as acparticipants in the transmission of memory ofpraise and humor griots offered to communities. companying the songs condensing history These instruments functioned as powerful symbols, of their their sound connecting the living to generations and lineage, ancestors,2 --- Page 44 --- THE BANJO fragments of visual culture, and griot Taken together, Arabic sources, musical instruof the role played by stringed traditions offer a glimpse What they don't give us is a sense of ments in the culture of royal courts. classes" in these African societies. the music played by the "subordinate instrument making There were other types of traditions of vernacular travelers who some of which were described by European and playing, and Central Africa during the fifteenth and began to venture into West drawing vast consixteenth centuries. Such texts are often superficial, infused with disand sometimes clusions based on punctual encounters, the few written sources available dain and racism. But they are among often noticed aspects of daily and also very detail-oriented. These travelers instruments, which cultural life, notably about the construction ofmusical Through these their attention because they were unfamiliar. attracted and perhaps even a few bits ofsound, observers, we can catch glimpses, enslaved in the Americas would from the musical worlds that some ofthe recall and draw on as they built and played the banjo. visited Cayor, traveler Alvise Ca da Mosto In 1468, the Portuguese He wrote that the people there had in what is today northern Senegal. one was a large drum, "no musical instrument of any kind, save two"; only, "after the fashion of viol; but it has, however, two strings the other SO that it is a simple rough affair and ofno and is played with the fingers, was likely a lute made account. 9 The "rough" two-stringed instrument Fernandes, who sailed skin. Portuguese traveler Valentim with an animal the 1500s, was struck by the musicalong the coast of West Africa in early described them, interestingly, as "judeus, "Jews." making griots. He this as part of the Jewish He used this term not because he saw group were seen as a but rather because- like Jews in Iberia-they this religion, He translated the local term for group apart, segregated and despised. odd of European meanwhile, as "Gaul," making for an pastiche "there are group, different social reality: ethnic terms projected onto a totally black like their countrymen; judeus and they are called Gaul and they are the ceremohowever they do not have synagogues and do not practice and "are They lived in "separate villages," he went on, nies of otherJews." viol and cavacos and are singers." 97 The cavaco often buffoons and play the instrument familiar in Iberia. was a stringed "Gold Kingdom of Guinea," in West AfIn a 1602 account ofthe series ofi instruments, including rica, Pieter de Marees described a larger black like their countrymen; judeus and they are called Gaul and they are the ceremohowever they do not have synagogues and do not practice and "are They lived in "separate villages," he went on, nies of otherJews." viol and cavacos and are singers." 97 The cavaco often buffoons and play the instrument familiar in Iberia. was a stringed "Gold Kingdom of Guinea," in West AfIn a 1602 account ofthe series ofi instruments, including rica, Pieter de Marees described a larger --- Page 45 --- Sounding Africa "wooden Drums cut from a hollow Tree, stretched," and "small Lutes, over which a Cabriet's skin is Harp with 6 made out of a block, with a neck, like strings made ofrush, on which a But the most detailed they play with both hands." 7 early European account of West comes to us from Richard Jobson, who African music 1620 and 1621. "There traveled up the Gambia Riverin is, without a doubt, 19 he earth more naturally affected to the sound wrote, "no people on Important members of the ofmusicke than these people." oftheir state, community considered music "an SO that when we come to see their ornament dome be wanting." 99 When them, musicke will selalways had musicians traders came to the river to meet him, they Jobson accompanying them and playing. These wrote, had "a perfect resemblance musicians, the same maner to the Irish Rimer as they doe upon the ground, sitting in the company," singing songs that recalled somewhat removed from "exalting his the family history oft the ancestry, and King, acts by him or them hath recounting over all the worthy and famous been achieved." also songs to please their audience. They often improvised the musicians Although the music was highly were not. When they died, their regarded, in a hollow tree" rather than buried, corpses were set "upright have a "familiar conversation" because they were considered to it was believed, with "their divelle Ho-re." To play musicians needed to consort with evil well, Jobson's group actually brought their beings. Some of But, he noted, they avoided own instruments on the journey. some of us for our playing "upon any Lute or Instrument which private exercise did with 99 would link them to the carry us, because to do SO hosts. 31 griots and therefore invite the scorn of their The griots, Jobson wrote, had "little most common was "made of a variety ofinstruments,"bur the tened, great gourd, and a necke fasresembling, in some sort, our Bandora; but thereunto off fret, and the they have no manner strings they are either such as invention can attane to make, they place yeldes, or their sound, being very unapt to yield a sweet and music notwithstanding with pinnes they winde and tunable notes, having not above sixe bring to agree in ment." 9 Jobson's strings upon their greatest instrudescription is valuable for its details. European term for a particular kind oflute Though he used a bandore, the instrument he with a circular resonator, the ther a lute or described in detail here could have a harp. In either case, it had a gourd been eiresonator and a system or their sound, being very unapt to yield a sweet and music notwithstanding with pinnes they winde and tunable notes, having not above sixe bring to agree in ment." 9 Jobson's strings upon their greatest instrudescription is valuable for its details. European term for a particular kind oflute Though he used a bandore, the instrument he with a circular resonator, the ther a lute or described in detail here could have a harp. In either case, it had a gourd been eiresonator and a system --- Page 46 --- THE BANJO Jobson the presence of used to tune the strings. suggests of pins, or pegs, with the "greatest" having six strings. multiple stringed instruments, by another musician playing These instruments were often accompanied the left arm of the player, and drumme" which was held under a "little the right hand and the "naked fingers" played with a "crooked stick"by resembling much the manner of the left, who also made a "rude noyse, which among us are ofthose kinde of distressed people and countenance had For Jobson, the music something supernatural called Changelings? about it. 32 a European text appeared Perhaps the first use ofthe term "griot"in Saint-Louis French merchant based in the port town in a 1685 text by a He described musicians encoundu Sénégal, Michel Jajolet de la Courbe. The as he to the regions to the interior. "guiriots," tered on his journeys praises to me and their master, called them, were "marvelous singing small lute with three horsehair and they accompany their voice with a had the pleasure of to hear." De la Courbe strings that is not unpleasant he wrote, sang "martial" having the musicians praise him. The griots, call grands gens in "saying that you are of a great race, which they 7 also songs, enemies. They comcorrupt French, that you will overcome your 27 before asking them plimented the French visitors for being "generous," de la Courbe enfor money in return for the song. During one, journey, them was a woman of what he called Moors. Among countered a group which had a calabash covered who played for him: "she held a kind ofharp, well enough; hide that had ten or twelve strings, which she played with that was melodious but quite languishing, she began to sing an Arab song in the manner of the Spanish or Portuguese, accompanying somewhat much care. > De la Courbe was right to link herself with her harp with or Portuguese, to the music ofthe Spanish the Moorish harp playing influence had, historically, gone the though of course the direction of Wolof griots had begun inaround. His observation that the other way their singing is a telling detail: musicians must corporating French into audiences and sources of income. By be ever aware of their potential merchants, and slave the late seventeenth century, French visitors, cultural, part oft the economic, and therefore traders were an increasing landscape. 33 French traveler, Jean-Jacques Le A few years later, in 1691, another fort on the island of off at the expanding slave trading Maire, stopped direction of Wolof griots had begun inaround. His observation that the other way their singing is a telling detail: musicians must corporating French into audiences and sources of income. By be ever aware of their potential merchants, and slave the late seventeenth century, French visitors, cultural, part oft the economic, and therefore traders were an increasing landscape. 33 French traveler, Jean-Jacques Le A few years later, in 1691, another fort on the island of off at the expanding slave trading Maire, stopped --- Page 47 --- Sounding Africa Gorée and then traveled along the the "guiriotz," , who Senegal River. He too wrote about munity, "Sing Panegyricks" for important men in their comannouncing "that they are great Lords, White Men, who are Slaves Rich, and as Puissant as described great of a King.' 97 The fact that the Europeans in this way gives us a bit oft the griots praises could take. It was complex flavor their ostensibly a kind songs they referred to ofcompliment-and: in other calling them Europeans as "Rich Lords ofthe Sea"-but in "Slaves"theyalso) hinted that as they might think. Le Maire found perhaps they weren'tso powerful mitted he was alone in such content "foolish," but adthis, as the Africans around him enthusiasm. "I have seen them strip themselves responded with fulsome Flatteries." " to reward these false and Failing to pay the musicians cant hazards: for ifthey were stiffed brought with it signifitheir musical skills from oftheir"expected Fees" they turned praise to libel, spreading "as they can rip together," and many base things as ofthem." Le Maire described "contradicting whatever they had said good right hands large drums along with a that was "sufficiently harmonious" harp in the made Strings ofseveral sizes."' 79 He also up ofa "row of several single musician: "a kind ofLute saw an instrument that was played by a with Leather, with made ofa a piece ofhollow Wood, cover'd two or three Strings of Hair, and Plates and Rings." 9> Le Maire, adorn'd with Iron graph of the kind of then, left us with another textual photoofthose instrument that would have been West Africans being familiar to some He described this lute in captured and sold to European slave traders. a Sick Person," particular as being "Proper for the Chamber of suggesting it was used for solace and pany acts of healing-two reasons it would perhaps to accomenslaved would seek to rebuild have been something the across the Atlantic. 34 Although the early period oft the slave trade rica, European travelers, traders, and centered on West Af tral Africa beginning in the missionaries also journeyed to Censixteenth can piece together a similar century. From their accounts we enslaved who portrait oft the stringed instruments that came from these regions, who in time the brought to the Americas. In a 1591 became a majority, the Portuguese merchant account ofthe Kingdom ofthe Duarte Lopez included a detailed Kongo, of"lutes of curious fashion" description the hollow and played in the royal court. "These lutes in upper part resemble those used side, which we make ofwood, by ourselves, but the flat they cover with skin, as thin as a bladder." century. From their accounts we enslaved who portrait oft the stringed instruments that came from these regions, who in time the brought to the Americas. In a 1591 became a majority, the Portuguese merchant account ofthe Kingdom ofthe Duarte Lopez included a detailed Kongo, of"lutes of curious fashion" description the hollow and played in the royal court. "These lutes in upper part resemble those used side, which we make ofwood, by ourselves, but the flat they cover with skin, as thin as a bladder." --- Page 48 --- THE BANJO and bright hairs, drawn from the The strings, "made of very strong threads," 77 were strung from "the elephant's tail," as well as from "palm-tree peg, either oft the handle, each being tied to a separate bottom to the top neck ofthe instrument." " Hung from shorter or longer, and fixed along the which made "various thin iron and silver plates," these pegs were "very and are capable of very loud sounds, according as the strings are struck, time, and very "The players touch the strings ofthe lute in good tones." he added that he did cleverly with the fingers," ?7 Lopez wrote, though but merely ifI should call the sounds they call forth a melody, "not know 99 The musicians, however, had a remarkable such as pleases their senses. indicating through wonderful" capacity for communication, and "very would express by words of what is their playing "all that other people the strings signify their passing in their minds, and by merely touching thoughts." >35 of Africa based partly on Lopez's account, Pierre In a 1637 description of"lutes" in Central Africa made d'Avity similarly described the presence wasn't "covered in wood, different than ours": the instrument "in a way bladder, with a hole cut out as delibut with a parchment as thick as a placed above and the hairs from the tail of an elephant cately as possible, of sounds, with thin and stretched out or loosened to create a diversity he wrote, metal from them." The musicians, strips of iron or hanging but touch the strings notes and intervals, "don't play by distinguishing tone, creating without distinction, each ofthem creating a particular nevertheless ofa confused noise than an agreeable harmony. They more and women move to the sound in cadence, take pleasure in it, and the men They also express their feet and clapping their hands gracefully. lifting sometimes touching one string, their intentions with this instrument, 27 D'Avity's evocative passage sometimes another, to signify something." who in a humorous caught the eye of a writer named Cyrano de Bergerac, who land in 1657 described a population fantasy about an alien published "a lute or other instruwhen they were "tired of talking" picked up used as well as they could their voices to communicate ment that they their thoughts." 36 Giovanni Antonio Cavazzi spent nearly The Capuchin missionary working the region in West Central two decades, between 1654 and 1677, He created a series of Africa, notably in the Kingdom of the Kongo. the earliest documenting life in the region, among striking watercolors , who land in 1657 described a population fantasy about an alien published "a lute or other instruwhen they were "tired of talking" picked up used as well as they could their voices to communicate ment that they their thoughts." 36 Giovanni Antonio Cavazzi spent nearly The Capuchin missionary working the region in West Central two decades, between 1654 and 1677, He created a series of Africa, notably in the Kingdom of the Kongo. the earliest documenting life in the region, among striking watercolors --- Page 49 --- 39 1 I Sounding Africa One of these imartistic depictions of Africa by a European. looks like eyewitness musicians. One is blowing into what ages depicts three walking balafon-like instrument, and the a calabash or gourd, another playing a a two-chorded harp." 37 third plucking those from Central Africa sugLike the sources from West Africa, styles, played both as ofboth lutes and harps of various gest the presence informal, vernacular contexts. Central part of court music and in more musical ofwhich African lutes and harps, as well as the broader practice that of the terrain and memory they were a part, would be a critical part address. On the plantations West musicians in the Americas would have to forced to Africans would find themselves brought together, and Central often seeking the sense ofsolidarity that find forms of common language, only music can generate. * ofi musical practice and culture Over the centuries of constant exchange and inand North Africa, terms circulated just as people between West became the "etymological root struments did. The term nd, for instance, early skin covered lute hoddu." But none ofthese for the Fulani picked, the local names given texts-whether European or Arsbic-transcribed terms to describe the instruments. Instead writers used their own to the about what those who played instruments they saw, rather than worrying them actually called them.3 instruments The first Arabic source to name West African stringed oftheir comes in the form of a condemnation in an indigenous language text from the late eighteenth dangerous and sinful power. A religious instruments, forbade Muslims to play or listen to any stringed and century including the ud including a wide variety of Arab chordophones, of a jihad that led Fulani scholar Uthman b. Fudi, a leader tunbur. The in the early nineteenth century, took to the creation ofthe Sokoto empire West African: the other instruments that were specifically aim at two drew away These instruments, he complained, people "molo" and "goge." "Muslims, 7 he wrote in one from Islam and toward immoral practices. off playing the molo "refrain from gambling and deceit./Leave poem, ? The music might be sweet to them, and going about with prostitutes. but in the end they would pay for listening to it. , a leader tunbur. The in the early nineteenth century, took to the creation ofthe Sokoto empire West African: the other instruments that were specifically aim at two drew away These instruments, he complained, people "molo" and "goge." "Muslims, 7 he wrote in one from Islam and toward immoral practices. off playing the molo "refrain from gambling and deceit./Leave poem, ? The music might be sweet to them, and going about with prostitutes. but in the end they would pay for listening to it. --- Page 50 --- THE BANJO Some of them, their intention is to go where the goge is played. They fail to return to where the drums are played. In the other world they will pay, for they will be uprooted." 39 America would sometimes offer similar Religious leaders in North "devil's music," something to warnings: that the banjo and fiddle were be eschewed by true Christians. account of his travels in AfMungo Park, who wrote a best-selling names of century, documented the indigenous rica in the late eighteenth the koonting, a sort of guitar instruments he encountered: three stringed with eighteen 97 along with the "korro, a large harp with three strings, with seven strings." 93 He described strings" and the "simbing, a small harp men' " called "Jilli kea"- a two classes of musicians, one of them "singing were present another name for the griots-who version oft the term djeli, in honour oftheir chiefmen, in "every town" and sang "extempore songs 'solid for empty other who are willing to give pudding and any persons of their office is to recite the historic events praise." "But a nobler part soldiers to the field, in of their country; hence in war, they accompany in them the actions oft their ancestors, to awaken order by reciting great 99 The other class of musicians was made up a spirit of glorious emulation. who travel about the country, singing deof those of"Mohameden faith, ceremonies, to conciliate in favout hymns, and performing religious calamity, or in insuring success vour ofthe Almighty, either in averting he added, were 9 Both groups of "itinerant bards," to any enterprise. the and the beneficiaries of "much employed and respected by people," artistry. 40 contributions" made to reward them for their "very liberal in part because of the importance By the late eighteenth century, "nations" in Africa by slave traders and given to the differences between writers identified of slaves in the Americas, some explicitly purchasers ethnic groups. Olaudah Equiano, music and instruments with particular noted that among autobiography, in his famous late eighteenth-century musical instruments, 97 including his people, the Igbo, there were "many those "chiefly used by beone that resembled a guitar, which was among virgins, who play on them for all grand festivals." trothed importance By the late eighteenth century, "nations" in Africa by slave traders and given to the differences between writers identified of slaves in the Americas, some explicitly purchasers ethnic groups. Olaudah Equiano, music and instruments with particular noted that among autobiography, in his famous late eighteenth-century musical instruments, 97 including his people, the Igbo, there were "many those "chiefly used by beone that resembled a guitar, which was among virgins, who play on them for all grand festivals." trothed --- Page 51 --- 41 L I Sounding Africa Scot who went on a series ofjourneys along the Hugh Clapperton, a extensive details about the stringed inNiger River in the 1820s, offered market near the town ofSansan and music of the Hausa. At a struments in "bands. composed of Birnee in Bornou, he saw musicians playing ofhorsehair, called the drums, flutes, and a kind of guitar, with strings booth to after its rude fashion," 97 who were "parading from Erbale, each At another point in his booth, to attract the attention of customers." house that was filled each travels, in the town ofKoolfu, he stayed in a drum, erbab, music until dawn. "Their music consists ofthe night with and the voice. Their songs of the Arabs, and the Nyffe harp, or guitar the He witnessed and allude to company present." are mostly extempore, during which all in the town the celebrations ofthe end of Ramadan, the streets another, and receiving presents, parading visited one "giving of and flutes.' ? Equality reigned, he wrote, "parties with horns, guitars, and slave all were alike; not a clouded men were seen dancing: free men found particular solace in brow was to be seen in Koolfu." Clapperton I could not sleep, and by one Hausa man. "Finding the songs played instruments, I sent for the musician, hearing the sound of sweet-toned to return the him and sing to me. 99 He asked the musician and made play which I asked him to sell next day. "I made a sketch ofhis instrument, and mother, and they but he said he had played on it to his father to me; now dead, and he would not part with were pleased with it; they were a material object, was clearly more than simply it." The instrument Clapperton's sketch of this incarrying in it a family history. Though sketch one ofhis based on a by strument wasn't published, an engraving being played as part of a shows several stringed instruments companions travelers by the Sultan of fBornou. reception for the group of European ofthe mosaic of muTaken together, these sources offer fragments hear of different culture in West and Central Africa. We see and sical and harps of different styles, with types of stringed instruments-lutes various settings in which different numbers of strings-as well as ofthe celebrations and infrom the highest courts to street music was played, many parts of West dividual houses. The presence of griots throughout lutes they that certain instruments, notably the stringed Africa meant throughout the region. But the general often played, were well-known of musical instruments, of impression is one ofa great diversity in styles cartography ofboth style and function. a richly layered ical and harps of different styles, with types of stringed instruments-lutes various settings in which different numbers of strings-as well as ofthe celebrations and infrom the highest courts to street music was played, many parts of West dividual houses. The presence of griots throughout lutes they that certain instruments, notably the stringed Africa meant throughout the region. But the general often played, were well-known of musical instruments, of impression is one ofa great diversity in styles cartography ofboth style and function. a richly layered --- Page 52 --- THE BANJO the history of the banjo, Today, researchers and musicians studying vital research aimed notably Greg Adams and Shlomo Pestcoe, are doing traditions of lute and documenting the contemporary at cataloguing Africa in order to give us a fuller picture oft the diversity playing in West e-including the implications of ofstyles of construction and performance- other musical forms-in the the distinctions between griot practice and illuminate and exregion. As it continues, such research will increasingly ofthe banjo. But we of the West African roots pand our understanding for how varied the and appreciation can also gain an understanding material catainstruments of Africa are through a remarkable stringed collections ofi materials gathered by European logue: that made up ofthe twentieth centuries. colonial powers in the nineteenth and K variety of harps than in Africa: they are "Nowhere is there a larger each with a distinct musical played by people in more than fifty cultures, diversity of West tradition, 91 writes Sue Carole DeVale. The extensive clearly in the Central African stringed instruments comes across and by imperial administrators and travcollections and studies generated the for instance, the the French and Belgian colonies. In Congo, elers to collected musical instruments-along Belgian colonial regime intently became part of other material and natural objects-that with many Museum of Central Africa, in Tervuren, Belgium. the massive Royal instruments of the coldevoted specifically to the stringed A catalogue ofa total of427 in all, with lection includes descriptions and photographs including gourd and wide range of styles of construction, an extremely and a number of anthropomorwood resonators, harps of various types, and arms as part of instruments that have sculptures of heads, legs, phic their constructions: 43 Chauvet entitled Musique Nègre conA 1929 French study by Stephen including several diftains a detailed chapter on musical instruments, as well as in played in the Belgian Congo ferent types of chordophones Gabon. These include one called the the French colonies of Guinée and played by konimesin in the French colonial region of Haute-Guinée, resonator covered entirely with an animal griots, made with a wooden tuned with leather bands. Two skin, a long rounded neck, and four strings their constructions: 43 Chauvet entitled Musique Nègre conA 1929 French study by Stephen including several diftains a detailed chapter on musical instruments, as well as in played in the Belgian Congo ferent types of chordophones Gabon. These include one called the the French colonies of Guinée and played by konimesin in the French colonial region of Haute-Guinée, resonator covered entirely with an animal griots, made with a wooden tuned with leather bands. Two skin, a long rounded neck, and four strings --- Page 53 --- 43 L I Sounding Africa the lower octaves, two to the higher ones. The strings were tuned to index finger to play, sometimes nail on their griots wore a panther's and thumb. At the end of the playing simultaneously with index finger when the strings metal with holes in it, which was moved neck was a piece drum.' 19 The griot strummed, playing the role ofan "accompanying were with his palm as he played. A similar instruoften struck the resonator who traveled with hunters. the dounsoukoni, was played by griots ment, with the called an ombi-covered In Gabon, meanwhile, an instrument the strings made out of skin ofa snake, a gazelle, or a goat-was played, ofthe Azande people long, thin roots from a specific tree. The instruments beautiful sculpturally. were described by the study as being particularly buffalo, elephant-the Covered with various types of skins-antelopes, the tail of a Many made either from vines or from giraffe. strings were heads, sometimes with elaborate hair included detailed carvings ofhuman SO that the enthe end ofthe necks; while others were sculpted styles, at body, with arms pressed along tire instrument was shaped like a human shaped like a the and the neck of the instrument the body of resonator, human neck and head.44 diversity of sound. of construction also means a great The diversity instruments and percussion Harps as well as lutes can serve as both string devices attached to Many of these instruments have metal instruments. 'buzzing' quality to the harp that them that "add a kind of percussive played on it." These lightly veils the sound of the melodies or patterns in them and can thin sheets ofmetal with holes drilled devices are often are fitted to the top ofthe be decorated with designs. In some cases they are attached in other cases they hang from it or neck ofthe instruments; forms: on one instruthe resonator itself. They can take surprising to with banana leaves are placed below each string; ment, lizard skins filled the resonator; and one has a small pellet bells are placed on on another cocoons." " In addition to delivering sound hole covered with "spider-egg have the advantage of emitbuzz that is valued for its aesthetics, these a higher in pitch than the harp strings, one ting "a sound considerably the sound ofthese devices can which may carry further than the strings; from or lure an audience to outdoor performances sometimes announce also be directly played as distance away. ' The instruments can a surprising another musician who Sometimes a harpist is accompanied by percussion. with sticks, or plays an "asymmetrical taps out a beat on the resonator to delivering sound hole covered with "spider-egg have the advantage of emitbuzz that is valued for its aesthetics, these a higher in pitch than the harp strings, one ting "a sound considerably the sound ofthese devices can which may carry further than the strings; from or lure an audience to outdoor performances sometimes announce also be directly played as distance away. ' The instruments can a surprising another musician who Sometimes a harpist is accompanied by percussion. with sticks, or plays an "asymmetrical taps out a beat on the resonator --- Page 54 --- THE BANJO oflutes and harps sometimes tap the skin uncounterrhythm. Players flick their fingers against the resoderneath the strings as they play or the ground to make a itself. Others knock their instrument against nator itselfbecomes the main focus: in one beat. In some cases, the percussion stretched Guinea in Dakar, Senegal, a single string instrument from played and the musibody covered with a drumhead, out from a large gourd he the drum with his cian flicked the string with his thumbs as played palms. ofhow diverse the construction ofinWe can get a startling picture music of the Hausa, one of the struments was from one study of the play about in West Africa. Members ofthis group largest ethnic groups them a series oflutes. These fifty different musical instruments, among whose neck is made instrument include the kuntingo, a single-stringed calfskin, and whose string ofbamboo, whose resonator is covered with plucked ofcamel hairs. There is also the garaya, a "two-stringed is made wooden instrument made with a lute" that comes in two sizes: a small and has a gourd and the babbar garaya, which is larger wooden resonator, decorated with a kurman laya, a "talresonator. This instrument is often from the Koran sewn in a isman" usually made up of a "written passage in praise used to accompany songs leather pouch," and was traditionally by the Hausa is pluck lute played of hunters. Another two-stringed under the bridge to create the the gurmi, which has indigo seeds placed Finally, the molo has 'buzzing' sound" of the instrument. "characteristic and a short string that is used as a three strings, a neck made ofbamboo, songs in praise traditionally used to accompany drone. The instrument, that the fingers of the right of famous warriors, is played in such a way the membrane covering the resonator-generally hand frequently tap they duiker play.t made ofthe skin ofa goat or (antelope)--as in North Africa. The are also still played These kinds ofinstruments describe them is gunbri or gunibri, usumost commonly used term to These are instrurendered in English today as guimbri or ginbri. ally by saints in the tenth-century ments that look a lot like those being played as well as those mentioned at the beginning of this chapter illustration tombs. But in the Maghreb today, particularly depicted in the Egyptian a rather contained and spein Morocco, the guimbri has come to occupy associwithin musical culture, usually, though not exclusively, cific role Gnawa and their religious ceremonies. The ated with a group called the usumost commonly used term to These are instrurendered in English today as guimbri or ginbri. ally by saints in the tenth-century ments that look a lot like those being played as well as those mentioned at the beginning of this chapter illustration tombs. But in the Maghreb today, particularly depicted in the Egyptian a rather contained and spein Morocco, the guimbri has come to occupy associwithin musical culture, usually, though not exclusively, cific role Gnawa and their religious ceremonies. The ated with a group called the --- Page 55 --- 45 Sounding Africa derived from the word Guinea and refers term Gnawa is believed to be merchants, mercenaries, and descended from West African to people ofl North African societies for centuries. Their slaves who have been part by the playing of large religious ceremonies are announced publicly "the musicians "Once inside the house," writes Philip Schuyler, drums. ofthe ginbri, a three-stringed lute with put down their drums in favor A given tune and metal sound modifier." sliding leather tuning rings the saint or spirit who the "may be used to summon played on instrument music then sends one of the participants 'owns' that melody; if the has responded to the that is taken as proofthat the spirit into a trance, summons. >47 who lutes and harps throughout Although many of those play recite oral histories and the African continent "entertain with stories, also often play roles 9 and share myths and fables, musicians genealogies," ofthe Gnawa: "theirharps may be mediums in religious rituals like those In fact, harps themwith the spirits ofthe ancestors." for communication "tied to their life cycle," with the instruselves can be the focus ofrituals And in many cases their "sound ments themselves subject to initiation. for place, or thing be essential to the efficacy of a ritual a person, can whether seen or unseen. 9 This is true oflutes as other than the harp itself, ofthe Konkomba H. Kwabena Nketia notes: "The lute player well: asJ. in seclusion when he wishes to commune of Ghana plays his instrument with his god." >48 condense their cultural and The decorations on some instruments rich symbols. One particularly religious meaning into a set of powerful in the context ofl Bwiti example ofthis is a harp called the ngombi, played and Cameroon ceremonies practiced in the regions of Gabon religious century. The harp's very construction "repsince at least the nineteenth world of the living and the macrocosmic resents both the microcosmic the "complementarity world ofthe gods and ancestors." ? Bwiti emphasizes and the harp is built SO that "the resonator symboloffemale and male," the source ofall life" while the izes the stomach ofthe female principle, of the neck and neck is "the symbol of male potency." The "juncture half red, to "sexual union' The harp is painted resonator" represents and halfwhite, to symbolize semen. symbolize the blood of menstruation, of Nyingwan Mbege, the But the harp also resonates with the imagery "her features are carved Sister of God, who is central to Bwiti practice: is built SO that "the resonator symboloffemale and male," the source ofall life" while the izes the stomach ofthe female principle, of the neck and neck is "the symbol of male potency." The "juncture half red, to "sexual union' The harp is painted resonator" represents and halfwhite, to symbolize semen. symbolize the blood of menstruation, of Nyingwan Mbege, the But the harp also resonates with the imagery "her features are carved Sister of God, who is central to Bwiti practice: --- Page 56 --- THE BANJO shelf of the harp; the resonator is her stomach, her or sculpted on the the neck and the tuning pegs are her womb, her spiritual Source ofLife; and sinews." 99 The sound holes spine and ribs; and the strings, her tendons her breasts, SO that the two on the top represent on the harp are positioned hole." When the musician takes up this and a lower one "the birth him. "The powers ofthe Nyingwan Mbege works through instrument, who is considered to be the Sister of God work through the harpist, enter the body ofthe chapel, and the spirits of ancestor harpists the guardian ancestors enter the chapel.' The harp is ofthe harp, as the rest ofthe the living and the gods and anmechanism of communication between the dead in the afterworld" it is "the sound ofthe music played by cestors: the Bwiti," even as it also carries and "transmits their blessings to living the music of the harp, "their prayers" in the other direction. Without of "the ngombi serves as the primary path the ceremonies cannot happen: of the and that of the gods between the world living communication >49 and ancestors, the seen and the unseen." was never static. The construction and meaning of instruments centuries, the kora emerged Sometime in the seventeenth or eighteenth that were the 'newest of a of West African instruments as part group family"The kora has a system ofadditional members ofthe African harp its that make it possible to have two necks to accommodate stabilizers musical spectrum of more strings, which enable a broader twenty-one allowed for a different kind of than three octaves. These innovations which opened up new posscale"to be used, tuning and a "seven-tone The instrument was imsibilities for melody and vocal accompaniment. the sculptures, including one made by mortalized in several preserved would become a defining inof Mali. In time, the kora Dogon people and some musicians have taken these strument for many griot traditions, them-and the instrument international stage and made traditions to the worldwide. 50 itself-widely recognizable to audiences Pestcoe, and UlfJagfors As recent research by Greg Adams, Shlomo that is the closest in conthe West African plucked lute has demonstrated, called the akonting, struction to the New World banjo is an instrument mentioned in Mungo today among the Jola in Gambia. It was of played has been brought to the attention Park's narrative and in recent years Jatta, a musiand researchers through the work ofDaniel banjo players Gambia. This instrument has a large round resocian from Mandinary, audiences Pestcoe, and UlfJagfors As recent research by Greg Adams, Shlomo that is the closest in conthe West African plucked lute has demonstrated, called the akonting, struction to the New World banjo is an instrument mentioned in Mungo today among the Jola in Gambia. It was of played has been brought to the attention Park's narrative and in recent years Jatta, a musiand researchers through the work ofDaniel banjo players Gambia. This instrument has a large round resocian from Mandinary, --- Page 57 --- 47 1 Sounding Africa covered with an animal skin. It also has a bridge nator made with a gourd the instrument. It is similar to a on the skin head of that stands upright including the Manjak bunchundo, few other West African instruments, and kisinta, all still played in Bijago ngopata, and the Balanta kusundu and the top one is shorter Guinea-Bissau. The akonting has three strings, with the thumb, while the other strings than the other two and is played ofthe a technique with the top fingers--in are played using a downstroke "clawhammer" style in the United States. way very similart to what is called other West societies have not included castes of musicians, as many families. Jola have, and the akontingis not played by particular African societies and the fact that it was a popular and Its construction, playing style, likely one ofthe influential vernaculari instrument all suggest that it was in the formation ofthe banjo in the Caribbean. examples of the Jola people, like other agricultural The regional ancestors vulnerable in the coastal regions of West Africa, were particularly transpeoples in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, to slave traders, who, after boat took people away across the formed life in the region. Boat of music and instruments, with them the memory waters, carrying in which that memory--and the ability heading into an exile ofsuffering survival. Those who remained music anew-would be key to to make about, and to remember, the disapbehind had to find ways to speak have found a way to do SO, peared. Several instrument makers seem to Four such what one scholar has called "shiplike" instruments. making in the nineteenth century in different parts instruments were collected collections in Sweden, Switzerof West Africa and are now housed in dates of construction are land, Holland, and England; but their precise carved to look like the hull ofal large ship, unknown. Their resonators are and two of them have rudthe kind that would sail across the Atlantic, base. The necks of these instruments are decorated ders carved at their but also the way that the front with figures, the way that many harps are On two be decorated with a symbol or carved sculpture. ofa a ship might But on one oft them, collected in Sierra oft these the figure is an antelope. and elaborately carved Leone, the short neck is topped with a beautifully from this head and The strings would have stretched head of a woman. the body of the instrument, almost neck to a small peg sticking out of if the boatlike instrument like a tilted mast. But she faces downwards; she would be looking under the water.2 were on the ocean, with figures, the way that many harps are On two be decorated with a symbol or carved sculpture. ofa a ship might But on one oft them, collected in Sierra oft these the figure is an antelope. and elaborately carved Leone, the short neck is topped with a beautifully from this head and The strings would have stretched head of a woman. the body of the instrument, almost neck to a small peg sticking out of if the boatlike instrument like a tilted mast. But she faces downwards; she would be looking under the water.2 were on the ocean, --- Page 58 --- THE BANJO On the other side ofthe ocean, those who survived the crossing desperately needed music to survive and make sense of their new reality. Though some musicians were certainly among those who made the crossing, the structures surrounding musical performance and transmission were, like SO much else, gone. So, too, were the instruments that had sounded in communities left behind. In a new world, a new instrument would ultimately be born, based on the memories of those from the other side but responding to the need for a music that would cross boundaries and create new solidarities. --- Page 59 --- The First African Instrument In DEREK WALCOTT's EPIC POEM Omeros, the fisherman Achille is carried in his boat from the Caribbean to Africa. Back in his ancestral homeland, he confronts fragmentary images of the ravages of the slave trade and speaks to his departed father. Then, he hears music: "the griot muttering his prophetic song / of sorrow that would be the past.' 9 The griot describes Achille's "ashen ancestors / from the Bight ofBenin, from the margin ofGuinea," and then recounts the story ofthe Middle Passage: "We were the colour of shadows when we came down / with tinkling leg-irons to join the chains of the sea, / for the silver coins multiplying on the sold horizon." With the griot's song done, the poem's narrator reflects on what was lost: So there went Ashanti one way, the Mandingo another, the Ibo another, the Guinea. Now each man was a nation in himself, without mother, father, brother. Yet they felt the sea-wind tying them into one nation of eyes and shadows and groans, in the one pain that is inconsolable, the loss of one's shore --- Page 60 --- THE BANJO with its crooked footpath. They had wept, not for their wives only, their fading children, but for strange, ordinary things. They cried for the little thing after the big thing. They cried for a broken gourd. 2 survived," writes Walcott. The "epic" story "But they crossed, they culture and ofthe foundations he evokes is the history of Afro-Atlantic and ofthe insticulture. That loss of a shore, of American process-the African "nation," and tutions and practices of being part of a particular pulled of survival and reconstitution that followed-has the experience and artists. What did this loss mean at generations of writers, scholars, do the unthinkable and survive? to those who lived it? How did they he writes ofthe enslaved Walcott identifies the key to that process when 91 of survival "for the little thing after the big thing' The process crying and reconstituting both the big and about reasserting was fundamentally carried out, in no small measure, through the the small. This process was longings, and the assertion creation of sounds that conveyed memories, ofselfand community. to describe this epic of cultural creScholars have developed a term overburdened by "creolization." 3 The term is now SO elastic and ation: more trouble than it is worth. decades ofdebate that usingiti is sometimes fertile anthropological theorizations of creolization-the But the core Mintz, the historical writings of essay by Richard Price and Sidney Edouard Glissant-all in one Edward Kamau Brathwaite, the writings of Caribbean plananother seek to understand how the enslaved on way or vibrant new cultures in the midst ofoppression tations were able to create the extreme and relatively and exile. They all begin by acknowledging and eighhistorical situation that developed in the seventeenth unique Caribbean. By the end of that period, several teenth centuries in the Suriname, and French Saintcolonial societies-including Jamaica, enslaved. that was about ninety percent Domingue-had a population among those death rates, hovering around fifty percent Because ofhigh ofnew from the Middle Passage, and the rapacious importation arriving on these islands was African-born. slaves, the majority of the population in urban centers, SO that in The free white population was concentrated acknowledging and eighhistorical situation that developed in the seventeenth unique Caribbean. By the end of that period, several teenth centuries in the Suriname, and French Saintcolonial societies-including Jamaica, enslaved. that was about ninety percent Domingue-had a population among those death rates, hovering around fifty percent Because ofhigh ofnew from the Middle Passage, and the rapacious importation arriving on these islands was African-born. slaves, the majority of the population in urban centers, SO that in The free white population was concentrated --- Page 61 --- 51 The First African Instrument enslaved made up the vast majority of the populaplantation zones the Though the enslaved were tion. Even in port cities slaves were a majority. institutions, they from the powerful cultural and religious sonic marginalized oft these colonies, especially its occupied most of the physical space space, the Caribbean rose and fell, shifted The patterns ofthe slave trade to who bought according to the choices of the Europeans and scattered, the economics ofs shipping, hapslaves and the Africans who sold them, and disease. The result was a constant demographic penstance, weather, world. There were generations of arunpredictability in the plantation concentrations of'slaves from rivals from certain regions, and thus heavier times. But the pace of of Africa or another in certain places and one part have been bewildering. On most cultural encounter and exchange must feature of social newcomers were a permanent Caribbean plantations, or traditions among life. Often, they did encounter a familiar language the But sometimes they the enslaved who were already on plantation. themthey had to figure out how to integrate didn't. And in all cases, threatening, and in many ways inselves into a world that was brutal, built. Most would carry.," and absurd in the way it was comprehensible hand and heart and head, memories ofl before, writes Sidney Mintz, "in the way to do this and skills and songs, and lots of ideas about proper children, to make to to court, to pray, to care for that: to eat, greet, love--even to gesture, to walk, to smile.' different cultures, other places and times, people from In many found themselves thrown together. But speaking different languages, have system, in of the Caribbean plantation the intensity and compression matched the demand for howhich the diversity oft the enslaved was by environracial order, created a very specific mogeneity of a totalitarian There had not previously been ment that had never been seen before. of the population was societies in the world in which the vast majority Rome, slave systems, such as those of ancient enslaved. Nor had prior link between racialized or created such an intractable been SO intensely The Caribbean was just one part of a skin color and inherited social status. North America, complex stretching from Brazil through larger plantation and social structures. The processes that took with different demographics many links with other there were not unique, and there were shape of the very early development of plantation regions as well. But because before. of the population was societies in the world in which the vast majority Rome, slave systems, such as those of ancient enslaved. Nor had prior link between racialized or created such an intractable been SO intensely The Caribbean was just one part of a skin color and inherited social status. North America, complex stretching from Brazil through larger plantation and social structures. The processes that took with different demographics many links with other there were not unique, and there were shape of the very early development of plantation regions as well. But because --- Page 62 --- THE BANJO and the pivotal role they played in the expansion societies in the region, the the region played a ofthe French and British empires in Americas, and culture of both foundational role in the development of practices masters and slaves. notably in the Caribbean, Part of what happened in the Americas, 9 Within the continent itthe invention of something called "Africa." was century, the term had little the seventeenth and eighteenth self during context, it took on a new importance as meaning. But in the plantation continent were thrown together displaced people from throughout the In the midst of a and survive together. and had begun to communicate made up of peoples from brutal plantation world, within a community to create mothe African continent, they sought out ways what throughout and coalition. What the enslaved invented, ments of commonality needed, were cultural forms that were they in many cases decided they but that were still familiar enough welcoming, that could embrace variety, they had to bring people together, to be recognizable. Most importantly, solidarities. Music and dance were particularly powerful to create new and coalition. They could call ways to create moments of commonality between enslaved that created links and resonances up Africa in a way cultures. The enslaved generally shared people from widely different of music, of its of the social and ritual necessity an understanding heal. From their diverse experiences in power to channel memory, and to but new, assembled out of past practices Africa, they fashioned something repurposed in a new environment. in strange lands to reThe banjo was the growing of a new gourd sound out new ones ofthe old, the crafting ofs strings to place the broken with both the past and the present, to songs. It became a way to connect different styles, generof1 and recall. It welcomed build a bridge memory its sound. The child of the ating solidarity and community through of exile and oppression in Middle Passage and the bewildering situation ofinstrument making the plantation world, it brought together traditions this it offered of West and Central Africa. In way, from various parts it was recognizably African, something vital to those on the plantation: and rhythms, but instrument capable of offering familiar melodies an derived from the traditions of any single African without being clearly ethnicity. It was the first African instrument. different styles, generof1 and recall. It welcomed build a bridge memory its sound. The child of the ating solidarity and community through of exile and oppression in Middle Passage and the bewildering situation ofinstrument making the plantation world, it brought together traditions this it offered of West and Central Africa. In way, from various parts it was recognizably African, something vital to those on the plantation: and rhythms, but instrument capable of offering familiar melodies an derived from the traditions of any single African without being clearly ethnicity. It was the first African instrument. --- Page 63 --- 53 I The First African Instrument lies in the evanescent traces left The story ofhow this happened and North who made the earliest of banjos in the Caribbean by those be understood as part of a larger story: that of America. But it can only enslaved, that of the gatherings, the cultural movements created by the lives could be rememdance, and song that created spaces in which past be the world ofs slavery, could imagined. bered and new ones, beyond * disturbed but resigned. There was a movement afoot, Father Labat was The enslaved in the colonies of and it couldn't be stopped or contained. between 1694 and 1696, where Labat lived Martinique and Guadeloupe, what called the calenda. It and dance they were determined to gather dance that not only the he reluctantly admitted, such an enticing was, colonists in the New World had taken it up slaves but also many Spanish as the Negroes." ?? He it "in the same way with enthusiasm, performing in front of of nuns perform it, at Christmastime, had even seen a group alarming to him, given that the crowd. This was particularly a delighted calenda exuded eroticism." from one another, women on The dancers formed two lines across of the other, surrounded by a circle made up spectators one side, men on talented" among the group offered up "a and the drummers. The "most he chooses, whose composed on the spot, on whatever subject song is accompanied by strong handrefrain, sung by all the spectators, the air"as ifthey were playing 97 The dancers held their arms in clapping' moved toward one another castanets." >7 They jumped and twirled about, the drums. When the following the beat laid down by and back again, moved close together and began slapdrummers changed the beat, they the that made the against one another. This was part ping their thighs against women, women monk Labat most uncomfortable: men thrusting The dancers then thighs and stomachs pressed together. against men, again with "totally pulled back and "pirouetted," then pressed together which was often as many times as the drums called, lascivious gestures, entwined their arms toseveral times in a row." Sometimes, too, they around a few times while striking their thighs together gether, circling and "kissing each other." that made the against one another. This was part ping their thighs against women, women monk Labat most uncomfortable: men thrusting The dancers then thighs and stomachs pressed together. against men, again with "totally pulled back and "pirouetted," then pressed together which was often as many times as the drums called, lascivious gestures, entwined their arms toseveral times in a row." Sometimes, too, they around a few times while striking their thighs together gether, circling and "kissing each other." --- Page 64 --- THE BANJO Labat noted, had passed several regulations The local authorities, because ofthe "indecent postures" it outlawing the calenda dance, both assembled and got "carried entailed and because when too many slaves the result could be "revolts, uprisings, or groups getting away by joy" the monk admitted, essentially impostogether to go steal."] But it was, it is the one that because "of all their pastimes sible to stop the calenda, French masters and they like the most, and to which they most respond." French dances like teaching authorities had tried a process ofsubstitution, much SO that Labat minuet. The enslaved took these up quickly, SO the than "many who pride themselves on admitted they were better at them the enslaved dancers." But learning these dances didn't stop being good whenever they could. "Their passion for from seeking out the calenda the old, the young, even children this dance is beyond the imagination: like they danced it in the stand up" all loved it. "It seems who can barely wombs oftheir mothers." 8 his time in calenda wasn't the only dance Labat has seen during The by groups of slaves from a the colonies. There were others performed in a circle, and in Africa. Those from the Congo got particular region but lift their feet in the air, and stomp staying in one spot, did "nothing their bodies half curved over on the ground in a kind of cadence, holding of the some story that one member in front of each other, mumbling refrain, while the spectathe dancers replied with a group told, to which danced moving in a circle, their their hand. The Mina by tors clapped Verde or Gambia had their own dances faces outwards. Those from Cape and I doubt there is any people as well. "Dance is their favorite passion, 97 he wrote. Labat, who had earth more attached to it than they are, on recommended that masters allow directly overseen the work of slaves, ifthey didn't, he the enslaved to hold dances on their own plantations: for them. Even would simply leave and look elsewhere explained, they until midnight on a Saturday, he claimed, after working in the sugar mills where they know would walk several miles to get to 'some place they there is a dance." had been settled in the 1630s, and were Guadeloupe and Martinique the time Labat arrived in the well-established plantation societies by by a somewhat creolized, populated 1690s. Their cultures were already and their children. of both settlers and enslaved people few generations expanded, there were increasing numbers But, as the plantation complex and look elsewhere explained, they until midnight on a Saturday, he claimed, after working in the sugar mills where they know would walk several miles to get to 'some place they there is a dance." had been settled in the 1630s, and were Guadeloupe and Martinique the time Labat arrived in the well-established plantation societies by by a somewhat creolized, populated 1690s. Their cultures were already and their children. of both settlers and enslaved people few generations expanded, there were increasing numbers But, as the plantation complex --- Page 65 --- 55 The First African Instrument Labat observed how the members of certain ofr new African arrivals. aside food SO that they could ethnic groups helped one another, setting He noticed a "kind who were in need. offer it to "those oftheir country" and which with "shells that serve as money, of dice game" slaves played lost based on how many landed were tossed on a surface: players won or ofthe use ofshellsHe was witnessing the transference face up or down. both money and for play, as well as cowrie shells in West Africa-as were also used, in both other uses. The shells he saw used to play a game other religious contexts, for divination and African and Afro-Atlantic purposes." Labat wrote, was African in origin: it came The calenda dance, from the Arada of Guinea," and "from all appearances from the "Coast did have West African origins, Kingdom. 7 The dance and music likely together that brought but by the 1690s it clearly was a phenomenon ofcoaliof different backgrounds. It was a dance enslaved from a variety or Mina, clearly different from those still identifiable as Congo tion, sense, and transmitted through identified as African but in a general what language the Labat doesn't say continual, effusive participation. was some in, and that may have depended on who singing: songs were in African languages, others in the songs and refrains were probably the island. The music for the calenda Creole tongue that had emerged on with the by two drummers who communicaedinmicady was provided one ofthe dance to another. dancers SO that they could move from part one end with made out of carved tree trunks covered on The drums were like a parchment: 97 One was "the skin of a hairless goat or sheep, scraped sometimes as many known simply as the grand tambour, or "big drum," baboula. They were and a smaller one known as the as four feet long, on each hand." The larger drum played with the "flat part offour fingers the baboula was played more with "measure and poise," while was played to Labat, making and "almost without keeping a beat," according the quickly and marked neither the cadence nor a sound that was "very sharp" observant Labat of the dancers." In this the normally very "movement since the interlaced beat ofthe two drums had clearly missed something, certainly shaped the dance." the of the drummers, other musicians played at gatherings Besides the violin rather well, and make enslaved, including some "who play oft their marriages." for gatherings and at the celebrations money playing to Labat, making and "almost without keeping a beat," according the quickly and marked neither the cadence nor a sound that was "very sharp" observant Labat of the dancers." In this the normally very "movement since the interlaced beat ofthe two drums had clearly missed something, certainly shaped the dance." the of the drummers, other musicians played at gatherings Besides the violin rather well, and make enslaved, including some "who play oft their marriages." for gatherings and at the celebrations money playing --- Page 66 --- THE BANJO But, Labat noted, another stringed "Almost all of them instrument was much more play a kind of guitar made of a popular: covered with leather half of a calabash scraped into the shape of long neck. On it they place only four parchment, with a rather bird intestines, and strings made ofsilk, pitre, or dried prepared with castor oil." from the agave plant). Labat (Pitre is a filament taken inch above the skin that continued: "These strings are elevated a good covers the calabash with a pinching and beating the strings. *) Labat bridge. They play by played was "not complained that the music agreeable" and not very melodic but they considered it as highly as they did the music admitted that some ants, who all have guitars and of"Italian or Spanish peasLabat play very badly." >12 didn't explain exactly when this "kind of though he suggested it was fairly guitar" was played, have accompanied ubiquitous among the enslaved. It some of the dances, perhaps the may being played in smaller and more intimate calenda, as well as and houses for instance. His settings, in plantation quarters detailed of was constructed description how the instrument suggests that he had seen a number of them places, which means that artisans in both in different were likely making the instrument Guadeloupe and Martinique display there drew in similar ways. The on on African traditions: the gourd, the technology bridge. Labat didn'ts specify the shape ofthe skin head, the of the neck, though his instrument as a "kind of guitar" and the fact that description strings suggest that it was probably flat. it had four Who was making these instruments? And who Labat had seen many groups of Africans was playing them? in their own who were singing and languages. But it is unlikely that there dancing been a musician from each ofthese would always have munity. In the areas of West groups available in any given comAfrica from which most of coming to the Caribbean at the time the enslaved have been provided were from, the music would often by specialists from particular griots. The most prized court families, such as the musicians, even if unlikely to be sold into Atlantic captured in war, were slavery but rather conquering kingdom's own orchestra. Members incorporated into a operating in the region of other musical "castes" individuals probably were enslaved and sold at who played music: in less formalized times, as were Such musicians, however, would and hereditary contexts. miliar with most of the time have been one tradition of music. And in the most faCaribbean, they would most prized court families, such as the musicians, even if unlikely to be sold into Atlantic captured in war, were slavery but rather conquering kingdom's own orchestra. Members incorporated into a operating in the region of other musical "castes" individuals probably were enslaved and sold at who played music: in less formalized times, as were Such musicians, however, would and hereditary contexts. miliar with most of the time have been one tradition of music. And in the most faCaribbean, they would --- Page 67 --- 57 The First African Instrument the kind ofinstruments they often have had difficulty finding or building observed by Labat, and the had played in Africa. The "kind of guitar" musical roles who played them, therefore had to play multiple musicians different songs and rhythms." for various groups of Africans seeking right, but in time skilled The music might not always have been just from others in the and learning musicians-drawing on past knowledge And they would have been able to offer enough. new context-would them the flexibility and latitude to have needed an instrument that gave of the slaves different kinds of songs within the diverse gatherings play crossroads that was the Caribbean. In a sense, who met at the cultural like the calenda dance, crossing this already ubiquitous instrument was musicians busy 'pinching and audiences with the boundaries gathering out the sounds of solidarity. and beating the strings" as they sought * written in 1687, life on a Jamaican plantaAccording to an account the enslaved were called to tion went like this: at four in the morning, worked in the with the sound ofa "horn or shell." Until dusk, they work didn't "loiter.' At where the whip was used to make sure they fields, slaves leave off work and repaire to their the end oft the day, "those pore fier, and with a kitt houses, where they gett their suppers, make a great and daunce and one twine string) play, sing (made ofa gourd or calabash themselves all mirth, according to their own countrey fashon, making >14 in a confused manner. men and women together Taylor and the with the unassuming name ofJohn So wrote a man teacher. A short and wearing stint in the unassuming profession ofmath and the need for money had convinced army, a set of family quarrels, his fortune in Britain's on the risky venture of seeking him to embark He invested in three convicts as innewest Caribbean colony: Jamaica. across the Atlantic. On laborers and in late 1686 boarded a ship dentured laborers to raise some money arrival, Taylor sold these three indentured found work trolling sick and lost most ofit. He paid and then promptly got stint at this, and in the wake ofa the Caribbean for pirates. After a brief capital, Port earthquake that sent a good portion ofJamaica's devastating he returned to the Isle of Wight in England, Royal, tilting into the sea, of what he had seen in the where he wrote up a manuscript account and in late 1686 boarded a ship dentured laborers to raise some money arrival, Taylor sold these three indentured found work trolling sick and lost most ofit. He paid and then promptly got stint at this, and in the wake ofa the Caribbean for pirates. After a brief capital, Port earthquake that sent a good portion ofJamaica's devastating he returned to the Isle of Wight in England, Royal, tilting into the sea, of what he had seen in the where he wrote up a manuscript account --- Page 68 --- THE BANJO Taylor seems to have planned on publishing the Caribbean. Though the manuscript made its work, he never did SO. Luckily for us, however, as one of the key to the Library ofJamaica and is now recognized way the early history ofthe Caribbean,5 sources for understanding ceded to the English Jamaica was in many ways a frontier society: partly by groups of from the Spanish in 1670, its interior was populated consolidated their who had already escaped slaves, known as Maroons, the British had develcommunities under Spanish rule. Like the French, successful first colonies in the Eastern Caribbean. The most oped their by the Barbados, which was already SO heavily populated of these was hard for new settlers to come by land. late seventeenth century that it was industry of sugar proNew arrivals wanting to get in on the growing in the southern states duction needed other places to go. Some ended up Others made their colonies in the Carolinas. ofNorth America, creating More than 33,000 enslaved Afriway to Jamaica and set up plantations. with more than 3,000 arriving in cans had arrived in Jamaica since 1670, with what was to come: more than 1687 alone. This was small compared by the early nineteenth 900,000 slaves would be brought to Jamaica the oft the slave with more than 27,000 arriving per year at peak century, trade in the 1790s,6 the of African-born slaves shared one thing: experience All of the noted, having been sold in exile through the Middle Passage. As Taylor lament the loss of their Jamaica the enslaved seemed "to grieve and forth which they sing or bellow country freedom, and their now captivity, 77 The population on any in their own language in a mournfull manner.' from a particmight include clusters of enslaved people given plantation bought together from the same slave ship, ular African group, sometimes fashion. 79 But many who could therefore gather to sing in their "country and pracalone amidst unfamiliar languages arrivals found themselves from different plantations sought tices. Taylor noted how individuals their in other to vissit countrymen one another out on Sundays, 'goeing fashon they feast, where according to their own country plantations, howle like beasts) in a anticque manner, as if dance, and sing (or rather described the larger celebrations that they were all madd." He similarly with those ofone and the "they meet took place on religious holidays: and dancce in a confused manner, seeming same countrye, and feast, sing, howle instead ofs singing, all mixth men and women together; thus they in other to vissit countrymen one another out on Sundays, 'goeing fashon they feast, where according to their own country plantations, howle like beasts) in a anticque manner, as if dance, and sing (or rather described the larger celebrations that they were all madd." He similarly with those ofone and the "they meet took place on religious holidays: and dancce in a confused manner, seeming same countrye, and feast, sing, howle instead ofs singing, all mixth men and women together; thus they --- Page 69 --- 59 The First African Instrument others drum, or beatt against a hollow tree, or and play on a kitt whilst manner after this board, and the rest nimbly dance in a strange anticque these dances, Taylor musick, in such sort that they all seem madd." In their ritual events that included some of may have actually been witnessing African traditions and would the forms of possession that were part of rituals, reconfigof Afro-Atlantic religion. Such become a cornerstone would become a cornerstone of ured and reconstituted in a new context, provided a space of conAfro-Caribbean social and religious life. They mad world and at times resistance, to the truly solation and consolidation, of the plantation." 17 named Hans Sloane arrived Not long after Taylor left Jamaica, a man the cultural and became fascinated with in the colony. He too, rapidly from some Countries, 19 Hans spiritual life of the enslaved. "The Negroes when they die "think they return to their own Country Sloane wrote, death but little, imagining they shall in Jamaica, and therefore regard from servile to free, and SO for this change their condition, by that means suicide Throats." 17 Whether they committed reason often cut their own make great lamwent on, "their Country people or died "naturally,"he about them expiring, and at their and howlings entations, mournings, into their Graves, to serve them in Funeral throw in Rum and Victuals times spill it Sometimes they bury it in gourds, at other the other world. on the Graves. >18 colonizers too. He was part of an Hans Sloane's ancestors had been colonizafamily from Scotland that was part ofthe English aristocratic the time Sloane was born, his family was tion of Northern Ireland. By who had fallen on hard times in relatively poor; and like many others Sloane looked to reinvent seventenh-century England and Ireland, the in to the New World. He traveled as physician himselfby, journeying Albemarle, who was named governor of the service of the Duke of from disease, which in 1687. His employer died within the year Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean for new arrivals. was common in Jamaica service ofthe Duke's family, as a guest But Sloane remained in Jamaica in the work that would estate. And he embarked on on the governor's that of an observer and collector of ultimately become his life calling: natural world, as well as the human one." 19 the in France and absorbed some ofthe developing Sloane had studied collection, and analysis and methods ofscientific observation, approaches disease, which in 1687. His employer died within the year Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean for new arrivals. was common in Jamaica service ofthe Duke's family, as a guest But Sloane remained in Jamaica in the work that would estate. And he embarked on on the governor's that of an observer and collector of ultimately become his life calling: natural world, as well as the human one." 19 the in France and absorbed some ofthe developing Sloane had studied collection, and analysis and methods ofscientific observation, approaches --- Page 70 --- THE BANJO the environment of the of nature. In Jamaica he set about studying and animals of the a of the plants island, hoping to produce catalogue to learn about the flora and Americas. He soon realized that the best way of the indigenous into the rich knowledge on the part fauna was to tap As he worked with them, he became people and the enslaved ofJamaica. of the humans in Jamaica as he as interested in the artifacts and practices was in its plants and animals. as a pilgrimage, and he Sloane later described his journey to Jamaica had a In the Caribbean he encountered returned from it transformed. Spanish, histories and cultures-indigenonus truly new set ofsedimented his of collecting beCreole-and as a result, practice African, emergent The encounters and dialogues "diverse, multifaced and eclectic." came island what had begun as a focused he had with people on the expanded and exinto something that aimed at documenting botanical project Sloane's vision was ambitious, ifnot ploring cultural and social practices. to archive every thing utopian: his goal became nothing short of"aiming His influence of truly infinite variety." in the world, each a specimen the Royal Society, transformed the scientific club ofwhich he was a part, interested in observing from a "gathering of a few English gentlemen" received, and actively institution which the natural world to "a global from throughout the exsought," 99 objects, accounts, and interpretations world had incited and inspired panding British empire. The Caribbean intellectual project with far-reaching consequences." in Sloane a new world of collecting. Building on Sloane became the hub of a new what foundation of what he had gathered in Jamaica, he expanded the and library with objects that were was effectively a personal museum travelers and administrators either donated to him or acquired from British Empire. fromjourneys within and beyond the growing the returning and rich collection that it ultimately became It was such a diverse founded in 1753. One ofits foundation for the new British Museum, bound volumes of dried remarkable holdings was three hundred most famous was one of cacao that Sloane had plant specimens. The most Sloane's accomplishments, brought back from Jamaica in 1689; for among of a drink enduring was his creation and marketing perhaps the most the richest and strangest part of his called hot chocolate. But perhaps catalogued the oftwo thousand items ultimately collection was group of this collection was devoted to things." A portion as "miscellaneous 3. One ofits foundation for the new British Museum, bound volumes of dried remarkable holdings was three hundred most famous was one of cacao that Sloane had plant specimens. The most Sloane's accomplishments, brought back from Jamaica in 1689; for among of a drink enduring was his creation and marketing perhaps the most the richest and strangest part of his called hot chocolate. But perhaps catalogued the oftwo thousand items ultimately collection was group of this collection was devoted to things." A portion as "miscellaneous --- Page 71 --- 61 I - The First African Instrument to one ofJamaica's free black slavery: "a bullet that had allegedly belonged condensation of and-in a startling maroons, 7 clothing, weapons, whips, and the imbrication of elite intellecthe brutality ofthe plantation world "token of friendship and tual culture with it-a gift sent to Sloane as a removed from the planter, "some tissue he had esteem" by a Virginia vagina of a slave girl."al built, quite literally, on the In fact Sloane's intellectual work was and free. His collecting bodies and minds of Africans, both enslaved marriage to the made possible financially by his strategic projects were Elizabeth Langley, who inherited a third widow of a Jamaican planter, 3,000 acres in Jamaica. It was of the income from plantations totaling ofhis items as well as Langley's money that enabled Sloane to buy many collection was also the Manor ofChelsea in 1712. But Sloane's to acquire of Africans, both in the Caintellectually dependent on the knowledge he acknowledged the continent. In his Voyage to Jamaica, ribbean and on Indians, or Blacks" that he consulted his debt to the local "Europeans, time to people of He clearly spent a lot of talking with in Jamaica. and free, about what they grew in their African descent, both slave and such Vegegardens, "wherein they took care to preserve propagate of origin in that is, in their places tables as grew in their own countries," among the enslaved were also maintained Africa. Such gardens-which together the flora of three contion plantations in Jamaica-brought along with multiple traditions Africa, and the Americas, nents, Europe, Sloane gathered this information and of cultivation, harvesting, and use. offered it in rich detail in his work.2 22 about their use oft plants Sloane's consultation with enslaved Jamaicans of a long series of work with such informants. was only the beginning Ben Solomon, a Muslim man from One ofhis later collaborators was Job and who Sloane helped Senegal who was sold into slavery in Maryland and in the in the 1730s. Solomon collected arrows pipes of emancipate also translated Arabic texts for him. Because Gambia for Sloane and Solomon was known and named his prominence and high social rank, life-in his own work but in fact throughout Sloane's as a collaborator; who brought him materials-the knowland that of agents and collectors Atlantic sustained and infused his edge of Africans on both sides of the are the main reason though largely obfuscated, work. Their contributions, such rich traces of the cultural lives of that Sloane's collection offers us in the 1730s. Solomon collected arrows pipes of emancipate also translated Arabic texts for him. Because Gambia for Sloane and Solomon was known and named his prominence and high social rank, life-in his own work but in fact throughout Sloane's as a collaborator; who brought him materials-the knowland that of agents and collectors Atlantic sustained and infused his edge of Africans on both sides of the are the main reason though largely obfuscated, work. Their contributions, such rich traces of the cultural lives of that Sloane's collection offers us --- Page 72 --- THE BANJO the enslaved. His method of collecting, with its "universalism" breathtaking aim of and "a rials that some ofhis comprehensiveness," meant that he gathered mateofthe items in his colleagues saw. as worthless. But, in the end, "some possession for which those which in contemporaries mocked him are retrospect are most highly prized." 23 Sloane stands out among early chroniclers of the detailed attention he Caribbean for the the midst gave to music. In Jamaica, Sloane found ofa key moment of cultural invention himselfin was smart enough to realize this and also and transformation. He in documenting it: during "one to understand he needed help the Negro Musicians oftheir Festivals, when a great of were gathered together," 3 he many tiste, the best Musician there asked one "Mr. to take the Words BapMusick, which follows." Based they sing and set them to notation for three on Baptiste's work, he published musical songs, the earliest such music in existence. documents of Afro-Atlantic Sloane's introduction to these pieces ofmusic is Where did he hear these vague and elliptical. songs? What role did the play in creating the notation? musicians themselves sition by Might these in fact be more ofa Baptiste than a transcription of he compoexactly was this Mr. Baptiste? songs heard? And who "Mr. Though historians have assumed Baptiste" was a Frenchman, it is also that fact a free person of African descent. very possible that he was in teenth In the Caribbean during the century, many blacks, both free and eighsional musicians, enslaved, worked as profesincluding in contexts where read music, such as the theatre. they would have had to originally come from Baptiste's name suggests he made have one of the French colonies, Domingue, where there was an perhaps nearby Sainttheatrical life that involved extremely active and rich musical and these many people of African descent. songs could have been played and heard Andalthough just as easily could have been on a plantation, they also Wherever the performed in some kind of urban performance took place, it did setting. ofi musical influence, clearly involve crosscurrents cultural offering up fascinating insights about the encounter and creolization in late nature of It was, as historian Richard Rath ewerenkoonuyjmuika languages- pidgin, writes, a "remarkable scene: several related English, French, at least (and African tongues-three discrete probably more) unmusical styles being recorded by just as easily could have been on a plantation, they also Wherever the performed in some kind of urban performance took place, it did setting. ofi musical influence, clearly involve crosscurrents cultural offering up fascinating insights about the encounter and creolization in late nature of It was, as historian Richard Rath ewerenkoonuyjmuika languages- pidgin, writes, a "remarkable scene: several related English, French, at least (and African tongues-three discrete probably more) unmusical styles being recorded by --- Page 73 --- 63 1 The First African Instrument ranging from slaves to gentry, someone versed in a fourth, participants together for a moment with connections to three continents, all thrown in time."24 in the Sloane witnessed Those who came together to play gathering within Africa. That clearly were from a variety of different regions diverse. "A to sound was culturally meant that their very relationship of aesthetically permisculture's music," " Rath writes, "has a phonology and a syntax of of acceptable scales and rhythms, sible notes, a vocabulary unconscious ways people reprecustoms and rules that govern the largely to what through these notes, scales, and rhythms produce sent themselves Rath calls 9 This collection of habits, which they recognize as music. different ways in different "soundways," are established and passed on in 79 In the plantation through a mix of"tradition and adaptation." contexts of negotiation between different world, Rath argues, an intensive process conditioned by exile, intrusive soundways had to take place in a situation slave with an extremely oppressive oversight, and the confrontation of music that would serve the system. In that context, the production vital and particularly needs of the community was both particularly challenging. 25 offered by Baptiste each point toward a The titles ofthe three songs often spelled Coromantee, particular African ethnic group. "Koromanti," brought from the Akan rewas a term used to describe enslaved people and much Ghana), who were a prominent gion of Africa (in modern-day roles in early slave in Jamaica. Akan had played leading discussed group would continue to do SO in subsequent years as revolts in Jamaica and The second song, titled "Angola, 99 well as in other parts ofthe Caribbean. imported from the coast to describe enslaved peoples used a designation drawn from a wide range of cultures in of Central Africa, who could be short titled "Papa" was, in Rath's interpretathe interior. Finally, a piece known as the referring to a group of enslaved people tion, probably into Jamaica during from the Bight ofBenin, who were imported "Popo" this period as well. 26 and shifting, just as Each ofthese categories, however, was complex was. What was documented, argues the music written down by Baptiste "Koromantis, Papas, and Anmoment in which Rath, was a very specific sounds and their voices to forge identities golans" were "using instrument Rath's interpretathe interior. Finally, a piece known as the referring to a group of enslaved people tion, probably into Jamaica during from the Bight ofBenin, who were imported "Popo" this period as well. 26 and shifting, just as Each ofthese categories, however, was complex was. What was documented, argues the music written down by Baptiste "Koromantis, Papas, and Anmoment in which Rath, was a very specific sounds and their voices to forge identities golans" were "using instrument --- Page 74 --- THE BANJO the bonds of slavery in a harsh new world." The as Africans under "craft sonic spaces that in some ways existed project would have been to >> with instrumental reference to slavery but to their own interests," not in tool in delimiting a covert set of knowlmusic serving as a "powerful understood that Africans "had ways edge." Slave masters clearly knew and did not know how to stop through music, but they of communicating Caribbean and North America inthem." The law books of the early among ordinances banning or limiting the use ofmusic clude numerous worried about drums and horns, the enslaved. Planters were particularly be used to understod-from experience-could which they rightly and organize them as they call the enslaved to revolt as well as inspire in 1688, with were first banned in Jamaica fought. These instruments and confiscate and burn any to search slave quarters masters encouraged and expansion of instruments they found. But the constant repetition the conwith the many accounts describing such ordinances-along the and in the port of dance and music on plantations stant presence achieved their goal of silence. Still, towns-make clear planters never of certhe criminalization although music was never fully suppressed, cultural of the enof music must have shaped the practices tain types ignoring quieter ones in their slaved. "They banned loud instruments, instruments could still be that these other laws," failing to understand of the agenda and hopes of the "powerful tools" for the articulation might be without drawing as much attention. "Drum patterns enslaved instruments or on smaller percarried on in the rhythms of the stringed be made." An oppresLutes and harps could easily cussion instruments. of sound as a threat, then, shaped sive legal order that saw certain types around the rules, notably the contours ofmusical practice. And getting detection, became resistance that eluded by finding ways to express of what musicians needed to be able to do.27 smaller part took place both in larger dances and in countless This process that Sloane and Baptiste documented. musical gatherings, like the one doesn't include an indication Unfortunately the account of these songs in his Voyage, instruments were used to play them. But elsewhere of ofwhat of a series ofinstruments, some Sloane offered a detailed description the musicians there that night. which were likely in the hands of one oft the enslaved "will at their "hard-wrought" lives, Sloane wrote, Despite needed to be able to do.27 smaller part took place both in larger dances and in countless This process that Sloane and Baptiste documented. musical gatherings, like the one doesn't include an indication Unfortunately the account of these songs in his Voyage, instruments were used to play them. But elsewhere of ofwhat of a series ofinstruments, some Sloane offered a detailed description the musicians there that night. which were likely in the hands of one oft the enslaved "will at their "hard-wrought" lives, Sloane wrote, Despite --- Page 75 --- 65 The First African Instrument Dance and Sing; their Songs are all bawdy, and nights, or on Feast days leading that way." ofInstruments in imitation ofLutes, They have several sorts with Horse made ofsmall Gourds fitted with Necks, strung These the stalks of climbing Plants or Withs. hairs, or peeled Timber covered instruments are sometimes made ofhollow'd Bow for its with Parchment or other Skin wetted, having a alter the Strings ty'd longer or shorter, as they would Neck, have likewise in their Dances Rattles their sounds. They Hands, with and Wrists, and in their ty'd to their Legs time with one who makes which they make a noise, keeping gourd or Jar as sound answering on the mouth ofan empty and his Hand. Their Dances consist of great activity with and keeping time, ifit can be. They very strength ofbody, Rumps, and add such other odd often tie Cow's Tails to their their Bodies in several places, as gives them a very things to extraordinary appearance." 28 Sloane acquired at least three musical During his time in Jamaica, he them: he may have instruments. There is no record of how got either free or them from an instrument maker or musician, purchased have collected them (perhaps forcibly) on a plantation enslaved, or he may He brought these back to with the aid of a slave master or overseer. collection of"miscelEngland, where they became part ofhis extended includes these entries: lanies." ? His hand-written catalogue of these objects made of an oblongstrum strum or musicall instrument, a "Jamaica in the side, strings ofa scendent herbs hollowed piece ofwood with a cross covered wt. skin-holed caulis"; "The same made ofcucurbita lagenaria gourd); and "One of in the side" (curcubita lagenaria is a kind ofbottle another form wt. a bell on it. >29 Sloane's chiefbotanical In August of 1701, Everhardus Kickius, then instruments and titled it illustrator, made a sketch of three musical Two of these instruments are recogniz- "American and African guitars." resonators, skin heads, versions ofthe banjo: they have gourd able as early of different lengths, held by pegs. and flat engraved necks with strings gourd); and "One of in the side" (curcubita lagenaria is a kind ofbottle another form wt. a bell on it. >29 Sloane's chiefbotanical In August of 1701, Everhardus Kickius, then instruments and titled it illustrator, made a sketch of three musical Two of these instruments are recogniz- "American and African guitars." resonators, skin heads, versions ofthe banjo: they have gourd able as early of different lengths, held by pegs. and flat engraved necks with strings --- Page 76 --- THE BANJO I 66 122 Fidicula Indorum wNigritarum, ecucurbitis inter fe daerfixexcava vatis, pellibus letigconfecta,Strum Strumpry 33. Fidieula, ligno excav. ob longospelle teclo,confecta. +#+ Planta fruticosae Seandentis, cauligloco mentis inferviens, chorda Mulicisi Kinftru 55. Radix fruticofal luteaglycyrliue fimilis, cortice fuscadentibus mundi fieandis inferviens. Hans Sloane, A voyage to the islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, . : and islands of America (London, 1707), vol. 1, Plate III. Photo courtesy of David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke University. The third is ofa different form: a harp with a box resonator, likely made ofwood, and eight strings. 30 Kickius's sketch was the basis for another image of the three instruments, which was published in Sloane's Voyage. This engraving is far better known than the original sketch and has often been reproduced and has shaped discussions oft the early banjo. The relevant captions, in Latin, describing the instruments can be translated as follows: "1.1.2.2. 'Strum Strumps,' lutes of the Indians & Blacks, made of different hollowedout gourds covered with animal hides. 3.3. Lute [with] an oblong [body] made ofhollowed-out wood and covered with an animal hide.' 99 In addition to the instruments in Kickius's original sketch, there are two other objects: some plant fiber described as the kind that was used to make the strings for the instrument along with, somewhat out of place perhaps, a whittled tree branch used for cleaning teeth. 31 .1.2.2. 'Strum Strumps,' lutes of the Indians & Blacks, made of different hollowedout gourds covered with animal hides. 3.3. Lute [with] an oblong [body] made ofhollowed-out wood and covered with an animal hide.' 99 In addition to the instruments in Kickius's original sketch, there are two other objects: some plant fiber described as the kind that was used to make the strings for the instrument along with, somewhat out of place perhaps, a whittled tree branch used for cleaning teeth. 31 --- Page 77 --- 67 The First African Instrument shift between the terminology used in the There is an intriguing The instruments go from original sketch and that used in the engraving. Indians & "American and African guitars" to being "lutes ofthe being over the illustration and its different Blacks." Scholars have long puzzled in the foreground that the instrument captions, with some suggesting indigenous peoples in the actually be East Indian or else made by may Sloane did note the presence of enslaved Caribbean. While in Jamaica, ofCentral America and Florida, indigenous people from the "Mosquitos" slaves and enslaved Africans owned by the English. These indigenous similar food, and could easily lived together, wore similar clothing, ate life. Sloane had also encounhave shared other aspects oftheir cultural who had lived in Jamaica under tered the groups of"Blacks and Indians" So after the English conquest. Spanish rule and remained on the island of cultural exavenues he understood there were many longstanding and communities and change between surviving indigenous individuals that the instruments he newly arrived Africans and perhaps concluded There is an collected had been influenced by indigenous practices. had decorations on the necks of intriguing possibility that the crosshatching been influenced by indigethe instruments in front could have indeed Some who have studied the vévéin Haitian Vodou-ritual nous aesthetics. floors before ceremonies-have: argued drawings made with meal on the similar Taino influence on these aesthetics, and something for possible could be at work in these early banjos. intriguing where there may have been a particularly There is one area of indigenous peoples in the cros-fertilization between the practices and calabashes. AlCaribbean and African arrivals: in the uses of gourds interhave often been-and still are-used somewhat though the terms botanical works, gourds and calabashes changeably and loosely, even in and calabashes two different species. Gourds grow on vines, are actually be dried, clean, and used in on trees. Though both can scraped grow for instruments-there are neversimilar ways-including as resonators them. The inside of a calabash, for theless some differences between decorate. Starting with instance, is smoother and therefore easier to the widespread himself, Europeans in the Caribbean described Columbus including for the construcuse of calabashes among indigenous groups, Africa, but they seem to have tion of rattles. Calabashes also grew in Though tracking been used less often than gourds for makinginstruments , and used in on trees. Though both can scraped grow for instruments-there are neversimilar ways-including as resonators them. The inside of a calabash, for theless some differences between decorate. Starting with instance, is smoother and therefore easier to the widespread himself, Europeans in the Caribbean described Columbus including for the construcuse of calabashes among indigenous groups, Africa, but they seem to have tion of rattles. Calabashes also grew in Though tracking been used less often than gourds for makinginstruments --- Page 78 --- THE BANJO difficult, it does seem that Africans in the this process is extremely traditions surrounding the culAmericas probably absorbed indigenous of what they had usutivation and use of calabashes, transferring some Within this story of ally done with gourds to this new, common plant. hidden, traces of of seems to reside, though carefully two species plants American and African the cultural encounters between indigenous haphistory of the Caribbean. These encounters worlds in the early observers, however, SO that it is pened far from the eyes of European and what were Afwhat influences were indigenous difficult to identify rican, notably in the realm of music. the origin ofthe third Sloane's engraving offers up another mystery: resonator. Based on the evidence instrument, the harp with a box-shaped from the catalogue, from the engraving, the sketch, and the descriptions were colthat the two instruments in the foreground we can conclude there remain two possibilities about the lected by Sloane in] Jamaica. But The first is that this was the third intrajectory of the third instrument. form," collected in Jamaica. strument listed in the catalogue, of"another made and it would mean that such harps were being Ifthis was the case, the "strum-strum?" 99 The Jamaica, alongside played in sevententh-century. that this was in fact part of Sloane's colother possibility, however, is That would African objects, included here for comparison. lection of "American and African guitars" in his explain Kickius's use of the title subsumed Ifthat is the case, then Sloane and / or Kickius original sketch. sketch into the "Black" ofthe caption ofthe the "African" oft the original of the instruments in In SO doing, and in the positioning later engraving. that the New they were perhaps also making an argument: the image, Ifso, the first visual depicWorld banjo was the child of African parents. ofthe story ofits banjo also involved the first, correct, assertion tion ofthe lineage. 34 the sketch and the engraving, stands out: One final detail, from both in the sound hole on the body of the harp background. the cross-shaped on other New World of functional decoration was to reappear This style a choice made with a parlater, and it was very likely banjos a century common in aesthetic practice of ticular reason. Such crosses were quite linked to the intertwined the Afro-Atlantic world, serving as cosmograms Whether the inof the Kongo region. aesthetic and spiritual practices assertion tion ofthe lineage. 34 the sketch and the engraving, stands out: One final detail, from both in the sound hole on the body of the harp background. the cross-shaped on other New World of functional decoration was to reappear This style a choice made with a parlater, and it was very likely banjos a century common in aesthetic practice of ticular reason. Such crosses were quite linked to the intertwined the Afro-Atlantic world, serving as cosmograms Whether the inof the Kongo region. aesthetic and spiritual practices --- Page 79 --- 69 I The First African Instrument itself were made in Africa or in the Caribbean, strument and the cross almost certainly had ritual significance." the symbol musical transcription, and imThe combination of descriptive text, the most crucial sources on the early makes Sloane's work one of us ages music. Though it is fragmentary, it at least gives history of Afro-Atlantic into the musical culture he witnessed. several points ofentry and analysis technical transformaAnd it offers us a trace of one ofthe fundamental flat neck. In ofthe New World banjo: the use of a tions in the creation rounded sticks or rods, on both West and Central Africa, necks were enslaved people were lutes and harps. In late imnantrondh-comury)eucs of growing a gourd instruments that used the same technique building skin, and putting a neck it with an animal for the resonator, covering board, as Labat's description through that gourd. But that neck was a flat as have been at the time in Guadeloupe and Martinique suggests it may be one of using what was easily acwell. Why? The reason could a basic society like Some of the enslaved in a plantation cessible and at hand. buildings, carriages, and together Jamaica worked as carpenters, putting and molasses out of also the many barrels that were used to ship sugar time instruments would have had an easy the colony. Artisans making them, on almost any flat boards, and the tools to saw or carve finding a have found inspiration for doing SO plantation. They may, too, of course, with flat necks: a lute, a guitar, inin the shape of European instruments kind ofinvitation and violin, all would have provided a deed a concert of flat necks and peg tuners. However demonstration of the usefulness incited this innovation, it was this decision came about, and whatever instruments constandardized, although ultimately to become relatively at least through the structed with rounded necks seem to have persisted late eighteenth century. collected, drawn, enAlthough these instruments were carefully major work in the seventeenth graved, and showcased as part ofSloane's At in the prothey did not get handed down to us. some point British century, collections into those ofthe ofthe transformation of Sloane's cess their traces in images and text. As museum, they disappeared, leavingjust instruments, strain to hear the particular tones ofthose much as we might that evening on the late seventeenthor to truly hear the songs sung from us. Yet the images are plantation, the sound vanishes century major work in the seventeenth graved, and showcased as part ofSloane's At in the prothey did not get handed down to us. some point British century, collections into those ofthe ofthe transformation of Sloane's cess their traces in images and text. As museum, they disappeared, leavingjust instruments, strain to hear the particular tones ofthose much as we might that evening on the late seventeenthor to truly hear the songs sung from us. Yet the images are plantation, the sound vanishes century --- Page 80 --- THE BANJO makers, working in the tradition of unknown enough for today's banjo version of the instruments coland unnamed ancestors, to reproduce a lected by Sloane. and the images of the instruments Based on the musical notation the songs with what he Richard Rath has reconstructed from Jamaica, offering us the chance to hear an sees as the most likely instrumentation, He argues that each ofthese echo ofthat long-ago gathering in Jamaica. and regions in though their names cited particular ethnic groups insongs, by various kinds of cross-pollination and Africa, was already shaped musical styles: "Both Auence. "Angola, 79 he suggests, included different cultural knowledge to produce musicians were using their own particular neither the musicians nor suitable musical expression. In all likelihood, *36 a found the results fully satisfactory' their companions as musicians came and went, Over time, in gathering after gathering, figuring out what made expanding and then winnowing their repertoire, reflective silence, the those around them dance, sing, pray, or listen in New music and became satisfactory, even revelatory. results ultimately solace and force. And the musicians operdance was created, providing opted to play instruments ating in this world seem to have increasingly gourd, animal skin, flat constructed according to a consistent pattern: least three Caribaround the same time in at neck. This had happened and Martinique-that were part bean colonies-Jamaica, Guadeloupe, that is known about this process of different empires. The small amount thereand Sloane the of unusual observers Taylor is thanks to presence e-who stood apart from most oftheir in Jamaica and Labat in Martiniquefascination with the European travelers in their particular contemporary accident of their observation hints culture oft the enslaved. But the lucky like Barbados or New that, had others similar to them visited places similar. Carolina, they might have seen something Orleans or South take place in parallel time, Did the development of this instrument The ofinfluence and movement tie one area to another? or did patterns connected and also tightly linked to North Caribbean was relatively well manned enslaved sailors. constant trade and by ships often by America by would have traveled easily along these Music and musical instruments and other cultural forms did. routes, just as news, political projects, well connected Martinique and Jamaica, however, were not particularly another was, in from one to in the late seventeenth century- getting might have seen something Orleans or South take place in parallel time, Did the development of this instrument The ofinfluence and movement tie one area to another? or did patterns connected and also tightly linked to North Caribbean was relatively well manned enslaved sailors. constant trade and by ships often by America by would have traveled easily along these Music and musical instruments and other cultural forms did. routes, just as news, political projects, well connected Martinique and Jamaica, however, were not particularly another was, in from one to in the late seventeenth century- getting --- Page 81 --- 71 I The First African Instrument the currents, not to mention the winds fact, relatively complicated given The early history oft the banjo ofimperial rivalry, within the Caribbean. the in various islands was probably suggests that what was happening results. In similar conditions, result of parallel contexts producing parallel musicians seem to have gravwith similar points of reference, artisans and solution, that ofhaving one style ofinstrument itated toward a common of the goals. But in time, an understanding serve different performance themselves-would: increasingly have instrument-and: some instruments The instruments seen by Taylor, circulated between islands and regions. would meet cousins, but in time they Sloane, and Labat were dispersed and recognize one another.7 * in North America comes to us in The banjo's first appearance in writing Utopia. In March of 1736, the form of an enigma, from a place called in by "The Spy" was published a letter signed simply, and mysteriously, itself as containing "the which advertised the New York Weekly Journal, by an equally and Domestick."1 It was introduced freshest Advices, Foreign that the letter be innote signed simply "F. C." requesting mysterious of presenting "letters" of mysserted into the newspaper. Such practices common in cighteenth-century terious origin were, in fact, relatively here is unusual. Who wrote publications, though the double anonymity Spy? Was this nothing the letter, and why did the writer call himselfThe written by an more than a set of fake tropes used to present something editor as a truthful dispatcha 9 somewhere outside of New The Spy dated his letter from "Utopia, the date of April 10th, He to describe what- -given York City. proceeded Pinkster celebration. This festival, 1736, for the letter-was probably a of Dutch origin. But in which began the Monday after Pentecost, was event. ?> It African-American the Americas it became "almost an entirely Albany, New York. during the 1790s and 1800s in reached its "apogee" Hill," hundreds gathered for a At the edge of the town, on "Pinkster slave Charles," an African-born weekly event overseen by one "King Decades later, a man is absolute, and whose will is law." "whose authority memories of Charles, Eight described his vivid childhood named James in the Guinea gulf" as a boy. who had "been brought from Angola, -American the Americas it became "almost an entirely Albany, New York. during the 1790s and 1800s in reached its "apogee" Hill," hundreds gathered for a At the edge of the town, on "Pinkster slave Charles," an African-born weekly event overseen by one "King Decades later, a man is absolute, and whose will is law." "whose authority memories of Charles, Eight described his vivid childhood named James in the Guinea gulf" as a boy. who had "been brought from Angola, --- Page 82 --- THE BANJO serves us, shall we forget the mingled sensations "Never, if our memory minds, when and grandeur that were impressed on our youthful ofawe slowly moving behis stately form and dignified aspect, first we beheld ofthe 19 Charles wore the outfit of fore us and moving to the centre ring" ornamented everyofthe old time," that was "gayly a "British brigadier lace," and a "tri-cornered where with broad tracings ofbright golden recalled the music, hat trimmed also with lace of gold." Eight cocked drummer named Jackey Quackenboss, who sat particularly that of a dressed sheep skin." >39 drum made with a "cleanly astride a wooden continued during the early nineteenth cenThe Pinkster celebrations memorably depicted one in his tury. In 1845, James Fenimore Cooper with The Jason, finds himsedf"confounded novel Satanstoc. protagonist, on." He saw"ninedances, music, and games that were going the noises, who were "collected in thousands in those tenths ofthe blacks ofthe city" The distinguishing fields, beating banjoes, singing African songs." "of African orfeatures of the "Pinkster frolic," Cooper wrote, were "of African birth' 99 were left, he went on, igin." Though few enslaved country were SO far pre- "the traditions and usages of their original this festival, and one a marked difference between served as to produce of European origin. 40 decades most about Pinkster was "the What struck visitors over the This was already visual and sonic strangeness of this black gathering." ofthe in 1736, who presented one oft the first depictions true ofThe Spy also to amuse, the readers of festival. Aiming to dismay, and perhaps Ramble" The Spy offered his notes on a "Days the New York WeeklyJoural, cultural landscape. "It was no small through a striking Afro-Atlantic covered with Booths, and well Amusement to me, to see the Plain partly according with Whites, the Negroes divided into Companies crowded to the hollow sound of a Drum, to their different Nations, some dancing rattling Noise made of the trunk of a hollow Tree, others to the grating and some Basket, others plied the Banger, ofPebbles or Shells in a small the music there was plenty knew how to joyn the Voice to it." Alongside sticks in imitation of a drunken) fighting, with cudgels, "small of (often fists, at times accompanied by "cursing and short Pike," and presumably 99 His further rambles in search of"reswearing" in a "Christian dialect." spectacles, mixt confronted him with various shocking freshment" was the Mechanic," a purportedly Company" in which the "Gentleman Pebbles or Shells in a small the music there was plenty knew how to joyn the Voice to it." Alongside sticks in imitation of a drunken) fighting, with cudgels, "small of (often fists, at times accompanied by "cursing and short Pike," and presumably 99 His further rambles in search of"reswearing" in a "Christian dialect." spectacles, mixt confronted him with various shocking freshment" was the Mechanic," a purportedly Company" in which the "Gentleman --- Page 83 --- 73 The First African Instrument with a "Hagg." and one or two couples Christian family man consorting where the He ended up watching a cockfight locked in a "Close Hugg." "Gentlemen" to "Day Labourers" audience was a "mixt Multitude" from how irksome it is to cheering together. "You can't imagine all happily "to hear the been used to a regular Life" our Spy opined, me who have committed in the common Streets, Impieties, and see the Outrages daily the the Whites, but even by genteeler not only by the Blacks or poorer This celebration of the Sort; and all this too often with Impunity." he concluded." holiday was shocking, according to The Spy, The day's amusements had been announced, black Fellow "This morning I heard my Landlord's with this encounter: call'd it, and playing some ofhis very busy at tuning ofhis Banger, as he be it never SO rustic, under delighted with Music, Tunes; I, who am always and at last asked, what the Pretence of Washing came into the Kitchen, a He started up and with a blithsom Meaning was of his being SO merry? Backerah no work; Ningar no Countenance answered, Massa, to day Holiday; Banger for true, Banger; go yander, you see Ningar play work; me no savy play dance too; you see Sport to dayfor true." between textual traces and There is always, of course, a disjuncture built and played in North Banjos almost certainly had been musical reality. with which this source deAmerica before 1736. Indeed, the familiarity name is simply offered up, with no explanascribes the instrument-the the writer of what the instrument looks or sounds like-suggests tion heard the term. What is striking assumed readers would have already oft the context. As in however, is the familiarity about this description, home in New York in the midst the instrument found its the Caribbean, of Africans and of a festival that was an assembly in exile, a gathering and channeled around music and dance that recalled their descendants them in recognition of the realities specific nations even as it collected and necessities of a new cultural world. kind of Africanalso seems to have been part of a different The banjo days" practiced in some New England American festival, the "election these events, which the mid-cighteenth century. During towns during official election, local Africanoften took place at the same time as an The pracAmericans elected a "governor" to represent their community. American traditions with colonial tice brought together African political in 1756 in Newport, Rhode One such election took place practice. specific nations even as it collected and necessities of a new cultural world. kind of Africanalso seems to have been part of a different The banjo days" practiced in some New England American festival, the "election these events, which the mid-cighteenth century. During towns during official election, local Africanoften took place at the same time as an The pracAmericans elected a "governor" to represent their community. American traditions with colonial tice brought together African political in 1756 in Newport, Rhode One such election took place practice. --- Page 84 --- THE BANJO male residents voted; and once the govIsland. All African-American tree" to celelected, they gathered under a "large, spreading ernor was decades later described it, "every voice ebrate. As an account written of Africa, mixed with its highest key, in all the various languages upon filled the air, accompanied with the music broken and ludicrous English, drum, etc." 19 Such celebrations ofthe fiddle, the tambourine, the banjo, Massachubanned by authorities-such as those of Salem, were often and indeed a political, threat. setts, in 1758-who saw them as a public, invention during the We find other traces ofthis process of cultural the Americas, in the form of runaway banjos. Throughout same period the plantation, masters placed adverwhen an enslaved person escaped rewards for the capture of their tisements in local newspapers offering and as written texts, were tools of power; property. These advertisements directions at once. In their could be reproduced and travel in many they former slaves described the 'uncanny feeling narratives of escape, many oft their own fugitive status. 9 ofbeing overtaken by the transmitted news thing was these advertisements, the important For masters who composed about the individual in the maximum amount of information to share The irony was that in order to do SO, order to recapture their property. ofslaves even human-description they produced the most detailed-and capsule Indeed, they offer us remarkable that we ever get from masters. biographies of enslaved individuals." skills. Those who had such advertisements mention musical Many to escape, since they could skills, in fact, were perhaps more likely tryand free Such in the city and to pass as a person. use these to make a living and with multiple sets of good runaways often left both with instruments to would serve them well ift they were planning clothing, both of which described la man named Jack, perform. An 1800 advertisement in Virginia his hair cued" and fled who had "a down look, speaks slowly and wore 99 The master added "a brown hat, faced underneath with green. wearing for Alexandria, with the that he "was told" that Jack "was seen making both read and the thither: he is artful and can intention of taking stage advertisement from 1790 write and is a good fiddler." Another Virginia fife well" named Francis, who "plays on the extremely mentioned a man fine new brown broad cloth coat, a and left with "6 good linen shirts, a with shoe-boots and jacket, breeches of several kinds, green shaggy shoes."45 wearing for Alexandria, with the that he "was told" that Jack "was seen making both read and the thither: he is artful and can intention of taking stage advertisement from 1790 write and is a good fiddler." Another Virginia fife well" named Francis, who "plays on the extremely mentioned a man fine new brown broad cloth coat, a and left with "6 good linen shirts, a with shoe-boots and jacket, breeches of several kinds, green shaggy shoes."45 --- Page 85 --- 75 The First African Instrument The most common instrument mentioned in is the violin, which such advertisements their many enslaved played both for themselves masters. It was easy to carry as well as to use to and for a variety of musical contexts. get work playing in individuals who Some advertisements mention enslaved were skilled at playing drums. But there banjo players among the were also a few runaways. In 1749, when ran away from his master and headed a slave named Scipio for to track him with an advertisement Philadelphia, his master tried "played the banjo" and "can that fingered Scipio as a man who with his skill; and if sing." Scipio perhaps tried to make a so, perhaps it was that detail in the living tisement that got him caught, as he soon runaway advercade, he ran away from was. But twice in the next deslavery again. After his one that led him to freedom for third escape-perhaps pliment, good-his master paid him a sort describing him in a new advertisement ofcomwell on the banjou." 9 A few as someone who "plays slave in years later, in 1754, another Maryland escaped from his master. banjo-playing ment placed in the Maryland Gazette According to an advertiseMulatto" named Prince, by his master, the man was "a dark and he had gone off"in servant man" named John. company with a white Fellow and Prince, the master noted, was "a plays well on the ' He pert lively shirt, short Linnen breeches, Banjer." was wearing "a country Linnen and an old Felt Hat" was offered to any who when he left. A reward brought him back. These two suggest that some masters were advertisements ment called the beginning to be familiar with the instru- "banjer," and even to enjoy its music. that, at least in some places and And they suggest could get you places-even, some communities, playing the banjo The perhaps, a little closer to freedom. 46 banjo playing practiced by slaves also the members of some master's exercised an attraction for dent named Philip families. In 1773 and 1774, a young stuorder Vickers Fithian traveled to a to serve as a tutor to the children ofthe Virginia plantation in Robert Carter. The Carter household ofa a local planter, family had been entrenched in region since the mid-seventeenth the Tidewater owned 500 century; and at one point Robert slaves, an extremely large number for Carter the ten children entrusted North America. to Fithian's care was Carter's Among jamin, who was eighteen, and a relative eldest son, Benevening in January 1774, Fithian named Harry Willis. One Sunday lected themselves noted in his journal, the in the "Negroes colSchool-Room, & began to play the Fiddle, & been entrenched in region since the mid-seventeenth the Tidewater owned 500 century; and at one point Robert slaves, an extremely large number for Carter the ten children entrusted North America. to Fithian's care was Carter's Among jamin, who was eighteen, and a relative eldest son, Benevening in January 1774, Fithian named Harry Willis. One Sunday lected themselves noted in his journal, the in the "Negroes colSchool-Room, & began to play the Fiddle, & --- Page 86 --- THE BANJO on, he found that "Ben, & dance.' 19 When he went to see what was going with his Coat off." ofthe company" and "Harry was dancing Harry were wrote Fithian. But at the end "I dispersed them however immediately," itself, this time with ofthe next week, on Friday night, the scene repeated which is instrument: "This Evening, in the School-Room, a different & Ben, & Harry are playing on a below my Chamber, several Negroes didn't write that he had dispersed Banjo & dancing!" This time, Fithian Did he stay for a while and enjoy the music27 the group. * century, the banjo was very much By the second half of the eighteenth North America. The instruin many parts of the Caribbean and at home that slave owners seeking runaways, newsment was common enough and young tutors articles about unusual street celebrations, papers writing knew how to name it. They used one of a on assignment all generally banza-and they expected readers bangier, set ofsimilar terms-banjo, to know what they meant. seems to be in a 1708 work about The first use ofthe term in writing the instrument as a Oldmixon, who described Barbados written by John but the Musick? 99 Within not much unlike our Lute in any thing, "bangil, forms of this term were in relatively widespread a few decades, various North America. The German travthe Caribbean and use throughout visited North America and the Caribeler Johann David Schoepf, who "musical instrument of 1780s, described the banjah as a bean in the early is stretched a sheep-skin, the true negro. 77 "Over a hollow calabash : and made lengthened with a neck, strung with strings, the instrument sound," he wrote, and was accompanied accordant. "It gives out a rude whatever may be at hand." by"the drum, or an iron pan, or empty cast, instrument greatly America and on the islands they make use ofthis "In term was used to describe other types for dance," *7 he added. At times the named In the early 1770s, for instance, an Englishman of instruments. in Charleston, South Barclay who had worked on a rice plantation made James of musick is called a Bangier, Carolina, wrote: Their instrument that did not have strings ofa Calabash." 79 But he then described something and takes it between like a drum: "One negroe sits down, and was played with two sticks, as we do on a drum, his feet, upon which he beats artfully for dance," *7 he added. At times the named In the early 1770s, for instance, an Englishman of instruments. in Charleston, South Barclay who had worked on a rice plantation made James of musick is called a Bangier, Carolina, wrote: Their instrument that did not have strings ofa Calabash." 79 But he then described something and takes it between like a drum: "One negroe sits down, and was played with two sticks, as we do on a drum, his feet, upon which he beats artfully --- Page 87 --- The First African Instrument and all the rest dance pair and pairin their and making an intolerable noise.' ' own way, hallowing, shrieking, lished enough by this Still, the instrument's, name was estabLaborde period that the French author listed it among the Jean Benjamin on music. The banza, he stringedinstruments; in his encyclopedic essay America," and wrote, was the "instrument of the "a kind of negroes of guitar with four strings." 2 More names-the strum strum mentioned than other by Sloane or the kitt Taylor-it was the various versions ofthe mentioned by mately took root to describe the word banjo or banza that ultiinstrument, over time and space to establish it resonating for enough people Where as a familiar term. 48 did the term come from? One the European term bandore, possible source for the word is body. Richard which named a kind oflute with a rounded Jobson, who traveled to Africa in the century, made a connection between the early seventeenth likei instrument, and African European "bandore," a lutemany African terms that gourd instruments he saw. But there are also could have inspired the sustained by Lopez's name. One theory, description of banjo-like Africa, is that the term "banza" instruments in Central in the Kongo. was a reference to the region ofMbanza, Douglas Chambers, meanwhile, writes that the "signifies" in the Igbo language, "as in term banjo in Jamaican Creole the ba-njo (being bad)," 99 and notes that term banja means "to a connection between the play the fool," suggesting possible two significations. There are several other etymologies in African languages. 49 Creolization is partly about convergence. Ifthe mately gained traction, it is probably term "banjo" ultipossible meanings in different precisely because it resonated with These varied languages spoken by different meanings might have co-existed for groups. mately combined to give the a time, but they ultisocial meaning. term a particular, shared, material and Precisely because the term could in guages, and evoke different signify different lancontexts, it made for a good instrument that was doing the same name for an the word ultimately thing. Like the instrument itself, who heard and probably worked because it made sense to spoke it in the different many Atlantic space. languages in circulation in the The history of the term in Dutch Suriname intriguing linguistic information offers us a density of word that can help us understand how the banjo-and its many variations-might have emerged. Scholars Precisely because the term could in guages, and evoke different signify different lancontexts, it made for a good instrument that was doing the same name for an the word ultimately thing. Like the instrument itself, who heard and probably worked because it made sense to spoke it in the different many Atlantic space. languages in circulation in the The history of the term in Dutch Suriname intriguing linguistic information offers us a density of word that can help us understand how the banjo-and its many variations-might have emerged. Scholars --- Page 88 --- THE BANJO or bandya and terms for dance have posited a link between the term banya root with the Dutch word baaljaaren (of a common used in the colony: bailar), which was in use to describe the Spanish and Portuguese terms One man who spent slave dances as early as the late seventeenth century. 1706 later wrote: "On in Suriname between 1695 and more than a decade to the waterfront or walk Sundays, the slaves oft the city ofParamaribo go known as being a certain kind of Dancing to the Savana to Baljaaren, were able to communibut this is forbidden, because they such to them, their business, which each wanted to cate too much, and singing about sometimes also by whisknow of the other, they could uncover things, it is likely that No instruments are mentioned, though tling at the mouth." the music for such dances." and drums provided some stringedinstruments: term for dance, also came to Baljaaren, in addition to being a general slaves. 50 dance as well among Surinamese name a specific have in Surinamese written The term banja first seems to appeared instrument in 1750, when an ordinance documents to describe a musical of slaves. The ban, like many seeking to limit the gatherings was passed and draconian, limiting others in the Atlantic world, was far-reaching but also to with others in numbers" not only the right to "congregate 79 The enslaved were enjoined "stand together talking with three or more. clamor, silence, to "neither making the least murmur, essentially to public but on the contrary going whistling noise, or anything comparable, banned from >7 they were "playing quietly along the streets. Specifically, "neither on the street nor in so-called banjas" as well as other instruments, sources in other place." 7 Two other late cighteenth-century houses nor any instrument. A 1770 work notes of the about Suriname mention the call Bagna in their enslaved: "They play the instrument which they Anit as a kind of fiddle." language, grievously and flailingly, regarding both ofthe and richer in its description other, from 1787, is more positive another way of playing, with instrument and its sound: "They have yet middle, with the being a round calabash cut in the the so-called Banja, skin, with a stick through it and four open side covered with a sheep of a zither; giving this a very strings on this, playing on it in the manner >51 singing and dancing to it.' languid sound, very softly as being "in their lanThe 1770 source describes the term bagna Suriname? That of the enslaved in guage." 99 But what was the language have meant either an African question, since this could itselfis a complex being a round calabash cut in the the so-called Banja, skin, with a stick through it and four open side covered with a sheep of a zither; giving this a very strings on this, playing on it in the manner >51 singing and dancing to it.' languid sound, very softly as being "in their lanThe 1770 source describes the term bagna Suriname? That of the enslaved in guage." 99 But what was the language have meant either an African question, since this could itselfis a complex --- Page 89 --- 79 The First African Instrument Among all the New World colonies, it or some kind of Creole language. and best-established comSuriname that had probably the largest was from the plantations and created munities of Maroons, who escaped in the early seventeenth villages in the interior of the colony starting communities, the In 1760 and 1762 the two largest Maroon The century. treaties with the Dutch authorities. Djuka and the Saramaka, signed and establish indepenfact that they were able to secure their autonomy of Maroon languages, has also meant that a series dent communities and took root. Among these rooted in African languages, developed all have a term for dance: Saramaccan, Matawai, and Kwinti languages, baya, banya, and bandya. 52 stretched throughout The Maroon struggle with Dutch authorities meant The treaties signed in the early 1760s were the eighteenth century. Djuka and Sarafrom the plantations-the to put an end to new escapes into their communities-but maka agreed not to accept new runaways between the and small bands emerged there were always new Maroons, Saramaka. In 1773 a Scottish officer regions controlled by the Djuka and and during the next Gabriel Stedman arrived in Suriname named John Maroon He eventually returned five years fought against various groups. his completed manuscript about experience, home and wrote a detailed of by William and in 1796 with a series engravings in 1790 published at the time and has been a constant Blake. It was widely read and cited point for historians of slave society since. reference ratio of Africans Suriname's slave population had an extremely high the colony: 25:1 in the colony as a whole, compared to Creoles born in Jamaica in 65:1 in plantation districts. By comparison, and sometimes In many other regions of 1780 had a ratio of 10:1 Africans to Creoles. far smaller during notably North America, the ratios were the Americas, number of West and Central Africans, the eighteenth century. The large communities, created a parnumber of whom rapidly joined Maroon a in the realm of music rich cultural context in the colony, notably ticularly includes valuable details about the musical and dance. Stedman's narrative him.94 culture that he encountered and which fascinated arrivals on 1774 Stedman watched as a group of recent African In and noted danced. He described them as "Loango-Negroes:" one estate was limited to their group, of-Loango-Dancing that their performance others." 99 Stedman was rather shocked and was not performed by" "by any Maroon a in the realm of music rich cultural context in the colony, notably ticularly includes valuable details about the musical and dance. Stedman's narrative him.94 culture that he encountered and which fascinated arrivals on 1774 Stedman watched as a group of recent African In and noted danced. He described them as "Loango-Negroes:" one estate was limited to their group, of-Loango-Dancing that their performance others." 99 Stedman was rather shocked and was not performed by" "by any --- Page 90 --- THE BANJO "consists from first to last in such a Scene by the dance, which he wrote but a heated imaginaof Wanton, and Lascivious gestures, as nothing these Dances Constant Practice could enable them to perform; tion, and Drum, and to which they strike time by Clapwhich are to the sound ofal divided into SO many Acts, which ping of hands, are more like a play, the Actors in place lasts hours together, and during which Pantomime, til they become more and more Active and Animated, ofbeing fatigued, and their Passions wound up to are bathed in a lather like Post Horses, to into that Nature being overcome they are ready drop such a degree, disturbed not just by the dance but also by Convulsions." Stedman was watched these "indelicate" perforthe fact that white men and women in pleasure as they "without the least reserve." They laughed mances nor Stedman, it is fair to say, probably watched; although neither they told and performed had a clear idea what the stories and dances being their through survivors ofthe Middle Passage, making way by these recent plantation society, really were saying, the brutal world of Surinamese remembering, and envisioning. dances to write generally Two years later, Stedman had seen enough them account that emphasized about them and to offer a more positive Can more Esteem or of and community: No People as a space sharing another than the negro Slaves who enjoy have a Great Friendship for one Pleasure," >7 he wrote, notably each others Company With an unbounded each which Consists in Dancing Opposite during dances "Such as Soesa, Sides to keep in time, With Their Hands on their other and Clapping one Foot.' 97 This competitive dance When each with Pleasure throws out having kill'd Some of could dangerous and, "the Violent Exercise get authorities had forbidden it. Such bans, ofcourse, the Negroes," the local ordinances that attempted to didn't seem to have much effect: the same 1750. 56 dancing had been on the books since at least the stop Stedman also became fascinated with Intrigued by the dances, he had focused at first on musical instruments oft the enslaved. Though turned his attention to the instruments the Loango dancing, he ultimately "Instruments of Sound," he of"the other nations in General." These "All made by themadmitted, were "not a Little in Genious" and were and described and named several of these instruments, selves." Stedman that provided images of all his book was accompanied by an engraving ofthe African Negroes." 97 It oft them under the title "Musical Instruments with Intrigued by the dances, he had focused at first on musical instruments oft the enslaved. Though turned his attention to the instruments the Loango dancing, he ultimately "Instruments of Sound," he of"the other nations in General." These "All made by themadmitted, were "not a Little in Genious" and were and described and named several of these instruments, selves." Stedman that provided images of all his book was accompanied by an engraving ofthe African Negroes." 97 It oft them under the title "Musical Instruments --- Page 91 --- The First African Instrument PL XXXTII. Tarsfia Faus Jnutruments de Munigue das Alepres - John Gabriel Stedman, Voyage a Surinam, et dans lintérieur de la Guiane, translated by P. F. Henry (Paris: Buisson, 1798), plate XXXVIII. Photo courtesy of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Duke University. --- Page 92 --- THE BANJO offering up images and derich archive ofinformation, is an extremely instruments greater than any other scriptions of a variety of Afro-Atlantic document from the eighteenth century. variation of instruments, three were named with some Among these Ansokko bania (number 3 in the engraving) the term bania. There was an Sides like a low Seat, on which are a "Hard board supported on both struck with two Small Small blocks ofDifferent Sises, which being placed different Sounds that are not at All disagreeSticks like a Dulcimar gives instrument similar to and the engraving show an able.' This description instrument made with wooden slats, a balafon, or bala-a xylophone-like instrument in the Sundiata of the kind celebrated as the original griot stretched longthis version ofthe instrument, the wooden pieces epic. In carved with a cross-hatching wise along the frame and were seemingly the sticks. There was a series of squares to be struck by pattern to create bania (number 10 in the engraving), another instrument, called a Loango board on curious": it was a "Dry which Stedman found "exceedingly Transverse Bar, a different Sized Elawhich are Laced, & keept Closs by a that both ends are elestick Slinders of the Palm tree, in Such a manner them," 27 all ofit placed other Transverse Bars that are Fix'd under vated by the Sound." It was played like this: over"al large empty Gourd to promote the Fingers, Something in "the extremities of the Splinders are snapt by and Forto & have the same effect." The description the manner of piano the mbira, or thumb illustration show an instrument that is essentially and ritual which is still built in a similar way in both recreational piano, Africa and often played within a gourd resonator. contexts in Central has "the power to comfort and In the Shona culture, this instrument ancestral spirits "_ qualities its players, with deep associations to the protect useful in the midst of plantation that would have made it particularly Suriname. 58 the engraving) whose name inThe final instrument (number 15 in called the Creole bania. It was "like a Mandoline cluded bania was simply Covered With a Sheep-Skin, to Which or Guitar, being made ofa Gourd "has 7 The instrument, he added, is Fixed a Verry Long Neck or Handle. thick and Serves for bace; but 4 strings, 3 Long, and one Short. Which is Sound more SO when by the Fingers, and has a Verry Agreeable it is play'db 79 Stedman was clearly taken with the instruAccompanied with a Song' Suriname, along with a few and brought one of them back from ment was simply Covered With a Sheep-Skin, to Which or Guitar, being made ofa Gourd "has 7 The instrument, he added, is Fixed a Verry Long Neck or Handle. thick and Serves for bace; but 4 strings, 3 Long, and one Short. Which is Sound more SO when by the Fingers, and has a Verry Agreeable it is play'db 79 Stedman was clearly taken with the instruAccompanied with a Song' Suriname, along with a few and brought one of them back from ment --- Page 93 --- 83 The First African Instrument Over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth other instruments. various collections and ulticenturies, the object made its way through 1970s, the anthropolin Amsterdam. In the mately to the Rijksmuseum down this instrument, Richard and Sally Price were able to track the ogists and placed in the Asian wing. Though though it was miscataloged it is still in strikingly good coninstrument has some damage on its neck, years after Stedman's Creole bania, probably built some eighty dition. Sloane in Jamaica, is, as Richard and Sally the instrument collected by the oldest AfroPrice noted at the time oftheir find, "(to our knowledge) and serves as a fine example American banjo still in existence anywhere, and used from the 17th instruments that were made ofthe four-stringed >59 Afro-Americans throughout the Hemisphere:' century by itselflooks different than the one portrayed The actual instrument four and a which has five strings going to just pegs in the engraving, rounded. Still, the basic structure is there: gourd that is more oblong than is covered with a is constructed with a gourd resonator, the instrument through the gourd to which the skin head, and has a spike neck that goes instrument and the attached on both ends. Both the collected strings are show the detail of one short string on the top of engraving, importantly, feature ofmost banjos the neck. This short string would remain a defining similar to that day. It allows and invites a style of playing until the present African lutes like the akonting and ngoni, used by musicians playing West tuned to a higher note than where the thumb plucks that string usually interwoven create a complex rhythmic pattern the other strings-to with the other notes. construction is its name, which As interesting as the instrument's in Suriname at least, volumes: Creole bania. The term bania was, such speaks different instruments, Aexible enough to be applied to extremely that on some bania and the Loango bania. This suggests as the Ansokko instrument" or perhaps "an instrulevel that term simply meant "musical were associated, 99 But the other two instruments ment to which we dance." ethnicities. The stringed inthrough their names, with particular African the use ofthe term Creole. strument was set apart by other instruments observed by The word Creole was also applied to "Hollow Tree open "Great Creole Drum" made ofa Stedman, including a Skin, on Which they end and Covered on the Other with a Sheep at one with the palm oftheir Hands" in combination Sit Astride & So beat time instrulevel that term simply meant "musical were associated, 99 But the other two instruments ment to which we dance." ethnicities. The stringed inthrough their names, with particular African the use ofthe term Creole. strument was set apart by other instruments observed by The word Creole was also applied to "Hollow Tree open "Great Creole Drum" made ofa Stedman, including a Skin, on Which they end and Covered on the Other with a Sheep at one with the palm oftheir Hands" in combination Sit Astride & So beat time --- Page 94 --- THE BANJO with other percussion instruments. In this used by itself, presumably in the case, though, the term was classic the Americas," 93 rather than sense of Creole as in "born in double African. The Creole bania, name, pointing in two directions though, had a ment as part ofa a family ofbania at once. It marked the instruthat included with clear, deep links to West and very different instruments But it was tagged with Central African musical traditions. a slight difference: it was related family, but it was born in America. The to its African a Creole child born of African name suggests the instrument is parents, one that maintains parents but acknowledges its New World links with its We can catch a roots at the same time. 60 glimpse ofthe kind ofmusical ably gave rise to this naming encounters that probdecades later in the practice in a document produced a few same area. By 1828 Dutch Suriname British colony of Berbice, and the had become the particularly colonial administration had involved in disputes on become the treatment of slaves. One plantations and issues surrounding on July 4th ofthat administrator visited a Berbice year and heard a complaint from plantation The manager explained that a slave named one ofthe managers. watch over the irrigation works Hero, whose job it was to his at night to prevent an post one night. While he was overflow, had left expected rise in the tide; and gone, the water rose because of an unas a result, the water through his neglect.' >9 When plantation ended up "under nation: he had questioned, Hero offered this explagotten hungry, and with "came home to the Negro houses nothing to eat with him, he The cooking took and put plantains in the fire to > a little time, and "in order not roast." fireside," he decided to to fall asleep at the administrator play some music and took out his "bandja." 99 hearing the case added in parenthesis that this (The instrument.") On it, he "played his was a "Congo African homeland. country tunes"-songs from his Though it was the middle ofthe morning, the report specified-he night-two in the soon had being charmed by the music, company. "The Creoles "not the least intention got up and danced." 37 Hero said that he had yard." But, he ofmaking. a dance or any illegal noise in the suggested, once things got started he negro choice but to offer music to those around really didn't have a convinced the administrator. him on the plantation. His story The plantation vouched that Hero had an "excellent manager, furthermore, ment for his character." He received no punish- "transgression," unlike several other slaves investigated at the music, company. "The Creoles "not the least intention got up and danced." 37 Hero said that he had yard." But, he ofmaking. a dance or any illegal noise in the suggested, once things got started he negro choice but to offer music to those around really didn't have a convinced the administrator. him on the plantation. His story The plantation vouched that Hero had an "excellent manager, furthermore, ment for his character." He received no punish- "transgression," unlike several other slaves investigated at --- Page 95 --- 85 1 The First African Instrument whipped for various infractions described the same time, who were he should "never again disin the same report. But he did get a warning: music. >61 hours with his turb the gang at such unreasonable have been on others that must repeated In this scene, as in many through the throughout the region from the seventeenth plantations serves as an instrument of coalition. nineteenth centuries, the bandja man. drawn to the music played by an African-born The Creoles are work ignored, That the result is a disaster for the plantation-awigned for the ways in fields flooded-can stand as a kind of metaphor the could be seen as, and at which these moments of respite and solidarity times could be, a threat to the slave system itself. of of the banjo was the result of the accumulation The emergence those choices were consissuch choices. By the late eighteenth century, that they could across time and space, and known enough, tent enough instrument itself-in its shape, construction, be condensed both in the rather than by any deand sound-and in a name that, by accumulation in different be Though spelled differently cree, had come to accepted. similar when spoken: bandja, places and languages, it probably sounded summarized or conbanjo. What it meant could not be easily banza, clear to those who spoke the densed. Still, the meaning was increasingly sound out. heard it said, and gathered to hear the instrument name, the term banjo was common enough By the late eighteenth century, Sierra Leone, in West Africa, to to be used by three British travelers to wrote that while the describe instruments they saw there., John Matthews of instrument, 97 he also knew of"two kinds drum was the "principal and is the same as the bangou instruments";" "one is a sort ofguitar, string other is in the form ofa Welsh harp, but not above in the West Indies; the ofthe fibres of a plant and the hair of two feet long: the strings are made from Granville Town tail." Alexander Falconbridge, writing an elephant's "Sometimes I have seen an instrument resembling in June 1791 noted: which is Similarly, in an the country name of bangeon." our guitar, ofSierra Leone written in the late 1790s, account ofthe "native Africans" of the "banja or merrywang, Thomas Winterbottom noted the presence by the called lin the West Indies" as one ofthe instruments played as it is observers might simply have been giving an residents ofthe area. These instrument. But it is also possible that the American name to an African form, had already begun the instrument itself, in its new name or even 1 noted: which is Similarly, in an the country name of bangeon." our guitar, ofSierra Leone written in the late 1790s, account ofthe "native Africans" of the "banja or merrywang, Thomas Winterbottom noted the presence by the called lin the West Indies" as one ofthe instruments played as it is observers might simply have been giving an residents ofthe area. These instrument. But it is also possible that the American name to an African form, had already begun the instrument itself, in its new name or even --- Page 96 --- THE BANJO and the meaning it had gained its journey back to Africa. The powers allow it to bring solace to ofexile would, in time, out of the experience resonated with the strange, humming inmany others whose experience strument from across the waters. 62 * the banjo also found its way into literary By the late eighteenth century, Davis, who spent four years travworks. It was the British traveler John and 1802, who seems to eling in the young United States between 1798 In his "Memoir been the first to make the banjo a characterin: a story. have ?) which he dedicated to Thomas of My Life in the Woods of Virginia, 17 Though presented the of"Dick the Negro." Jefferson, he included story it is in effect a short story. form as part of this memoir, in unassuming a satire meant to play with and respond Davis's work was in many ways States and about slavery. (He travel accounts about the United to previous differences between his writing and introduced his work by listing the ofhis dinner, whether ofother travel writers: he made "no mention those hot or cold"; never complained about it was fish or flesh, boiled or roasted, reader with mosquitoes, fleas, "the imagination of the his bed or filled and included no drawings of"old casbugs, and other nocturnal pests"; which had been "abandoned by tles, old churches," and other structures Dick-which he claims But his account of the life of their possessors.") and places in quotation he heard directly from the slave in question in which of a new and long-lived trope marks-was an early example ofthe banjo an evocation the condition ofthe slave was depicted through and its music. 63 a one for music, As Dick explained it: "My young master was mighty Davis the 97 (The instrument, and he made me learn to play Banger." "I could soon tune it explained in a note, was "a kind ofrude guitar.") and the night he would set me to play, sweetly, and of a moonlight himselfcould shake a desperate foot wenches to dance. My young master that could face "there was nobody at the fiddle, ? Dick added, and indeed but the slave used Minuet.' ?9 This musical master was killed, him at a Congo woman on the plantation: "By the his banjo playing to WoO a young and sing a Guinea banger under her window, moonlight I used to play my >764 Lovesong that my mother had taught me. night he would set me to play, sweetly, and of a moonlight himselfcould shake a desperate foot wenches to dance. My young master that could face "there was nobody at the fiddle, ? Dick added, and indeed but the slave used Minuet.' ?9 This musical master was killed, him at a Congo woman on the plantation: "By the his banjo playing to WoO a young and sing a Guinea banger under her window, moonlight I used to play my >764 Lovesong that my mother had taught me. --- Page 97 --- 87 1 The First African Instrument of the slave With all its fanciful elements, Davis's "autobiography" deal about the place of the banjo in late eighteenthDick hints a great to read the story is as a slightly rocentury North America. One way ofwhat Dick in fact told manced, but still relatively accurate, transmission then there are a number of John Davis about his life. Ift this is the case, ofa white about the account. First, there is the interest important details the banjo. Why didn't the master master in having a slave learn to play being able to himself? He was clearly musical enough, just learn to play a style known as the Congo hold his own on the fiddle, even playing have been a regular fealabeled "Congo"in fact seem to Minuet. Songs century. Samuel in Virginia by the end ofthe eighteenth ture ofballs ofan enslaved man named Mordecai, for instance, recalled the playing the "the violinist" at dancing Gilliat, who was leading Simon or Cyrus "All sorts of capers were cut" to his parties of the aristocracy of Virginia. as well dance called a "Congo. ?? The master in the story music, including a at the time were clearly open to-even as other slave owners in Virginia that combined African intrigued by-new forms of music particularly At the same time, they seemed to see the banjo and European elements. a slave rather than himself, a in particular as an instrument best played by the early ninethat would shape ideas about the banjo throughout view teenth century.s other sources, it is clear that exchange From Davis's story, as well as white and black musiwere taking place among and cros-fertilization and early nineteenth centuries. But cians at this point in the late eighteenth that he learned ofhow he played a "Guinea Lovesong" Dick's description the instrument continued to from his mother on the banjo also suggests African in that were understood as being distinctly be used to play songs don't hear more- was Dick's mother origin and orientation. Though we reference African born? Was the song sung in an African language2-the is important. read Davis's account, and that is There is, however, another way to ofthe banjo in work of fantasy. In this sense, the presence as primarily a different: a reflection of an expecthe story would mark something quite music and readers that a slave tale, especially one involving tation among Ifthis is the case then the text love, would include some banjo playing. of and early example of the forms representation can be seen as a very for blackface minstrelsy a few that became the foundation storytelling is important. read Davis's account, and that is There is, however, another way to ofthe banjo in work of fantasy. In this sense, the presence as primarily a different: a reflection of an expecthe story would mark something quite music and readers that a slave tale, especially one involving tation among Ifthis is the case then the text love, would include some banjo playing. of and early example of the forms representation can be seen as a very for blackface minstrelsy a few that became the foundation storytelling --- Page 98 --- THE BANJO Davis's text is probably best read as some comdecades later. Ultimately, slave's life and a series oflitbination of a refracted reality of a particular took in the text. It is, like forms that influenced the shape the story erary would be about the banjo in subsemany of the sources that produced the history of the instrusimultaneously a window onto quent years, ofits representation. ment and a piece in the history * consolidation was certainly not a simple, one-way process. The banjo's between the instruments described Yet there are striking consistencies the presence of four strings on by Labat, Sloane, and Stedman, notably covered with animal the neck. And all, importantly, had resonators back to the connection to the long and deep tradition going skins-a sound, the hum and buzz of strings vibrating ancient world. That core probably comforting, to many through skin, would have been familiar, the instruments oft the Africans who heard it. And, through that sound, back to the link, a reminder, a way offered something more intangible-a - -stand in for an That sound could-at least for a moment old country. individual origin and, absent Africa, a place that existed as a very specific and more collective point of reference. increasingly, as a broader meaning of the banjoTo write the history of the cumulative and through the repeated practice of performance, meaning constituted difficult, even quixotic, task. But through sound itself-is a particularly have unhow this process might we can find a guide to understanding instrument invented in the folded in a later musical story: that ofanother in Africa: the gumbe which ultimately found its true home Caribbean, and analyzed the history of drum. Kenneth Bilby has pieced together Drum.' This storyi is"a instrument, which he dubs "Africa's Creole this cultural reinvention, and creolizatransatlantic story of displacement, but in reverse. It is the story tion." It is, in a way, the story ofthe banjo, structure and sound, Caribbean instrument with a very particular ofhowa back to Africa and developed by the Maroons of Jamaica, journeyed throughout there, in time, became a popular and widespread instrument much ofthe continent. 66 hundred Maroons from six In October of 1800, approximately British ship. They had arrived on the shores ofSierra Leone on a Jamaica izatransatlantic story of displacement, but in reverse. It is the story tion." It is, in a way, the story ofthe banjo, structure and sound, Caribbean instrument with a very particular ofhowa back to Africa and developed by the Maroons of Jamaica, journeyed throughout there, in time, became a popular and widespread instrument much ofthe continent. 66 hundred Maroons from six In October of 1800, approximately British ship. They had arrived on the shores ofSierra Leone on a Jamaica --- Page 99 --- 89 The First African Instrument in a revolt in from their home island after participating been deported Nova Scotia. After four years there, during 1796 and were first settled in and demanded another vociferously protested their situation which they the nascent British colony, which home, they were ultimately brought to of African descent from had been set up1 in 1787 as a home for free people over several developed England. They brought a set ofcultural practices and established free since their ancestors had escaped slavery generations, ofJamaica in the late seventeenth century, communities in the mountains their liberty. "Among the colonial government to acknowledge ofa a forcing with them," 79 writes Bilby, was the knowledge the things they carried unusual square frame drum distinctive type of musical instrument-an with four legs." >67 back only to the late eighThe earliest traces of the instrument go which the As with the banjo, the precise process through teenth century. sources of inspiration that the and the precise gumbe was developed difficult to document. But the reMaroons who created it drew on are "a stool with four kind of drum: it resembled sult was a very particular attached with "an unusual tuning mechlegs," and featured a drum skin wedges against skin of an inner frame driven by anism, consisting the Maroon outer frame." >7 The drum was played within stretched over an featured in the "John Canoe" or "Junkcommunities ofJamaic, but also in an 1837 celebrations: one of them, for instance, was captured anoo" made by the artist Belisario in Jamaica." image the prothe ofthe gumbe as a way ofunderstanding Bilby sees story social and "a cultural pheof creolization as both a "Auid process" cess always entails some degree of nomenon that, in order to be meaningful, in pasts." 2 The gumbe traveled successfully continuity with multiple circumstances there in the early Africa in part because it encountered those which had taken nineteenth century that were very similar to and Caribbean beginning in the seventeenth shape in the plantation abolished the slave trade in 1808, eighteenth centuries. The British off West Africa and and their navy ships were patrolling the waters "liberated Afrivessels. Those on board, known as captured slaving Sierra Leone. A German missionary doccans, were often resettled in the 1850s among these 160 languages and 40 dialects in early umented from all over Africa and as far away as communities. They had come culture," music once In this new"crucible of creolizing Mozambique. the slave trade in 1808, eighteenth centuries. The British off West Africa and and their navy ships were patrolling the waters "liberated Afrivessels. Those on board, known as captured slaving Sierra Leone. A German missionary doccans, were often resettled in the 1850s among these 160 languages and 40 dialects in early umented from all over Africa and as far away as communities. They had come culture," music once In this new"crucible of creolizing Mozambique. --- Page 100 --- THE BANJO connection and solidarity in the midst again became a way of creating oftremendous cultural diversity" musical and symoffered in this context was both What the gumbe Maroon culture of Jamaica enabled bolic. Its development within the tied specifically to any African in a general sense without being it to be culture. Music that was "closely idenparticular African ethnic musical Bilby, would have been tified" with one or another ethnicity, argues and musical differ- "divisive" and possibly served to highlight "linguistic because the boundaries between groups. But gumbe ences" and maintain group, "it excluded no wasn't perceived as belonging to any particular offered "remained idenone." At the same time, the drum and the beats it from all 'African' in a broad aesthetic sense. People tifiably and palpably in Sierra Leone would have the varied ethnic groups brought together music. This made it appealing "heard and felt" something familiar in the displaced African population" of "bewildering among "an uprooted, ethnic and linguistic diversity." Africa the banjo had already done What the gumbe drum did in West who it in the Caribbean. The musicians played for at least a century and constant movement posed by needed to respond to the dislocation life. To be able to join of the slave trade and plantation the experience for enslaved audiences, musicians circulating into or lead performances needed something that could travel, in Jamaica, Martinique, or Suriname boundaries that constituted recognizable across the cultural something found that in the banjo. plantation world. Over time, they the Caribbean heard by Taylor catch of a few of these musicians-those We glimpses in the seventeenth cenand Sloane in Jamaica, by Labat in Martinique such as that ofHero Every once in a while, we catch their names, in the tury. Suriname. These few who left traces in early ninetenth-century many more whose accumuwritten archive have to stand in for many, reside in the banjo and lated talent and imagination ultimately came to its music. hum ofstrings over The banjo offered a deep, sonic experience-thel African-born would have felt familiar to many the drumhead-that of a flat neck and four strings listeners. At the same time, the presence and strum strings, to the ability to hit and pinch offered some flexibility, scales and rhythms, SO that a musitune them and play them in different needed in certain circumcian could absorb, adapt, and offer what was to stand in for many, reside in the banjo and lated talent and imagination ultimately came to its music. hum ofstrings over The banjo offered a deep, sonic experience-thel African-born would have felt familiar to many the drumhead-that of a flat neck and four strings listeners. At the same time, the presence and strum strings, to the ability to hit and pinch offered some flexibility, scales and rhythms, SO that a musitune them and play them in different needed in certain circumcian could absorb, adapt, and offer what was --- Page 101 --- 91 I The First African Instrument stances. That combination of a rooted and familiar hum with a flexible range gave the instrument its power, one that was felt and acknowledged by an ever-accelerating and growing community of musicians and audiences. There must have been many failures in the process: musicians who played a song no one recognized, a dance that began but faltered. There must have been instruments built that didn't sound right, two players sitting together who couldn't figure out how to tune their strings SO that melody rather than dissonance would emerge. There must have been frustrations, but also bits of laughter too. And then, many experiments, here and there, the sound must have come together. The strings and the hum oft the resonator, a song-a familiar one, or perhaps a new one-all just right, as ifit had always been there, taking off, to the sound of an instrument that had built itselfa home. There, at the crossroads, the banjo was both old and new, African and American, taking the listeners back and propelling them forward. That is why the banjo was the first truly "African" instrument. Before its appearance in the Caribbean, there had never been any: instrument that connected so many different African musical traditions, stretching from West to Central Africa. It was in the Americas, in the midst ofexile, that people came to need a collective concept of Africa and a sound to accompany and consolidate that concept. In time, Caribbean populations explicitly recognized the banjo as African. An 1844 description of post-emancipation Antigua noted that although many ex-slaves enjoyed dancing to "quadrilles" as well as to "country dances and reels," Africans were "content with their own native music of the Bangoe and Tum-Tum. 99 And when Lafcadio Hearn traveled to Martinique in the late nineteenth century, he recalled Jean-Baptiste Labat's description ofthe banza in the seventeenth century and added: "The tradition of this African instrument is said to survive in the modern banza' (banza nèg Guinée the banjo of the blacks from Africa.' >71 noted that although many ex-slaves enjoyed dancing to "quadrilles" as well as to "country dances and reels," Africans were "content with their own native music of the Bangoe and Tum-Tum. 99 And when Lafcadio Hearn traveled to Martinique in the late nineteenth century, he recalled Jean-Baptiste Labat's description ofthe banza in the seventeenth century and added: "The tradition of this African instrument is said to survive in the modern banza' (banza nèg Guinée the banjo of the blacks from Africa.' >71 --- Page 102 --- --- Page 103 --- Three Leaves APPROACHING THE EDGE ofNew Orleans, his back to the Mississippi, Henry Latrobe heard noise. Or was it music? Latrobe was a British architect who had moved to the United States in 1796. He designed and oversaw the construction of the U.S. Capitol and then, after his countrymen burned it in 1812, spent several years rebuilding it. When he traveled to New Orleans in 1819, the city had been part ofthe United States for sixteen years. But he was struck by the continuing presence of French culture: the local boats flying the Republican tricolor flag, as well as the books in French and English for sale along the levee alongside a mouthwatering assortment of"wild ducks, oysters. bananas, piles of oranges, sugar cane, sweet & Irish potatoes" and "some excellent & large fish.' 77 He strolled one Sunday to a spot known for its music and dance. "In going up St. Peters Street & the approaching Common,' he wrote in his diary, "I heard a most extraordinary noise, which I supposed to proceed from some horse mill, the horses tramping on a wooden floor. I found, however, on emerging from the houses onto the Common, that it proceeded from a crowd of5 or 600 persons assembled in an open space or public square. >1 --- Page 104 --- THE BANJO & crowded near enough to see the perforI went to the spot in the business seemed to mance. All those who were engaged were be blacks. I did not observe a dozen yellow faces. They [sic] in the midst of four of which, formed into circular groupes was a ring, which I examined (but there were more ofthem), 10 feet in diameter. In the first were two women the largest not handkerchiefe extended by the dancing. They held each a coarse dull & in their hands, & set to each other in a miserably corners their feet or their bodies. The slow figure, hardly moving instrument. An music consisted oft two drums and a stringed drum about a foot in old man sat astride of a cylindrical with the edge of diameter, & beat it with incredible quickness The other drum was an open staved thing his hand & fingers. in the same manner. They held between the knees & beaten noise. 2 made an incredible the assembly of negroes" left The experience of"stumbling upon savage, and "I have never seen anything more brutally Latrobe disgusted: this whole exhibition." 3 He described at the same time dull & stupid, than which I suppose was "an uncouth song to the dancing how a man sung & the women screamed African language, for it was not French, in some It all made his ears hurt: he burthen on one single note." a detestable after the "noise," 77 he complained, a mile away, though could still hear reassured to learn "that these weekly meetasking around he was at least mischief" ings oft the negroes") had never "produced any for a long time in New The dances Latrobe saw had been going on detail about among the first to write in some Orleans, though he was earlier travelers, who arrived them. That was partly because for many would have been SO familiar in the city from the Caribbean, such dances of them. Congo Square that there was no reason to make special note in 1758 and rebuilt in the site of a French fort built itself was originally meant to protect the town 1792 by the Spanish as part of the ramparts but the Ameriinvasion. In the end it wasn't the English from English removed most ofthe fort. In 1812, the cans who came, and in 1805 they on common, 7 dubbed simply "Place Publique" site was made a "public named Signore Gaetana set Around 1816 a Cuban entrepreneur maps. an exhibit of African aniCircus" on the site, featuring up a "Congo built itself was originally meant to protect the town 1792 by the Spanish as part of the ramparts but the Ameriinvasion. In the end it wasn't the English from English removed most ofthe fort. In 1812, the cans who came, and in 1805 they on common, 7 dubbed simply "Place Publique" site was made a "public named Signore Gaetana set Around 1816 a Cuban entrepreneur maps. an exhibit of African aniCircus" on the site, featuring up a "Congo --- Page 105 --- Three Leaves that, rather than the African dances mals, including a giraffe. It was from its unofficial name." 4 there, that the site probably first got performed became famous, indeed sacralized: it is someIn time Congo Square and even of American dance. times described as the birthplace ofjazz, with the fact that, unlike as a symbol has to do in part Its importance countless sites where music was cultivated-"the many other dispersed barrooms, and nightclubs in black-town kitchens, garages, backyards, St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago and Harlem"-Congo New Orleans, documentable history as a public Square has a long, deep, and relatively but rather took its It was never laid out as a formal public square, space. "gradually and informally out of particularly shape as a cultural space like those of the AfroThat history, New Orleanian circumstances." kind of triumph, the story of Atlantic spaces of gathering, represents a the misunderstood the disallowed and even outlawed, how the informal, its own sonic space. As Ned and maligned, all came to find and occupy the drums were a Sublette notes, this was a place of"sonic marronage: >5 slaves could escape, if only for a few hours." way object in the crowd caught The day when Latrobe visited, a peculiar instrument." 99 He was struck by its construction his eye: a "most curious was the rude figure ofa man and decoration: "On top ofthe fingerboard which the strings were & two pegs behind him to in a sitting posture, It was in the hands of"a very little fastened. The body was a calabash." his visit to 80 or 90 years old." As he documented old man, apparently his pen and make a sketch. Latrobe was moved to pick up Congo Square, the of New Orleans, Latrobe had There at the crossroads, on edge that had hummed and come across a version of an American instrument America for over a throughout the Caribbean and North strummed instrument struck him as mysterious and century: the banjo. But the instrument which no doubt unfamiliar. He described it as "a stringed of America from Africa," viewing it not SO much as part was imported relic within its midst. But what but rather as a strange and disturbing well-known and import was, in fact, already Latrobe saw as a strange an instrument with more widespread within Afro-Atlantic communities, Though it was built in many than a century ofl history in the Caribbean. under various names, different hands, and still went places and by many instrument, quite at home and recognizable it was an established, unique, there at the square in New Orleans. --- Page 106 --- THE BANJO tpica A2A 6 ioand cac tud a d Mau mna A ahue, Klve hee e4 he Fie Lene a a ea as kht 4 Cean e a C iomen fa C incic cotheenes a cerd. * a A3 Latrobe Journal IV, February 21, 1819. Manuscript. Benjamin Latrobe Collection. Courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society. Banjos themselves, drawn, painted, and in one slightly miraculous case, actually preserved for centuries, can tell their own stories and those of the enslaved people who made and played them. From these fragments in visual art and observers' accounts, we can construct the outlines ofa mosaic that reveals the banjo as a way not just for the enslaved to gather with one another, across ethnic lines, but also to connect with ancestors and gods. As the first African instrument, its role was not just 21, 1819. Manuscript. Benjamin Latrobe Collection. Courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society. Banjos themselves, drawn, painted, and in one slightly miraculous case, actually preserved for centuries, can tell their own stories and those of the enslaved people who made and played them. From these fragments in visual art and observers' accounts, we can construct the outlines ofa mosaic that reveals the banjo as a way not just for the enslaved to gather with one another, across ethnic lines, but also to connect with ancestors and gods. As the first African instrument, its role was not just --- Page 107 --- Three Leaves funerary rites and wakes, sonic but also spiritual. Its sound accompanied it roles not just as performers and the musicians who played occupied spiritual power. The individuals who convoked and channeled but as decorated with the symbol of a cross, was a instrument, sometimes and between Africa and crossroads between the living and the dead, America. * disembarked in Haiti. In 1841, the French abolitionist Victor Schoelcher which had won its indeHe wanted to see for himselfhow the country, and culture from France in 1804, was building a new society pendence He traveled through the countryon the ashes of a brutal slave system. plantations was now side, seeing how a place once covered with profitable children. He met with a full of small farms held by ex-slaves and their farmers. He met to create a cooperative for local young activist trying with the central government: in Portmany citizens who were very angry Boyer, who two years au-Prince, then led by the authoritarian president And, at one would be overthrown by a mass protest movement. later musician. Though he wrote nothing point, he must have met at least one with him an when he left Haiti he was carrying about the encounter, made, delicately carved instrument he had acquired there: a beautifully banza.? donated the instrument to the A few decades later, Schoelcher This instifounded Museum of the French Music Conservatory. recently French Revolution, was to be both an artution, a project born of the makers: the objects in ofinformation for instrument chive and a source serve as models." 7 The project the museum could "through their perfection that, alongside boosters- -one dreamed of a museum had enthusiastic would celebrate the "sublime those celebrating the sciences and arts, of316 instruments. riches" ofthe art ofi music-and a founding collection of a music conserhowever, was given to the development The priority, instruments were later sold to pay music teachers. vatory, and most ofthe "debris," were burned to keep In 1816, twenty harpsichords, deemed students warm during their classes." vision ofthe muOnly in the nineteenth century was the original Over realized, thanks to the composer Louis Clapisson. seum finally museum had enthusiastic would celebrate the "sublime those celebrating the sciences and arts, of316 instruments. riches" ofthe art ofi music-and a founding collection of a music conserhowever, was given to the development The priority, instruments were later sold to pay music teachers. vatory, and most ofthe "debris," were burned to keep In 1816, twenty harpsichords, deemed students warm during their classes." vision ofthe muOnly in the nineteenth century was the original Over realized, thanks to the composer Louis Clapisson. seum finally --- Page 108 --- THE BANJO gathered a collection of 230 musical his lifetime, he had painstakingly bought from him as the basis instruments, which the French government first director: as his Clapisson was named the museum's for the museum. was therefore spared "the successor Gustave Chouquet put it, Clapisson collecseeing his much-cherished objects. Clapisson's pain" of no longer instruments; but Choution was made up almost entirely of European 1886, the the museum from 1871 to globalized quet, who directed donations from two individuals: the celebrated collection thanks to large and world traveler Victor Indian musician Sourindro Mohun Tagore Schoelcher" collection ofmusical instruments Schoelcher's eclectic and expansive wrote, an exfrom different parts of the world was, as one contemporary "defender of passions. The man was a consistent tension ofhis political ofhonor and liberty." "At the black race" who held "inflexible principles of but 99 he "dined on a plate carrots, once a democrat and an aristocrat, and racial equality silver 99 His commitment to abolitionism on a plate." interest in objects others might have overlooked. led him to see value and the Caribbean, where he During his travels in the 1840s and 1850s to well as Haiti, French colonies ofMartinique and Guadeloupe as visited the of other musical instruments. he collected not just the banza but a number West Africa. In 1871 he instruments when he traveled to He also gathered with others from Egypt, Mexico, and donated all these objects, along later with instruments from Turkey, to the museum, following up described the Algeria and Cambodia. One supercilious contemporary instruments." 19 But collection ofs savage collection as "a very interesting noting that the instruSchoelcher was proud of what he had gathered, never been notable for their "rarity," most of them "having ments were for others who before in Europe' >) His gift became an inspiration seen including many from outside Europe. In had collections ofinstruments, collections found a perthe next decades, instruments from many private from where they received care specialists manent home in the museum, who repaired cracks and broken bows." at the time worked Chouquet and other scholars of musical history European civilizational typology: they considered according to a clearly advanced and sophisticated in the musical instruments to be the most we have reserved world. "In this Museum, Chouquet wrote in 1884, of honor for instruments that are the highest expression the place of many from outside Europe. In had collections ofinstruments, collections found a perthe next decades, instruments from many private from where they received care specialists manent home in the museum, who repaired cracks and broken bows." at the time worked Chouquet and other scholars of musical history European civilizational typology: they considered according to a clearly advanced and sophisticated in the musical instruments to be the most we have reserved world. "In this Museum, Chouquet wrote in 1884, of honor for instruments that are the highest expression the place of --- Page 109 --- 99 Three Leaves instruments of uncivilized nations or modern art, and relegated those the So the to our musical system to background." those that are foreign and by the Indian musician Tagore, instruments donated by Schoelcher, category of within the collection to a kind of generalized were relegated banza from Haiti a bit of In this context, the posed the "non-European. Someonedifficulty. Was it African, or American? an interpretive finessed the problem by writing perhaps Schoelcher, or perhaps Chouquet, the body ofthe the animal skin stretched over gourd an inscription on of an African instrument" that instrument: the banza was an "imitation the "black people ofHaiti." was played by the banza was included in a museum catalog More information about d'Haiti," it read: "This type of produced in 1874. Under the title "Banza form, is mounted with four strings and with a very picturesque guitar, 97 As was common the ofSaine-Domingue in general use among negroes between the name "Saintin texts of the time, there was a slippage "Haiti," the name for Domingue"-that of the old French colony-and born in 1804. But the observation, presumably the independent country this instrument was in "general use"isa gathered from Schoelcher, that in Haiti that Schoelcher, precious one. The banza was common enough across it and colthere for only a brief time, had quickly come who was indigenous instrument. We can lected it because he saw it as a popular of Haiti were making surmise that numerous artisans in different parts and therefore that musicians were playing such instruments in the 1840s, it throughout the countryl and closed its doors. The banzaIn time, the museum foundered instruments-was along with most of the collection of non-European it was taken and in storage. At some point in the process, boxed up put ended in one box, the neck of into two pieces: the gourd resonator apart another. So it sat until 1997, when a French curator the instrument in the created Museum of Bruguière working at newly named Philippe from the old Museum the dusty boxes of instruments Music inherited civilizational typology that had ofthe Music Conservatory. The same and well at the new Museum reigned in the nineteenth century was alive musical instruments and of Music, which primarily showcases European of violins, trumpets, Visitors must travel through lots of rooms traditions. before the exit, in front ofa flutes, and bassoons before they end up, just on and African instruments. Bruguière, a specialist few displays of Asian ère working at newly named Philippe from the old Museum the dusty boxes of instruments Music inherited civilizational typology that had ofthe Music Conservatory. The same and well at the new Museum reigned in the nineteenth century was alive musical instruments and of Music, which primarily showcases European of violins, trumpets, Visitors must travel through lots of rooms traditions. before the exit, in front ofa flutes, and bassoons before they end up, just on and African instruments. Bruguière, a specialist few displays of Asian --- Page 110 --- THE BANJO extensive colwas given the task of going through South Asian music, few to fill this one room. lections he inherited and picking a specimens skin tacked onto it. As he did SO, he came across a gourd with an animal the instruwritten on the skin, the inscription describing He made out, about the curious inscribed gourd ment as a banza. He took some notes sifting through the collection.' and then continued from the old A few months later, in a different box ofinstruments came across the neck of a stringed conservatory museum, Bruguière neck, but it had pegs for just four instrument. It was flat, like a guitar the instrument. But the Three ofthem were at the carved top oft acstrings. further on the neck, placed to fourth peg, for the top string, was up the neck also included commodate a much shorter string. Finely carved, little bit like a face, lightly dug into the wood. It looked a a decoration, Bruguière went to his shelves, found the staring up from the instrument. and realized it had a carved opening gourd he had found months earlier, the two pieces, he held precisely the size ofthe neck. When he reunited he didn't Haitian banza. Though in his hand an early nineteench-century offers details about one that precious know it yet, it was a major discovery, the history and meaning oft the banjo. musical instrument muIn Brussels, at one of the world's greatest an exnamed Saskia Willaert was then putting together seums, a curator about the find and put the banza on display hibit on the banjo. She heard Soon news about the for the first time since the nineteenth century. obsessive, and tight-knit began circulating among the small, discovery research into the early history ofthe banjo. community ofthose pursuing researcher named One oft the visitors to the exhibit was an independent executive who had Swedish telecommunications UlfJagfors, a retired musicians to better understand the oribeen working with West African musician and banjo of the banjo. Alerted to the find by Jagfors, to gins maker named Pete Ross traveled historian Bob Carlin, and a banjo for muand began making exact replicas Europe to see the instrument United States. In March 2005 Jagseums and private collections in the with a replica the history of the banza-along fors and Ross presented held at Appalachian State made by Ross-at the Black Banjo Gathering small stream of pilhas welcomed a University. Since then, Bruguière had long been forced wishing to see in material form what they grims texts and images" to imagine by scrutinizing maker named Pete Ross traveled historian Bob Carlin, and a banjo for muand began making exact replicas Europe to see the instrument United States. In March 2005 Jagseums and private collections in the with a replica the history of the banza-along fors and Ross presented held at Appalachian State made by Ross-at the Black Banjo Gathering small stream of pilhas welcomed a University. Since then, Bruguière had long been forced wishing to see in material form what they grims texts and images" to imagine by scrutinizing --- Page 111 --- 101 Three Leazes Haitian Banza, reproduction by Pete Ross. Photograph by Kristina Gaddy, --- Page 112 --- THE BANJO the curious fact that The discovery of the banza in Paris highlighted States, debanjos have ever surfaced in the United no historical gourd active and large group of banjo collecspite much searching by a very handcrafted and built This is not surprising: these were tors. perhaps ofs slavery it is difficult to preserve around fragile gourds, and in contexts The lack of physical relics such materials from generation to generation. after all, doesn't limitation for scholars ofi music: an image, posed a serious construction of an instrument, its hidden really communicate the precise interior structure, or its sound. thing: on its neck is a face Seeing the Haitian banza is a powerful and North the artisans who, across the Caribbean carved by one of testament to the work ofthose America, created a musical legacy. It is a and animal skins, collected wood and vines, put who grew gourds, dried To hold in one's hands an example them together to make instruments. with-and therefore to render of what they had made is to reconnect inventors of the banjo. In the homage to-the unnamed and unnameable And the instrument passed on to us. banza we have a concrete legacy, ofsound and music that the banza was not, just a source carries a message, but also healing and remembrance. 0 e with the entire economy and By the middle of the eighteenth century, about ofthe Atlantic world based on slavery, questions political structure with increasing persistence and its profits, costs, and morality were posed it was morally justified, ferocity. The problem of slavery-whether it might pose to the very viable, the dangers whether it was economically culture. Observers increasingly social order it enabled-suffused. Atlantic enslaved, in essays and travel and the lives ofthe sought to depict capture and theater. Enlightenment phiwriting as well as in works ofliterature of plantation and Caribbean planters offered written accounts losophers reflections on the musical culture ofthe enlife, many of which included and perspective. Describing slaved and what it said about their condition of the banjo itself, became a way representing plantation music, including what it meant to be a slave. managers were literThe lives of Caribbean planters and plantation and sold that human beings could be bought ally built on the principle the lives ofthe sought to depict capture and theater. Enlightenment phiwriting as well as in works ofliterature of plantation and Caribbean planters offered written accounts losophers reflections on the musical culture ofthe enlife, many of which included and perspective. Describing slaved and what it said about their condition of the banjo itself, became a way representing plantation music, including what it meant to be a slave. managers were literThe lives of Caribbean planters and plantation and sold that human beings could be bought ally built on the principle --- Page 113 --- 103 Three Leaves calculations, justified a plantation system in as objects, and that economic rather than being treated which slaves were worked to death and replaced is the most that helped them survive. Music, however, perhaps in a way authors who recognized and listened to the human of Texpressions. Those to confront the deep conof the enslaved were forced, in a sense, songs of song and dance were tradictions of slavery. And though depictions and difference, sometimes used to buttress arguments ofracial superiority racist and hostile observers who encountered very often even openly of what they saw and music left behind rounded and complex portraits heard. written about sugarcane- a kind of agriculIn a lengthy 1764 poem who had left England in 1759 to tural manual in verse- Thomas Grainger, recommended become the manager of a plantation in St. Christopher, "On festal days; or that slaves be allowed to enjoy the music ofthe banjo. the choral dance, / work is done; / Permit the slaves to lead when their sound." In one ofthe many footnotes To the wild banshaw's melancholy that the banshaw was "A sort that accompanied his poem, he explained invented by the Negroes" that "produces a wild pleasing of rude guitar, described the intricate dancing that would melancholy sound." He to the sound, head, feet, accompany the music ofthe banjo: "Responsive A thousand tuneful and frame / Move awkwardly harmonious. limbs." He suggested the banjo intricacies weave, / Shaking their sable thou the drum their mirth was safer than other instruments. "But tlet not might be "nor vinous spirits," or they inspire, ?7 he warned slave masters, frenzy dare?) / Fell acts "to madness fir'd, / (What will not bacchanalian ?' For Grainger, the banjo's pleasing ofblood, and vengeance they pursue." by alcohol, incited sounds allowed release; the drum, accompanied revolt.5 born in Jamaica into a well-established family William Beckford was but in 1774 returned to the isof planters. He was educated in England fond several plantations. "They are extremely land and began to manage them for of music and dancing,' 79 he wrote of the slaves, complimenting and time." " He ears" and preserving "the most perfect tune having "good of disdain for them: when he began his list nevertheless reserved plenty they instruments," 19 he quickly added a caveat: "ifsuch oftheir "musical that he claimed was be called." He listed "a kind of Spanish guitar, of may another explanation for the origin called a "bonjour. Providing yet several plantations. "They are extremely land and began to manage them for of music and dancing,' 79 he wrote of the slaves, complimenting and time." " He ears" and preserving "the most perfect tune having "good of disdain for them: when he began his list nevertheless reserved plenty they instruments," 19 he quickly added a caveat: "ifsuch oftheir "musical that he claimed was be called." He listed "a kind of Spanish guitar, of may another explanation for the origin called a "bonjour. Providing yet --- Page 114 --- THE BANJO he suggested it might have been "originally taken" the name "banjo," have found their wayby corruption among from "a French word, as many including "a >9 It was accompanied by other instruments, the negroes. with their hands; a drum; a box filled with gomba, which they strike their wrists; and, to close the account, pebbles, which they shake with a harsh and disagreethe jaw-bone of an animal, from which is produced his readers sound. " Beckford was not a fan ofthe result, and assumed able be easily be imagined, when these all would share his distaste: "It may of voices, and are accompanied by a number together join in a chorus, and fill the ear. >16 what kind of music must assail, Beckford ofthe occasions during which such music was played, One burials, which he described as their 'principal fesnoted, was after slave which the body was accompativals." >9 After an elaborate burial, during face of was set aside, and "the nied to the grave "with a song, mourning "The instruments resound, sorrow becomes at once the emblem ofjoy." and the night rethe dancers are prepared; the day sets in cheerfulness, slave life 97 Beckford's account of sounds with the chorus of contentment.' was not all that bad. intent: to make it seem that slavery had one major and "contentment". ofthe slaves are And SO his descriptions oft the "joy" ofthe instruments, and ofthe certainly overdrawn. But his identification between life and role they played in accompanying the passage inimportant spiritual role that such instruments, death, suggests the important cluding the banjo, played in many slave communities.? in the same observers oflife in the British West Indies writing Other ofthe banjo, usually with a similarintent. period also noted the presence he visited. As with One visitor described a ring dance on a plantation his account combined a certain sympathy many other white observers, "The music of these poor creatures has a with a heavy dose of disdain. Though "none oftheir wildness that finds its way to the heart," he wrote. without the instruments could produce any very pleasing effect, rude when they were supported by singing, "the assistance of their voices," mirth and alacrity' >18 Banjaw, the Goombay, the Jawbone, inspire in music. In his of slavery, however, found a weapon Opponents and the slave trade, Thomas Clarkson legendary 1788 attack on slavery idea that the music and dancing of condemned the increasingly common fact content with their enslaved demonstrated that they were in quite the he noted, argued that the enslaved were condition. Proslavery writers, rude when they were supported by singing, "the assistance of their voices," mirth and alacrity' >18 Banjaw, the Goombay, the Jawbone, inspire in music. In his of slavery, however, found a weapon Opponents and the slave trade, Thomas Clarkson legendary 1788 attack on slavery idea that the music and dancing of condemned the increasingly common fact content with their enslaved demonstrated that they were in quite the he noted, argued that the enslaved were condition. Proslavery writers, --- Page 115 --- 105 Three Leaves pointing to their moments ofleisure during happier than English peasants, that their life was "a scene offestivity "holy-days" and "dances" to argue than they had been in and mirth" in which they were much happier The small plots of Such claims, Clarkson insisted, were absurd. Africa. their masters were not, as defenders of slavery land ceded to them by of amusement in which seemed to imagine, made for flowers" or "places 99 They their time in botanical researches and delights." they can spend long days working in the fields, were a place where, after having spent because ofthe "deenslaved to produce food for themselves the struggled by masters. The "holy days" during ficiency" of the provisions supplied Clarkson, meant only that they which they were allowed to rest, seethed from the fields, while weeks of the year away had one out of fifty-two off, and therefore had "one even a horse in England was given Sundays day in seven to refresh his limbs. >19 stress has dances, on which such a particular "With respect to their had once again been laid," Clarkson went on, people been generally writers made it sound as if the en- "shamefully deceived." Proslavery hours allowed them for the purpose slaved were generously given "certain comfort and convenience" ofjoining the dance" and were given "every left for dances was "the in order to do SO. In fact, ofcourse, the only time the of"any them for And the dances were not sign time allotted to sleep." 9 but rather of"an uncommon depression uncommon degree ofhappiness," "even sacrifice their rest, for the of the spirits, ' which drove the slaves to oblivion oftheir cares." sake of experiencing for a moment a more joyful for Clarkson, enslaved danced after grueling days of work was, That the the ofthe slavery,20 proof of their desperate desire to escape brutality just presenting himselfas a "gentleman The next year Gilbert Francklyn, He remarked that ifthe enslaved in Jamaica, 7 sought to refute Clarkson. caused by overwork, it would really suffered from "insupportable fatigue" miles, after their work, to a be impossible for them to "travel several the all night, and (which they must do) traveling dance," then 'dancing six o'clock in the morning." ) Clearly, same number of miles back again, by Clarkson, furthermore, suggested, they couldn't be that tired. Francklyn that they did want to return to their native offered no actual proof that could "dance there land-and ifthey did, he wrote, it was only SO they other labour than without interruption" and "live without any for ever, this." >21 a be impossible for them to "travel several the all night, and (which they must do) traveling dance," then 'dancing six o'clock in the morning." ) Clearly, same number of miles back again, by Clarkson, furthermore, suggested, they couldn't be that tired. Francklyn that they did want to return to their native offered no actual proof that could "dance there land-and ifthey did, he wrote, it was only SO they other labour than without interruption" and "live without any for ever, this." >21 --- Page 116 --- THE BANJO United States during the same period also sought Writings about the and attitudes of the enslaved. to use the banjo to interpret the condition details about the difficult life A 1784 account by a British man included the author wrote, slaves." 99 After a grueling day oflabor, ofthe "poor negro might be concluded he would be "instead of retiring to rest, as naturally and walks six or seven miles glad to do, he generally sets out from home, dance." 99 There, he the be the weather ever SO sultry, to a negroe in night, and the most vigorous exertions, "performs with astonishing agility, with the music of a banjor (a keeping time and cadence, most exactly, reinstrument with three strings), and a quaqua (somewhat large hollow had time to return home before it was sembling a drum)," and barely the Philadelwork the next morning. More laconically, time to again of a 1787 trip to North merchant William Attmore, in a journal phia after dinner he "saw a dance of Negroes Carolina, noted that one night to the Banjo in his Yard."2 a decade later, Thomas north from his home in Virginia Journeying for the night. "After going to bed I was Fairfax stopped in Richmond black man who had taken entertained with an agreeable serenade, by a ofhis colour, and for the amusement of those his stand near the Tavern, to music in the Bangoe. >9 Fairfax listened with pleasure sung and played the musician's skill: "He apmeant for another audience and appreciated instrument, which tho it may peared to be quite an adept on this African Capable of Conveying with the Guitar, Is certainly not bear a comparison the sound ear.' 77 Still, he couldn't help situating much pleasure to a musical "Its wild notes of melody seem to he enjoyed in some kind of hierarchy: where this speofthe Country Correspond with the state ofCivilization cies of music originated-as the banjo not only as a link to Africa Some writers began to present uncivilized and rough culas a symbol of America's but, simultaneously, traveler Thomas Ashe found himture. One evening in 1806, the British which was inn in Virginia. He entered the "ball-room," self at a noisy smoaking [sid, dancing, &c." "The "filled with persons at cards, drinking, the word in italics to suggest it music," 97 he wrote-insisting on putting of two bangies, sound much like real music to him- "consisted didn't of nudity, and a flute, through which played by negroes nearly in a state exertion and violent gesChickesaw breathed with much occasional a the "music of Ethiopia, though, because ticulations. 19 It was hard to hear ball-room," self at a noisy smoaking [sid, dancing, &c." "The "filled with persons at cards, drinking, the word in italics to suggest it music," 97 he wrote-insisting on putting of two bangies, sound much like real music to him- "consisted didn't of nudity, and a flute, through which played by negroes nearly in a state exertion and violent gesChickesaw breathed with much occasional a the "music of Ethiopia, though, because ticulations. 19 It was hard to hear --- Page 117 --- Three Leaves card tables." ?? Pretending a tolerance he belied little ofthe "clamor of the should never judge ofthe elsewhere in his text, Ashe declared: "A man entertainment of others, by his individual conceptions." principles ofthe he considered the "ball" nothing more And he admitted that, though "afforded the utmost delight to the asthan "a violent vulgar uproar," it with infinite joy and satissembly, and possibly would have concluded ifit had not been for an "unlucky" faction at an early hour next day," Seizing "a friend by the politician in the crowd who started a fight. ifhe did not drink 'Damnation throat, 59 he "threatened to annihilate him, inn was cleared 9 Within a few minutes, the entire to Thomas Jefferson." drunk on the floor.24 out save one sleeping and its music, was part of a series of Ashe's description of the event, and his description of that made fun of American "vulgarity," flute passages accompanied by a Chickasaw nearly naked black banjo players suggests that have been partly fantasy. The account, though, player may and encounter in performance there may have been some exchange at least in certain Affican-American and Native American, styles between rooted in fact or fiction, it signals the emergence ofthe regions. Whether that could be both vilibanjo itself as a broader sign of a process-one in a land that unexpected crossings and exchanges fied and celebrated-oft >7 The banjo also appeared as defining itselfa as "American." was increasingly wild life ofthe frontiers of North America. In a sign ofthe curious and Knoxville" in 1798, for instance, of"the young town of a description "confused with a promiscuous throng of one traveler described a place to the dedenomination," >7 that included blacks playing banjos every crowd,25 light oft the surrounding 97 the self-described "Northern In a series of"letters from the South," about the condition of man"] James Paulding assuaged his initial concern were a music. The blacks, he wrote, "gay, the slaves by focusing on their the most musical race. : They were also "by far harmless, and unthinking ofthe United States, and in the evening ofany portion ofthe inhabitants their boats on the canal at Richmond, I have seen them reclining in dare say, equal to a Veneplaying on the banjo, and singing in a style-I echo of thoughtless hiTheir laughter was "the very tian gondolier." whether, while this admission larity." 2 Paulding went on to wonder fact ofthe white man, " the slaves were in hapwould "mortify the pride freed from the burdens than their masters. They were, he claimed, pier the United States, and in the evening ofany portion ofthe inhabitants their boats on the canal at Richmond, I have seen them reclining in dare say, equal to a Veneplaying on the banjo, and singing in a style-I echo of thoughtless hiTheir laughter was "the very tian gondolier." whether, while this admission larity." 2 Paulding went on to wonder fact ofthe white man, " the slaves were in hapwould "mortify the pride freed from the burdens than their masters. They were, he claimed, pier --- Page 118 --- THE BANJO their leisure because it of worries for the future and able to fully enjoy careful to note that from their hard work. Paulding was was such a relief But he found himself reassured that he was not "an advocate ofs fslavery" the slaves had music and drank "the bitter draught of slavery," as they dance to console them.20 through the lens of debates about These accounts were all refracted that fit with their varied Writers clearly picked out the details a slavery. because of the fact that they come from such positions. But precisely they can give us a sense ofthe SOrange of perspectives, taken together the late eighteenth cencial and ritual uses the banjo had taken on by find a together SO that they could, for a time, tury. It gathered people kinds of relationships with each other constituted out of different space funerary rites, the banjo accompaand the world around them. During in Afro-Atlantic the into the next world, one often perceived nied journey the waters to family and ancestors in contexts as a journey home across offered solace and a kind Africa. There and in other contexts, the banjo commenfor lost places and lost lives. It also accompanied of mourning sustaining a vision ofwhat life might tary on life in slavery, in the process be beyond or outside ofit. * debated whether the dancing ofthe enslaved signiWhile some writers others looked to music to answer a different fied happiness or desperation, inferior? It is in the texts that take up question: are Africans culturally musical and the that we find the most details about practice this question Some writers celebrated the musical construction of musical instruments. challenge the using accounts of music to directly abilities of Africans, and infused slavery. For Wilideas of racial superiority that buttressed "the natural equality of writing in 1784 in order to prove liam Dickson, even if 97 the musical skill ofthe enslaved, the Africans to the Europeans, the very least helped to prove their rationality," at it did not "demonstrate had lived in Barbados, compared the their "humanity." Dickson, who from the island to 'several an- "banjay" along with other instruments instruments" he found descriptions ofin a contemporary cient musical would "lose nothing" in the history ofmusic. He argued that the banjay with these venerable ancient instruments.1 comparison in order to prove liam Dickson, even if 97 the musical skill ofthe enslaved, the Africans to the Europeans, the very least helped to prove their rationality," at it did not "demonstrate had lived in Barbados, compared the their "humanity." Dickson, who from the island to 'several an- "banjay" along with other instruments instruments" he found descriptions ofin a contemporary cient musical would "lose nothing" in the history ofmusic. He argued that the banjay with these venerable ancient instruments.1 comparison --- Page 119 --- 109 Three Leaves in North America, Thomas JefOne of Dickson's contemporaries he reflected on the question ofthe ferson, also brought up the banjo as State first pubofblacks. In his Notes on the ofVirginia, musical capacities admitted that blacks, who lished in 1782, Thomas Jefferson grudgingly than inferior, were "more generally gifted he otherwise described as quite for tune and time." 19 They had, the whites"in music, having "accurate ears catch, 99 that is a found capable of imagining a small he went on "been he added a footnote: "The instrushort piece ofmusic. To this sentence hither from Afto them is the Banjer, which they brought ment proper ofthe guitar, its chords being precisely the rica, and which is the original in the > had little confidence four lower chords of the guitar." Jefferson will be equal to the combroader musical talent ofblacks: "Whether they harmony, of a more extensive run ofmelody, or of complicated to position the same time, he seemed ready is yet to be proved," he wrote. At the ancestor, concede that the banjo was in fact the "original," presumably that were And SO, in the midst of a run of commentaries ofthe guitar. of people of African descent, he almostly denigrating ofthe capacities instrument, though lowed for an African origin for a modern European 28 also regarded with little respect. one he perhaps discordant notes of the banjar, John "Negroes are very fond of the colony of Antigua. The Luffman wrote in a 1789 account ofthe British but the bottom was instrument was "somewhat similar" to a guitar, wooden of"one half of a large calabash, to which is prefixed a formed and wire."' 99 Echoing Thomas, Jefferson's neck, and it is strung with cat gut is the invention of, and was comments, he noted: "This instrument in the perforhere by the African negroes, who are most expert brought their own country thereon." 79 These were, he added, "principally mances he "did not remember ever to tunes" that is, songs from Africa-and from its touch." The music have heard any thing like European numbers the market"in played on Sunday afternoon, after 'great was commonly by the toombah, town was over. To the music ofthe banjo, accompanied hundred or more oftin or shells," one could see "a a drum with "gingles that while "not altogether graceful" dancing at a time," with gestures be "well received" back agility and might even were of"astonishing" were introduced by "French or Italian home-atleast, he specified, ifthey created music, but not without dancers.' 29 Luffman called what the banjo skill "ifit deserves the name.' 7 And he explained the adding witheringly, was over. To the music ofthe banjo, accompanied hundred or more oftin or shells," one could see "a a drum with "gingles that while "not altogether graceful" dancing at a time," with gestures be "well received" back agility and might even were of"astonishing" were introduced by "French or Italian home-atleast, he specified, ifthey created music, but not without dancers.' 29 Luffman called what the banjo skill "ifit deserves the name.' 7 And he explained the adding witheringly, --- Page 120 --- THE BANJO by attributing it to "their being habituated to ofthe enslaved in dancing than in colder latitudes." climate, where elasticity is more general a warm ofthe functioning of a plantation in the In an idealized 1800 description McPherson wrote: "The dance British Caribbean, meanwhile, Charles the sound ofthe tom the went hand in hand with the labour; and song the Here-as it had heard on estate." tom and the bangah was nightly sound of the banjo was been earlier in Thomas Grainger's poem-the to the day's oft the order of slave life, a counterpoint taken as a sign good labor that justified the way it was extracted.2" who produced an Edwards, a British-born planter in Jamaica in Bryan British Caribbean colonies, first published influential history of the music of the enslaved. "An 1793, was harsher in his evaluation ofthe organs pein Europe," 99 he wrote, "that they possess opinion prevails of musick [sic); but this I believe is an culiarly adapted to the science claimed, and while "as ill-founded idea. 97 They were poor singers, he labor and careful musicians," there were some who "by great practical to bear an under-part in a pubinstruction, become sufficiently expert "seen or heard of a Negro lick concert," ' he could not recall ever having instrument." who could truly be called a fine performer on any capital the finest harand noise to "In general they prefer a loud long-continued in beating on a board with and frequently consume the whole night mony, musical instruments." Among This was, "in fact one of their chief a. stick." which was "an imthe others, he wrote, was "the Banja or Merrywang" the like except that it is played on by finger perfect kind of violincello; of four notes.' 9 Where Jefferson the guitar; producing a dismal monotony 9 here it is described had described the banjo as the "original ofthe guitar, "From such instrukind of degraded version of a European instrument. as a like a regular tune can be expected, ments, ? Edwards concluded, "nothing and their "merry meetings, is it ? He did note that during nor attempted." where they ballads festivals," the instrument accompanied midnight for ridicule and derision, which is exercised gave "full scope to a talent at the expence of each other, but also, not unfrequently, not only against their owner or employer. recopied by other writers Edward's description would be repeatedly "Like all rude the music ofthe slaves ofJamaica. purporting to describe >9 Robert Renny wrote nations, they are fond of noisy music and dancing, borrowed Edward's ofthe "negroes" ofJamaica. He in an 1807 description instrument accompanied midnight for ridicule and derision, which is exercised gave "full scope to a talent at the expence of each other, but also, not unfrequently, not only against their owner or employer. recopied by other writers Edward's description would be repeatedly "Like all rude the music ofthe slaves ofJamaica. purporting to describe >9 Robert Renny wrote nations, they are fond of noisy music and dancing, borrowed Edward's ofthe "negroes" ofJamaica. He in an 1807 description --- Page 121 --- Three Leaves words directly in describing "the "African origin. 99 Edwards banja, or merriwang," which was of had described the music of the "melancholy," and Renny slaves as expanded on this, that possible to hear this music, and remain writing it was "improduced by the Negro, unaffected with the dismal melody the who, sitting in the door of his coolness, and delighting in the stillness cabin, enjoying it with a melancholy ofthe evening, accompanies song, expressive of his ? was such that it drew "tears from feelings." Indeed the music the the contemplative" and affectionate, the melancholy, or affecting. >31 was, Renny acknowledged, "often extremely Renny described the wide range of music in which the styles and banjo was played. At circumstances lowed the slaves their"merry meetings, 9 the songs alcule." ofJamaica to "give a full scope to their talent for They amused themselves at the ridicolony, whether the "awkward expense ofthe newa arrivals in the and new-come Negro," or the "buckera" portrayed the "follies or foibles of their (whites), There were also "funeral masters and mistresses." wholesome songs ofa heroic nature, release from the calamities of considering death as a delightful and life, and as a passport to the which, while it neer-to-be-forgoaten, frees them scenes oftheir nativity; an event, their dear, from bondage, restores them to the long-lost relatives of Africa." In society of banjo accompanying melancholy Renny's account, we see the the dead from this world songs, social satire, and the of to the next and from the new world passage In an account oft the celebration of to the old. 32 Caribbean the abolition on August 1, 1834, Nicholas ofslavery in British Bay,Jamaica, Madden-who was in serving as a "stipendiary Montego process of magistrate" helping to oversee the enancpation-docribed how a done great justice to on a bonjoo and well-known quadrille "was kettle-drum of the a gombah, the violoncello negro orchestra." 79 The "Abolition and seemed to have "made the limbs ofthe bill," he went on, gentlemen as their ears; and there dark-complexioned ladies and ration ofthe was no end to the pleasure and evening, till the head of the perspiand the last string ofthe gombah was fairly beaten in, In bonjoo was scraped to a letter published from Barbados pieces." Pinckard offered a in 1816, the physician more appreciative George struments ofthe enslaved, he description of the banjo. The inwhat he described wrote, were "a drum, a kind as "the ofrattle, and" ever-delighting banjo," which was "a coarse ration ofthe was no end to the pleasure and evening, till the head of the perspiand the last string ofthe gombah was fairly beaten in, In bonjoo was scraped to a letter published from Barbados pieces." Pinckard offered a in 1816, the physician more appreciative George struments ofthe enslaved, he description of the banjo. The inwhat he described wrote, were "a drum, a kind as "the ofrattle, and" ever-delighting banjo," which was "a coarse --- Page 122 --- THE BANJO of 17 As if catching himself being too positive, and rough kind guitar." the music and dance were "of a savage Pinckard did add a series of caveats: and devoid ofmelody." nature" with "very simple" songs that were "harsh the acdescribe how the musician "strikes banjo," But he went on to musician who, 'sitting across the companied by a rattle and by a third beats and kicks ofthe drum, as it lies lengthwise along the ground, body while another musician struck the body of the sheep-skin at the end," and "on great drum with sticks. These were accompanied by singing, the "drums, rattles and voices," occasions," were augmented by many more the course of the formed the foundation for a range of dances over and were not only slaves but at least one day. Among those who participated the circle, and a Scottish soldier's white soldier who pushed his way into marked with surprise and wife who looked on, though with "features dissatisfaction." >34 in the British colonies Frederick Bayley, who spent several years Caribbean in the late 1820s, described the "wonderful ofthe Eastern slaves he encountered there. Their instruments variety" of music played by of 99 along barrel" covered by a "large piece parchment, included an "empty gumbay or bonja," accompanied with a "kettledrum, a tambourine, a pipe, a terrific merriment." 99 "vocal efforts." ?? The result was "sounds of most by could not be accused ofthe "crime" of creating The slaves, he wrote, music. "On the contrary," they had "inharmonious and nonaccordant" with wonderful ear for music, they sing or whistle "generally a good have heard, they dance in excellent time, correctness any tune they may connected with very intelligent persons in any thing and are altogether music." >35 in the Danish colony of Saint-Croix, The banjo was also popular wrote the American celebrations. It was "customary," notably at Christmas the different plantations, attired in traveler Sylvester Hovey, "for slaves on house of their master, and to their choicest dress, to go in a body to the the music his best where they set up receive admission to apartments; >9 admission to the of the banjo and commence dancing' This symbolic family to parmaster was also an invitation to the master's house ofthe and not unfrequently "The family made it a point to be present, ticipate: But the event was also about showcasing the generjoin in the dance." "This is the occasion, when presents osity and paternalism of masters: clothing, or even of money." are distributed among them of provisions, est dress, to go in a body to the the music his best where they set up receive admission to apartments; >9 admission to the of the banjo and commence dancing' This symbolic family to parmaster was also an invitation to the master's house ofthe and not unfrequently "The family made it a point to be present, ticipate: But the event was also about showcasing the generjoin in the dance." "This is the occasion, when presents osity and paternalism of masters: clothing, or even of money." are distributed among them of provisions, --- Page 123 --- 113 Three Leaves slaves towards their master, 27 Hovey noted, "depend "The feelings oft the times." >36 much on the treatment they receive at these very ofmusic offer us refracted details ofmoThese textual descriptions and perhaps solace of conviviality, mourning, ments performance, played a key role at the interface ofreamong the enslaved. The banjo The instrument enlivened and lationships between slaves and masters. of masters. Slave enslaved commentary, critique, and parody at supported this and sought to channel and contain-and owners understood by bringing the celebrations music it provided times appropriate-the Whatever they saw was always just one side to the plantation houses. in different contexts had different of the music: the same song sung through in these depicand content. But what also comes meaning whites found themelves-sometimnes despite tions is that at least some of this unfamiliar but electrifying themselves-drawn to the sound instrument." for the first time, the banjo appeared on canvas, painted by In the 1790s, One of them, Samuel Jennings, a Philadelphia two very different artists. the banjo into an abolitionist allegory native living in London, inserted Rose, was a southern plancelebrating the gifts of Fliberty. The other, John one himself a master of slaves, who nevertheless produced tation owner, visual artifacts of the cultural life of ofthe most important and enduring the enslaved in North America. cultural institutions of heard that one ofthe major In 1790,Jennings ofl Philadelphia, was moving into a his home city, the Library Company Franklin, the library housed Founded in 1731 by Benjamin new building. ofbooks in Philadelphia and became a hub the most important collection a number of Quaker intellectual activity frequented in particular by ofi move, Jennings wrote to the abolitionists. On hearing of its imminent he of the institution offering to paint them an image-which directors displayed in the new reading room-that hoped would be prominently offered three "Cliocelebrated learning and wisdom. He possibilities: ofHarmony, ofHistory, and Heroic Poetry. Calliope Goddess Goddess of Wisdom, & all the Rhetoric and Heroic Poetry. Minerva-Goddes because Minerva wore Arts." The latter, it seemed to him, would be best, move, Jennings wrote to the abolitionists. On hearing of its imminent he of the institution offering to paint them an image-which directors displayed in the new reading room-that hoped would be prominently offered three "Cliocelebrated learning and wisdom. He possibilities: ofHarmony, ofHistory, and Heroic Poetry. Calliope Goddess Goddess of Wisdom, & all the Rhetoric and Heroic Poetry. Minerva-Goddes because Minerva wore Arts." The latter, it seemed to him, would be best, --- Page 124 --- THE BANJO 114 Samuel Jennings, Liberty Displaying the Arts & Sciences (Or the Genius of America), 1792. Courtesy of the Library Company ofl Philadelphia. --- Page 125 --- 115 Three Leaves is grand, and would make a better the best clothes: "The Dress ofMinerva than either oft the others." >38 picture Company liked the idea of the painting The directors of the Library direction. They suggested a decided needed a bit more but Jennings main focus: "the figure of Liberty (with different female figure as its the arts of some of the most her Cap and property Insignia) displaying Mechanics, Astronomy & striking Symbols of Painting, Architecture, of a Pedestal, a She in the attitude of placing on top ca., whilst appears Commerce, Philosophy & of books, lettered with Agriculture, pile Library." > And they added another request, Catalogue of Philadelphia in favor ofthe abolition aimed at making the painting a clear statement and in the distant back "A Broken Chain under her feet, of slavery: on the Earth, or in some attitude Ground a Groupe of Negroes sitting offering up a painting in expressive of Ease & Joy." Jennings obliged, white All gently, and clad in a gown. which Liberty is blond, smiling instruaround her are the tools of learning and rescarch-scientific of and brushes, and a scattering ments, a sheet of calculations, palettes and the cataHomer, Virgil, Milton, and Shakespeare, books including which Liberty is picking up as a kind of logue of the Library Company, of all this knowledge a total of offering. Yet every one ofthe recipients children, and one baby-are fourteen figures, including men, women, of the directors by African-American. Jennings fulfilled the request outside the library having a picnic, at which a group depicting a group went further, however, adding dances around a "Liberty Pole. Jennings ofthe painting ofNegroes" - kneeling in the foreground another "Groupe Homage to Liberty, for the boundless who, he explained, "are paying blessings they receive through her."3 A bust in the foreground The image refers to Africa in several places. the chairman abolitionist who was Henry Thornton, an English portrays Founded in 1791, as, Jennings was painting, ofthe Sierra Leone Company. fulfilled-was to create a the goal of this company-which was soon Africa. The painting insettlement of freed slaves on the coast of West the top turned to show the viewer the Atlantic world-on cludes a globe in the center the Caribbean and the left are North and Central America, bottom Brazil, and to the right is northern coast ofSouth America, on the Leaning against is not visible on the globe. Africa. Europe, interestingly, in front of it, as if the instrument is the globe is a Lyre, and stretched , ofthe Sierra Leone Company. fulfilled-was to create a the goal of this company-which was soon Africa. The painting insettlement of freed slaves on the coast of West the top turned to show the viewer the Atlantic world-on cludes a globe in the center the Caribbean and the left are North and Central America, bottom Brazil, and to the right is northern coast ofSouth America, on the Leaning against is not visible on the globe. Africa. Europe, interestingly, in front of it, as if the instrument is the globe is a Lyre, and stretched --- Page 126 --- THE BANJO of the Handel air "Come, Ever-smiling reading the music, is a bit Liberty" centers around a banjo player. The composition of the painting the viewer is drawn to him. Jennings Though he is small in the painting, SO that the eye that he had intentionally composed his painting explained the "to the Negroes paying would be "conducted" from foreground the & Sky"in background. homage to Liberty" and then to the "Shipping, of the land, the river, The banjo player is right there, at the crossroads him in the painting and the sky above. No one: is looking at the mountains, behind him-and us. He is well-dressed, except an admiring boy standing The colors are no accident, in a blue jacket, red vest, and white pants. itself. He is the only figure in and one might in fact see him as America But, strikingly, all three of these colors together. the painting wearing African one: it is made of an oblong the instrument he is playing is a very pole. His instrument is not flat but a rounded gourd, and the neck ofthe striking downward hand is balled up in a fist, his fingers seemingly with those instruagainst the strings. Though the instrument contrasts culture like the of classical ments surrounding Liberty--instruments with dignity and is depicted, as is the musician, lyre, a telescope, maps-iti agency." oft the instrument is strikingly detailed and Jennings's 1792 depiction of the and can't easily be traced to other visual representations specific since there were SO few of them. Jenbanjo in circulation at the time, ofthe banjos in Jamaica, nings could have seen Hans Sloane's engraving and seems to different from them: it has an oblong gourd but his looks flat neck. It is most likely that Jennings have a stick neck rather than a when he was growing had in fact seen such a banjo someplace, perhaps could experhaps even in London. Such a memory up in Philadelphia, music to animate the dance plain why he was inspired to offer up banjo asked to And of Liberty he had been portray. in celebration of the figure from life, or at least from it would mean that the instrument was painted ended up oflife. A celebration of a library, and ofliberty, remembered of America's musical history as well. fering an enduring document both and ideoDuring the same period, but far away geographically John Rose from the hub ofQuaker abolitionism in Philadelphia,. logically in South Carolina. The image he prowas also painting a banjo he saw is powerful and unique duced, now known by the title The Old Plantation, portray. in celebration of the figure from life, or at least from it would mean that the instrument was painted ended up oflife. A celebration of a library, and ofliberty, remembered of America's musical history as well. fering an enduring document both and ideoDuring the same period, but far away geographically John Rose from the hub ofQuaker abolitionism in Philadelphia,. logically in South Carolina. The image he prowas also painting a banjo he saw is powerful and unique duced, now known by the title The Old Plantation, --- Page 127 --- 117 Three Leaves a Rose, Beaufort County, South Carolina, The Old Plantation, attributed to John Probably 1785-1790, watercolor on laid paper. Foundation. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Accession #1935.301.3,1 image #T1995-1. The Colonial Williamsburg Folk Art Museum. Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. of sound and performance among for its careful depiction of a moment and he owned land and the enslaved. Rose was born in the early 1750s, South Carolina, and later in Dorchester slaves first outside ofBeaufort, along the Ashley River. He about twenty miles from Charleston county, and the organ in his local church. knew how to read music and sang played he owned forty-nine the 1790s, when he painted The Old Plantation, By in the watercolor. 42 slaves, some ofwhom he depicted with Liberty Displaying the Rose's painting is roughly contemporary allegory, it seems to have Sciences and Arts. But, unlike that abolitionist of critiquing from life and without anyintention been painted essentially but one observed with a slavery. It is, instead, a plantation scene, Rose's work is unique- -level of care and precision. remarkable-indeed contradictory ways in which slave masters, even a striking reflection ofthe also at times related to sold, and exploited the enslaved, as they bought, The Old Plantation, Rose had painted them in other ways. Before painting the back of which he had of one ofhis slaves, Breme Jones, on a portrait of critiquing from life and without anyintention been painted essentially but one observed with a slavery. It is, instead, a plantation scene, Rose's work is unique- -level of care and precision. remarkable-indeed contradictory ways in which slave masters, even a striking reflection ofthe also at times related to sold, and exploited the enslaved, as they bought, The Old Plantation, Rose had painted them in other ways. Before painting the back of which he had of one ofhis slaves, Breme Jones, on a portrait --- Page 128 --- THE BANJO Milton: "Grave in her steps / Heaven in her quoted a few lines from eye's / And all her movement / Dignity and Love."45 and dance among a The Old Plantation captures a moment of music enslaved men and women, all from one plantation, many group oftwelve of them is painted with care, and they are ofthem likely related. Each notably the red and the blue well-dressed. The colors of the clothes, very ofthe stand out. There is a lot ofthe man dancing in the center painting, and there is a rather A is standing behind the musicians; going on: couple the left. Across the river is a plantation, complicated, physical triangle on the hill. This visual perspecalong with smaller slave cabins lined up on set were traditionally reversal, since many plantations tive is a striking could be observed from the great house. up SO that the slave quarters this scene based on observing Given that Rose almost certainly painted conclude that the banjo player his own slaves in their quarters, we can Cain, Dick, Isaac, Mingo, ofseveral men owned by Rose: Ansell, was one last of them tried for Solomon, Tom, Young Tom, or Tybee-the Peter, burglary and hung for the offence in 1807.14 a stick of the painting are three dancers, one holding At the center known in contemporary Africa and two women playing an instrument enclosed in a net ofvariable length a "rattle made ofa gourd as a shegureh, been woven." 1 As they danced, the women into which hard objects have would have the The beat of this instrument would have shaken shegureh. beside the dancers. And both combined with the beat of the drum played the strings of the have interwoven with the music coming from would banjo. 45 tremendous, even loving, detail. We see The banjo is rendered with and the instrument mounted into the calabash resonator; the drumhead shorter than the others, on a flat neck clearly has four strings, one ofthem attached to the piece tuners. Itis a spike neck, with the strings with peg of the and a bridge holding up the sticking out of the bottom gourd, rendered: we ofthe banjo player is also carefully strings. The technique the strings, while the rest of can see his thumb and first finger plucking Rose a critical to strum downwards. And captured his fingers are ready holes carved into the side ofthe detail about the instrument: the sound One is in the form of a star resonator are both functional and symbolic. of square crosses. But at least two others are in the shape with six spokes. in Sloane's late seventenh-century Like the cross on the harp depicted ourd, rendered: we ofthe banjo player is also carefully strings. The technique the strings, while the rest of can see his thumb and first finger plucking Rose a critical to strum downwards. And captured his fingers are ready holes carved into the side ofthe detail about the instrument: the sound One is in the form of a star resonator are both functional and symbolic. of square crosses. But at least two others are in the shape with six spokes. in Sloane's late seventenh-century Like the cross on the harp depicted --- Page 129 --- 119 Three Leaves other crosses found in a wide range of artistic proengraving, and like cosmograms world, these are probably duction in the Afro-Atlantic and human worlds. 46 the crossroads between the spirit depicting both the cycle of a perIn the Kongo context the cross represents between the world of the son's life and the site ofthe ritual encounter the border beand the world of the dead. Through the symbol, living and overcome: one part of the tween the two worlds is both recognized it. A drawing of a cross is the boundary, the other the path across cross linking this world and the creates "a map ofthe path from here to there, world, the cross was the seventeenth century in the Atlantic other." By together meansymbol, in some contexts bringing also a many-layered with those of the cross of Catholicism, ings rooted in African tradition culture of the Kongo starting in which was a crucial part ofthe religious transcultural forms, it was conthe sixteenth century. In its multiple and and the dead, beof the crossroads between the living sistently a sign and between humans and gods. Carved tween descendants and ancestors, served as a rethe in this Carolina banjo, the symbol likely into gourd incited and accompanied by music. minder ofthe spiritual crossings his observing Rose clearly witnessed a gathering on plantation, techJohn of material details, down to the it long enough to glean these types But what, precisely, is going nical and aesthetic construction ofthe banjo. Some of the image have offered different answers. on? Interpreters tradition of leaping over a broomfamiliar with the Affican-American ceremony argued that it is a wedding stick to celebrate a marriage-have: male dancer with one ofthe women ofs some kind, perhaps bonding the dance, with the stick across from him. Others see a recreational dancing that it is in different carnival and performance as an accessory, in the way carnival marching music of rara traditions in the Americas, such as the evolved from these North American baton twirling that in Haiti-orthe sexual encounter, as the woman on the traditions. Rose's painting depicts a with his hand on her breast. All right has two male admirers, one of them what he saw as a relathat Rose'si intention was to depict ofthis suggests the enslaved on his plantation, with tively common, social event among the on hand at the feet of dance, flirting, and drinking from jugs music, the musicians." 48 by The Old Plantation, offers a But another painting, clearly inspired ofwhat was afoot. The work rather different, and powerful, interpretation the woman on the traditions. Rose's painting depicts a with his hand on her breast. All right has two male admirers, one of them what he saw as a relathat Rose'si intention was to depict ofthis suggests the enslaved on his plantation, with tively common, social event among the on hand at the feet of dance, flirting, and drinking from jugs music, the musicians." 48 by The Old Plantation, offers a But another painting, clearly inspired ofwhat was afoot. The work rather different, and powerful, interpretation --- Page 130 --- THE BANJO it has never been clearly dated though it was likely ofan unknown artist, We can think ofit usefully done in the early to mid-twentieth century. of the earlier painting, as a kind of painted analysis and interpretation beneath what Rose for what was going on one that offers one explanation saw and depicted. 49 of the earlier one. Some of the figThis painting is clearly a copy and the artist clearly either drawn in and then filled in, ures were pencil The Old Plantation when the second had seen, or was actually looking at, female dancers in the foreground The male and painting was composed. in the earlier painting, the same position as the two figuresi are in roughly the man holds a cloth rather than a their clothes the same color, though relatively closely. other standing figures are also copied stick. Two ofthe are balanced both there, though now they separated, The musicians are the central dancers. And the on both sides of the image, surrounding in the are preincluding the river background, background and buildings, has disappeared and the boat on the water in the original served, though bank: three rather than the slave on the opposite there are fewer quarters seven in the original. in all; and the sexual overtones ofthe There are also fewer figures on the left. There with the three figures earlier painting are gone, along The crowded, social sense the central dancing pair. are no couples except all attention is on the dance and the music. of the earlier picture is gone: the same as in the earlier The man on the left is depicted essentially has added a detail to collared shirt, but the painter painting, with a white the her collar is decorated the clothes oft the woman standing on right: color of and quality of of red. In the original painting, the with a stripe but they become part of a larger, the clothes are carefully documented, later it is easier to In the sparser landscape of the painting, jovial scene. In Afroofthe clothes themselves as having significance. see the colors each ofthese colors-the white clothes Atlantic religious ritual contexts, blue and red ofthe male dancerofseveral participants and the striking of connecting with particular spirits." is a way articulates the dance, and the space in which The later painting clearly Five objects saturated with spiritual significance. it takes place, as one within the visual field that were not are placed sharply and obviously is the prominent frog there in the earlier painting. The most imposing and looking directly between the dancers in the foreground, positioned . In Afroofthe clothes themselves as having significance. see the colors each ofthese colors-the white clothes Atlantic religious ritual contexts, blue and red ofthe male dancerofseveral participants and the striking of connecting with particular spirits." is a way articulates the dance, and the space in which The later painting clearly Five objects saturated with spiritual significance. it takes place, as one within the visual field that were not are placed sharply and obviously is the prominent frog there in the earlier painting. The most imposing and looking directly between the dancers in the foreground, positioned --- Page 131 --- 121 Three Leaves A Unknown American Artist. circa late 19th-early 20th century. Plantation Scene, Charlotte, North Carolina Watercolor on laid paper. 1985. 83.1. Collection of the Mint Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Upchurch. significance in a range ofCenthem. The frog has a strong spiritual because at spirituality, up contexts, as well as in Afro-American the world of the living tral African creature" it "moves between 17 In the painting, it "as an amphibious the other side ofthe water." and the dead on the artist wanted on earth featured clearly and prominendly" is "unusually large the first things a viewer noticed."1 in the make sure it was among that stand out to of a collection of objects The enBut this is only one the banjo player is an eye. On the door right behind as the subjects ofJohn painting, observed by masters,just: the gaze: slaved were used to being however, reverses painting were. This symbol, watch. This symbol, Rose's original cabin, an eye is keeping Marie from the door to a slave part of what out in the painting, is most likely > These were along with others of" symbolism." as describes practices "protective members from "physical Franklin individuals and community meant to protect both is an eye. On the door right behind as the subjects ofJohn painting, observed by masters,just: the gaze: slaved were used to being however, reverses painting were. This symbol, watch. This symbol, Rose's original cabin, an eye is keeping Marie from the door to a slave part of what out in the painting, is most likely > These were along with others of" symbolism." as describes practices "protective members from "physical Franklin individuals and community meant to protect both --- Page 132 --- THE BANJO communi- *invasion." 799 Linked to broader practices ofritual and spiritual well as with practices ofl healing, such cation with spirits and ancestors, as in an attempt to created boundaries and altered physical spaces and symbols world of violence of safety in the midst of a plantation create a zone oft this eye, specifically its placeuncertainty. The particular composition cosmology: simwithin a blue diamond, may connect it to Kongo ment in New Orleans. ilar blue diamonds are painted on gravesites symbolic figure. On the doorframe next to the eye is another richly the kongo that are a key part of Vodou practice It looks very like pakèt made of cloth filled figures are usually in Haiti. These anthropomorphic with spiritual power. They are with medicinal herbs and other materials the seems to with feathers, as the object in painting also often topped of a snake. The here make what could be seen as the shape be. The arms with the lwa, or includes some oft the symbols that are associated could figure in Haiti. In the context ofSouth Carolina, it god, of Grand-Bwa number of spirits. Its placement alongside ofanother be a representation that it was meant to serve, along with the the door, however, suggests That function is even more likely eye on the door, as a form of protection. the book held by the the third spiritual symbol in that area: open of tradigiven the door. This open book was part a woman standing next to Bible-in this way to "confuse" evil the tion of using texts-usually and read the text and SO prevented spirits, who would be forced to stop function here in a further with ill aims. Alternatively, it may from going knowledge and literacy of the the spiritual different way, emphasizing woman. the other door in the painting, is a final figure: Across the way, on and half red, like the man dancing in one, half blue a human-shaped over its chest. This last detail is the center. The figure has a small cross has decorations on it; particularly important, as the banjo itself no longer is still in the crosses originally on the instrument but at least one ofthe human form. So the cosmogram in painting, now over the heart of a has found its way into a tied to the instrument, the original painting, different space. this image, or why. Yet the painting We don't know who painted intricate few clues. Clearly the artist had a relatively itself does offer us a within the African-American knowledge of patterns ofritual symbolism and saying The artist, too, was interested in interpreting community. jo itself no longer is still in the crosses originally on the instrument but at least one ofthe human form. So the cosmogram in painting, now over the heart of a has found its way into a tied to the instrument, the original painting, different space. this image, or why. Yet the painting We don't know who painted intricate few clues. Clearly the artist had a relatively itself does offer us a within the African-American knowledge of patterns ofritual symbolism and saying The artist, too, was interested in interpreting community. --- Page 133 --- 123 Three Leaves Plantation image, which was both copied and something about The Old clear: the ways. The message seems relatively altered in such compelling blind to some oft the original painting captured the scene only partially, later reofwhat was underway. The painting deeper ritual significance It takes the ritual signs that are present stores that symbolism to the scene. and multiplies and scatthe only around the banjo's resonator in original rich with religious power and meaning. ters them, creating a landscape much more that the music and the dance are something And it suggests of an attempt to communicate to than recreation: rather, they are part here by the river in other worlds, perhaps to cross the water symbolized then, is that this The broader message of the image, the background. this world, that it was part ofcommusic is also about something beyond the same message that we get with ancestors and gods. It is municating surrounding Haiti's banza. when we turn to the sources * escaped his master and headed In 1772 an enslaved man named Pompée in the Affiches Americfor the sea. A month later an advertisement placed described him in this aines, the largest newspaper in Saint-Domingue, brand "with the letters NGDP," was "aged approximately way: he had a tall, with a rather pretty face, a scar 30 years," and was "5 feet 4 inches his hips a little when ofhis forehead, quite corpulent, swinging on top passenger shipin Fort-Dauphin" he walks."Hel had exmpeldbyboarding"ar a town on the border of and had "since been seen in Ouanaminthe," advertisement went on, "he Spanish Santo Domingo. "It is believed," the final detail: "The said claim he is free." And then it offered one might called the Banza very well."54 Nègre plays an instrument from large plantations of When enslaved individuals ran away very likely ofwhich had hundreds ofs slaves-masters Saint-Domingue- -some them. The escape itself forced them to often didn't know much about depending information about them from other slaves, probably gather much activity on the plantations. In on the enslaved drivers who oversaw who were faced with the the process, as did masters in North America information, creating they pieced together fragmentary same problem, would have remained invisible. Among the traces oflives that otherwise under the for runaways-known ten thousand or SO advertisements away very likely ofwhich had hundreds ofs slaves-masters Saint-Domingue- -some them. The escape itself forced them to often didn't know much about depending information about them from other slaves, probably gather much activity on the plantations. In on the enslaved drivers who oversaw who were faced with the the process, as did masters in North America information, creating they pieced together fragmentary same problem, would have remained invisible. Among the traces oflives that otherwise under the for runaways-known ten thousand or SO advertisements --- Page 134 --- THE BANJO the Affiches Americaines, French term marrons in Saint-Domingne-in ethnic are named. more than two hundred African groups for instance, because they were destined not only for Such details were important, people and free people of other masters but also probably for enslaved in a maroon. descent who could also collect a reward for turning African music was probably an aid in For Pompée, as for many other maroons, and also a into certain urban communities flight, giving him an entry these skills was also a good possible source oflivelihood. But identifying way of tracking him down. was listed in the runaway Twelve years later, another banza player he lived Américaines. His name was Cahouet; advertisements ofthe Affiches Le Cap and he worked as a in the economic capital of the colony, and was five feet and twenty-six coachman. He was between twenty-four Cahouet was face, stocky and bow-legged." one inch tall, with a "large who frequented "all described as "a great bansa player" and "songster" Mr. that once belonged to Roquefort. the dances of the plantations he seems to have had a particmusician, Identified as a particularly good plantations-in which he ular zone- - a particular set ofinterconnected owned a planhad once been by particular worked. These plantations the advertisement suggested tation owner, but no longer were. But Cahouet's a cultural community tied together by they still constituted Cahouet was performances. What exactly were these performances? oft the blacks. but also as an "enjoleur" described not just as a songster, is in fact misspelled in the This term is relatively uncommon-it who is a charmer advertisement-but at the time it referred to someone of this the advertisement hinted through the use or seducer. His songs, from their plantations, term, had the power to pull the enslaved away that Cahouet was other There is a strong suggestion here toward spaces. ofsome kind, attracting the not, just a musician but also a spiritual figure the "dances" on plantaenslaved to events ofs sound and spirit. After all, ofthe banza ceremonies, and the music tions were often in fact religious of drums and song aimed at could well have been linked to the music of existence than that of the sugar plantationaccessing other planes Vodou religion Plaine du Cap- -those ofthe Iwa ofthe emerging covered Guinée called up within it. 55 and of the mythical player from Saint-Domingue We learn the name of another banjo in Havana, Cuba, at document from 1802. In prison from an intriguing spirit. After all, ofthe banza ceremonies, and the music tions were often in fact religious of drums and song aimed at could well have been linked to the music of existence than that of the sugar plantationaccessing other planes Vodou religion Plaine du Cap- -those ofthe Iwa ofthe emerging covered Guinée called up within it. 55 and of the mythical player from Saint-Domingue We learn the name of another banjo in Havana, Cuba, at document from 1802. In prison from an intriguing --- Page 135 --- 125 Three Leaves named Lorenzo, who sought passage back home on the time was a man The reasons for his imprisonment are a French ship that came into port. in the streets ofHavana: unclear, but he had a skill that he perhaps plied neck" made from a gourd with a very long he "played a kind of guitar His songs may acin French though always the same melody." and "sang and the instrument he played was clearly a tually have been in Creole, he likely had learned to play banza. An older man, probably once a slave, he had in Cuba-in the planperhaps built the one his instrument-and: tations ofSainte-Domingue and Cahouet's names because they ran away, We only know Pompée's force them back into slavery. And and their masters were determined to because he had journeyed to we learn ofLorenzo's musical abilities, too, Ironically, too, the most another island and found himself'imprisoned. the banzas these ofthe artistry involved in building detailed description the of someone who hated musicians played comes to us from pen two hated the who built it. almost as much as he people the instrument Henri Grégoire published a In 1808 the abolitionist French priest in the footsteps of work called De la littérature des nègres. In it, following blacks were intelClarkson, he sought to refute the idea that Thomas survey of their cultural and lectually inferior by offering a wide-ranging their musical skill as one of their literary achievements. He emphasized description of the "poetical and qualities, approvingly citing Stedman's of eighteen handmusical genius" of the enslaved, and his cataloguing Stedman hadn't and wind instruments. Grégoire added that made stringed balafone which he wrote "sounds even counted the "famous balafou" Thomas Grainger's 1764 little 7 The French priest also cited like a organ. kind of guitar invented by the nègres, on poem for its description of"a that exude a soft and sentimental melancholy." which they play songs "the music ofwounded hearts." What the slaves sang, Grégoire wrote, was the ofthe slaves to add, aware that some pointed to singing He was quick ofthe nègres for music does as a sign of their contentment: "The passion not prove they are happy."sz book, as they had Defenders of slavery were incensed by Grégoire's from Clarkson's work, and one of them-an ex-planter earlier been by Richard de Tussac- wrote a lengthy tome meant Saint-Domingue named the ofblacks, one by one. to refute all the priest's claims about qualities made by based on observation He offered this description, presumably inging He was quick ofthe nègres for music does as a sign of their contentment: "The passion not prove they are happy."sz book, as they had Defenders of slavery were incensed by Grégoire's from Clarkson's work, and one of them-an ex-planter earlier been by Richard de Tussac- wrote a lengthy tome meant Saint-Domingue named the ofblacks, one by one. to refute all the priest's claims about qualities made by based on observation He offered this description, presumably --- Page 136 --- THE BANJO in the colonies, ofl how they built one particularly him or other planters "savage" musical instrument: which the nègres call banza, this is what they As for the guitars, (the fruit of a tree we call the consist of: They cut a calabash This fruit is callebassier) down the middle and longwise. diameter. They extend over sometimes eight inches or more in side with little skin, which they attach around the it a goat holes on this surface, and then a nails. They put two or three flattened, to make of wood that has been rudely board or piece stretch three strings made of pitre the neck ofthe guitar. They as filament taken from the agave plant, known colloquially (a the instrument is built. On it they play songs pitre), and which they repeat endlessly. composed oftwo or three notes, and melanThat is what the Abbé Grégoire calls 'sentimental 58 2 and what we call the music of savages. cholic music," Saintdetailed account of life in eighteenth-century In his richly noted the importance of the banza Domingue, Moreau de Saint-Méry Writing in 1796, the Martinique-born in the dances of the enslaved. earlier. All nègres, much like Labat had a century lawyer sounded very "America was their cradle" or they had Saint-Méry announced-whether" would travel great dis- "seen the day in Africa"- loved to dance. They 9 Nègre travelling all night long, to "satisfy this passion." tances, sometimes with those from Africa," >9 he wrote. dance came to Saint-Domingue attractive to the He noted that it was this fact that made it particularly born in the colony, slaves: "For this reason it is common to those Creole the day they are born.' ? The most popular who sometimes practice it from in the late sevendance carried the same name as it had in Martinique of drums made, calenda. It was propelled by the music teenth century: wood covered with the skin ofa a ideally, from a single piece ofl hollow and SO called the Shorter drums were made of bamboo goat or sheep. "monotonous and deafening sound" was this bamboula. Accompanying half-filled with stones or grains of another, made by "small calabashes the hands. Around the corn" attached to handles and tapped against songs. of women danced and clapped and improvised musicians, a circle Martinique of drums made, calenda. It was propelled by the music teenth century: wood covered with the skin ofa a ideally, from a single piece ofl hollow and SO called the Shorter drums were made of bamboo goat or sheep. "monotonous and deafening sound" was this bamboula. Accompanying half-filled with stones or grains of another, made by "small calabashes the hands. Around the corn" attached to handles and tapped against songs. of women danced and clapped and improvised musicians, a circle --- Page 137 --- 127 Three Leaves the "When they want to But sometimes, another sound joined percussion: a kind they associate with it a Banza, make the orchestra more complete >59 of rude violin with four strings that are plucked. abilities ofthe about the musical Saint-Méry wrote at some length audiences in homes as well of whom played for white enslaved, many They preferred the the theatrical life of Saint-Domingue. as in thriving learned to play by ear or from other violin, he wrote, which they usually But this didn't prevent black musicians who had learned the same way. also tones, he admitted. They them from mastering the instrument's in detail, a kind of mbira, made played an instrument that he described thin pieces of metal, and with a plank of wood onto which were placed with the them bamboo or another material, and played underneath the dances they also "exercised" their thumbs. And, he repeated, at larger in which the banza. Saint-Méry described a context musical abilities on and well-integrated into the this instrument was both quite common around him in Saintcontinuum ofi music and dance that he saw broader the vital role played by Domingue. His account enables us to understand instruments was and Cahouet. The sound oftheir musicians like Pompée ofsocial worlds. As it did in other parts both produced by and a producer the banza was Caribbean and North America, in Saint-Domingue ofthe of connection, remembrance, solidarity, an object that created moments dance, the recalling and and imagination as it spurred on motion through of melodies and song. 60 in composition Descourtilz, who traveled to Haiti The naturalist Michel-Etienne about the instrument in several of the late 1790s, offered similar details in 1803, he inofhis time in Haiti published his works. In an account Called "Dialogue créole,"i it cluded a short scene written for the theater. West Africa. They the of Evahim and Aza, two slaves from tells story in their home in Guinée, but both were capwere engaged to be married miracle, they find one another tured and sold to European slavers. By side ofthe Atlantic, on a plantation in Saint-Domingue. again on the other learned Creole and teaches Aza, who has been there longer, has already the 17 Aza sings Evahim. In the "enchanted calm oft night, it to his beloved his banza." 7) He then "beloved words oflovers, ? while "accompanied by the to make a song. In the scene, the gathers the words together into phrases the slave trade and also broken by banza helps to renew a relationship . By side ofthe Atlantic, on a plantation in Saint-Domingue. again on the other learned Creole and teaches Aza, who has been there longer, has already the 17 Aza sings Evahim. In the "enchanted calm oft night, it to his beloved his banza." 7) He then "beloved words oflovers, ? while "accompanied by the to make a song. In the scene, the gathers the words together into phrases the slave trade and also broken by banza helps to renew a relationship --- Page 138 --- THE BANJO 128 vehicle for and learning the Creole literally as the teaching serves quite for Aza and Evahim to find their way in language and therefore a way the New World.9 ofthe inDescourtilz included a detailed description Decades later, of a type of calabash he called the strument as part of his examination des Antilles. From these "courge calebasse" in his work Flore pittoresque Caribbean created the "Creoles and Blacks" of the calabashes, he notes, instrument that the Blacks prepare "bowls, goblets, and banzas, a nègre longwise, to which one of these calabashes or a large gourd by sawing made out of fibres of aloe plants." they adjust a neck and sonorous strings in a passage that the banjo's cultural importance, Descourtilz recognized "Though it is not very harlikely drew on the writings of Saint-Méry: who make out ofit a kind monious, this instrument pleases the Blacks, their that they use to charm their worries by accompanying dance ofmandolin their comrades voices during the peace of night, or by making funeral cerejoyous parties, or at the more lugubrious calendas, during celebrations. It is the custom to combine the sound monies followed by bamboula, a kind of drum that they ofthe banza with the louder one ofthe astride it. This drum is with their fingers and fists, sitting make resonate covered over at both ends with a skin' made with a piece ofbamboo the Haitian banza got visual trace ofhow There is one tantalizing ofa series oflandscapes made people moving in an engraving that was part 1796 work. The Moreau de Saint-Méry's by Nicolas Ponce to accompany in the north focus of the image is the planned town of Bombardopolis, ofthe colony. far on the outskirts oft town, But on the right edge ofthe engraving, whites. And they are They are being watched by two a group is dancing. visible, seated musicians. At being driven in their motion by two barely a stringed his back turned to us, seems to be playing least one ofthem, Haitian banza. instrument with a neck, pethape-probably--) here, were of the enslaved, like the one pictured Many gatherings and moments away small, part of a process of finding openings likely very however, there were large from the daily routines of slavery. Occasionally, from Years after the French were expelled events held on the plantations. Mollien wrote the colony, one former resident named Gaspard-Théodore It included many that was part history and part memoir. a manuscript of the vanished planter class of Saint-Domingue: details about the lives banza. instrument with a neck, pethape-probably--) here, were of the enslaved, like the one pictured Many gatherings and moments away small, part of a process of finding openings likely very however, there were large from the daily routines of slavery. Occasionally, from Years after the French were expelled events held on the plantations. Mollien wrote the colony, one former resident named Gaspard-Théodore It included many that was part history and part memoir. a manuscript of the vanished planter class of Saint-Domingue: details about the lives --- Page 139 --- 129 Three Leazes "Bombardopolis Alexis Nicolas ou Bombarde dans l'ile de Perignon, St Private collection, engraved by Domingue," 1789, drawn by ON Musée Chatillon Marcel (Chatillon Jacquies Louis Copia. Acquitine. Collection). Photo by Lysiane Gauthier and). M. Arnaud, --- Page 140 --- THE BANJO In it Mollien briefly describes a rather remarkable party that took place in the years before the Revolution: "We even saw a slave of the Lefeuve plantation, the mistress of the plantation manager, host a dinner on the feast ofSaint-Louis, with 400 settings, served on plates and enlivened by the singing of two public singers, Trois-Feuilles and Grand Simone, whose banzas (guitars) were garnished with doubloons. >63 Packed into this one sentence are scintillating details. There is a clue about the banza itself, "garnished" with "doubloons" whose role could have been decorative but also sonic, creating a metallic buzz such as that prized in African chordophones. The designation of the musicians as "public singers" suggests-like the advertisement for Cahouet-the existence of a kind of profession of enslaved musicians who were paid to play not for masters but for other slaves. But the most important detail of all is the name ofone ofthe musicians: Trois-Feuilles. For in that simple detail resides a world of potential implications. Trois-Feuilles translates as Three Leaves, an expression that signifies a great deal in Haiti, symbolizing the role ofherbal knowledge within the system of physical and spiritual healing that is Haitian Vodou. Within the vast corpus of Vodou song, which makes up a rich archive, there is a very well-known song called Twa Fey, Three Leaves. Sung in ritual contexts, it has also been interpreted by popular music groups and is a kind ofkey anthem within Haitian music. Its core lyrics, as sung by the contemporary Haitian group Ti-Coca, are as follows, Tivafey Three leaves Twa rasin Three roots Jeté blyé VI throw down Lforget ranmassé songé IfIgather them I remember Mwen gen basin Iwa I've got a basin lwa Mwen twa fey tonbé ladan'n My three leaves fell in it The song, in a few short words and images, captures the power and necessity of connection and memory. The "three leaves" are the knowledge of medicine cultivated in Haitian Vodou but also more broadly the spiritual practice and tradition that are maintained ifthey are gathered as people collect around them. The song is an injunction of sorts: don't forget the knowledge. Hold onto it. As Ti-Coca explained to me when I asked wen gen basin Iwa I've got a basin lwa Mwen twa fey tonbé ladan'n My three leaves fell in it The song, in a few short words and images, captures the power and necessity of connection and memory. The "three leaves" are the knowledge of medicine cultivated in Haitian Vodou but also more broadly the spiritual practice and tradition that are maintained ifthey are gathered as people collect around them. The song is an injunction of sorts: don't forget the knowledge. Hold onto it. As Ti-Coca explained to me when I asked --- Page 141 --- 131 Three Leaves SICK SEAVES. Chamberlain and G. Hunt. "Sick Slaves," 1822, Engraving, Collection). Photo by Lysiane Gauthier and). M. Arnaud. Private collection, Chatillon Marcel (Chatillon Or Musée Acquitaine. the leaves and roots are gathered when they are him about the song, been boiled to make the medicine, they needed for healing. After they've But they'l1 be needed again, are thrown out and may even be forgotten. and leaves must be rememthe next time someone is sick, SO the roots the song can be returned to in time. More broadly, bered SO that they that the knowledge comes telling listeners to remember is also a metaphor, the to the world ofs spirits from the lwa, the gods, who are a link to past, known as Guinée that lives under the waters, and to a mythical Africa within Haitian Vodou,.4 ofThe Old Planthe players depicted in the two versions Just as banjo landscape, the eighteenthin a broader religious tation were participants was almost certainly musician who called himself" Trois-Feuilles Given century and healing using this name. signaling his link to ritual practice by life in various parts role played by musicians in religious the traditional understood by many within of Africa, this role would have been clearly , known as Guinée that lives under the waters, and to a mythical Africa within Haitian Vodou,.4 ofThe Old Planthe players depicted in the two versions Just as banjo landscape, the eighteenthin a broader religious tation were participants was almost certainly musician who called himself" Trois-Feuilles Given century and healing using this name. signaling his link to ritual practice by life in various parts role played by musicians in religious the traditional understood by many within of Africa, this role would have been clearly --- Page 142 --- THE BANJO of the enslaved. It is a role, in fact, clearly documented the community Suriname, from the 1820s, depicting a in a remarkable engraving from group of sick slaves.5 kind of official, off to the While they are being inspected by some Both are who clearly are offering a kind ofhealing. side are two figures instrument with a calabash resmusicians, one playing a bowed stringed On his head, he carTo his right is a musician carrying a harp. onator. to make herbal remedies. He basket ofl leaves, most likely ries a massive announcing their have been selling these herbs, perhaps could simply musician himself may also have been properties with his music. But the music and herbs, the healer, offering a medicine that brought together a spiritual and the physical. those from any number The type of harp depicted here resembles decorated West and Central Africa. Often such harps were of parts of This tradition of decengravings or sculptures. with anthropomorphic have been less common on the stringed oration, interestingly, seems to closely resembles that lutes from West Africa whose construction more the banza collected New World banjo. But the artisan who made ofthe this tradition by carving what looks like a by Schoelcher tapped into instrument. This artistry was representation of face onto the neck ofthe the of tradition: on a Central African harp, itself a kind of adaptation ofthis size; and instead a head rounded neck wouldn't allow for a carving neck-as was done on be sculpted on top of the might, or a figure might, in New Orleans in Henry Latrobe in Congo Square the banjo seen by 1819. in 1850 in Suriname, now preserved in the An instrument collected Museen in Berlin, has a similar Ethnology Museum of the Staatliche Moravian missionary the end ofthe neck. It was collected by a carving on time and was catalogued as a "Panja" working in a plantation area at the 9 It is very similar in of"Banja." probably, just an erroneous transcription by Stedman in the same area construction to the instrument collected carved in the same decades earlier, in the 1770s. It has a gourd resonator, one and a narrow flat neck with four strings, way as the Stedman banjo, however, has a feature not on the Stedman shorter than the other. It also, the ofthe neck. The carved animal head, probably a ram, on top banjo: a the description of the object figure perhaps had a spiritual significance: a song called instrument that was used to accompany notes that it is an construction to the instrument collected carved in the same decades earlier, in the 1770s. It has a gourd resonator, one and a narrow flat neck with four strings, way as the Stedman banjo, however, has a feature not on the Stedman shorter than the other. It also, the ofthe neck. The carved animal head, probably a ram, on top banjo: a the description of the object figure perhaps had a spiritual significance: a song called instrument that was used to accompany notes that it is an --- Page 143 --- 133 Three Leaves Detail of Neck. by Pete Ross, Haitian Banza, Reproduction Photograph by Kristina Gaddy. --- Page 144 --- THE BANJO Ananhitori, which was part of funerary rites plantations. 66 among Africans on these The Haitian banza, along with those in New did not have a figure carved Orleans and Suriname, who built on the top ofthe neck. it took advantage of the width Instead, the artisan image of the flat neck to staring out at those who listened to the create an looks like a face, or a mask. But it also instrument. The engraving kind offace: one can easily be read as a particular constructed out haps there was even a direct ofTrois-Feuilles, or Three Leaves. Permusician who took this connection between this banza and the name. Perhaps it was even his way of evoking his legacy as a musician. banjo, or at least a though, both the maker ofthe Even if this was not the case, banza and the to have been into musician Trois-Feuilles seem tapping a similar well of symbolism instrument. surrounding the Through these fragments we get a deeper sense tapped into and helped to ofhow the banjo instrument that generate spiritual power. The versions of the incorporated anthropomorphic another were symbols of one kind or drawing on instrument-making common, especially in Central Africa. traditions that were tion, and coalition, of different This was a powerful condensatraditions African continent. It was ofinstrument making from the from those perhaps a way of signaling to enslaved regions-who were a majority in Haiti-that people instrument too. But it also served the this was their in Central Africa, which same purpose such decorations did was to remind musicians the instrument was sacred, and listeners alike that sible to communicate channeling a sacred sound and making it with the dead. The fact that posplayer called one Haitian banza three leaves himefTrohe-Feuilles, is and that a symbol likely found on an instrument from Haiti, representing instrument and its music were makes clear that the being linked to the symbolism memory and healing, and surrounding memory as healing. Like the banjo in The Old hole in the shape of a Plantation, the Haitian banza has a sound cross, carved into the gourd. In text, as elsewhere in the Afro-Atlantic the Haitian conmeeting oft the world ofthe context, this symbolizes the spirits with that at the center ofi much religious ofthe living, the crossroads practice on both sides cross, more specifically, is also the ofthe Atlantic. The symbol ofVodou lva Gédé. And, as a rounding memory as healing. Like the banjo in The Old hole in the shape of a Plantation, the Haitian banza has a sound cross, carved into the gourd. In text, as elsewhere in the Afro-Atlantic the Haitian conmeeting oft the world ofthe context, this symbolizes the spirits with that at the center ofi much religious ofthe living, the crossroads practice on both sides cross, more specifically, is also the ofthe Atlantic. The symbol ofVodou lva Gédé. And, as a --- Page 145 --- 135 Three Leaves named Erol Josué has related to me, there Haitian oungan (Vodou priest) that the instrument be is at least one Vodou song in which Gédé requests Troisfor him. The name of the musician who accompanied Vodou: played connection between the music and Feuilles hints at another thousands of lwa have been the name of one ofthe Grand Simone may in Haiti. This ofthe early nineteenth-century in the religious landscape clear the banza was seen as part of the crosslayering of symbols makes humans and the Iwa of Vodou, roads between the living and the dead, the here and the beyond. instrument in Haiti, particularly Today, the banjo is still a common and celebrated music. The most respected in Twoubado, or Troubadour, whose version of"Twa Fèy"is interpreter oft this style today is Ti-Coca, The music remains the best-known modern recording ofthe song. also during more recrein rural Haiti and is occasionally performed popular ceremonies as well as rural festivals. Individual ational portions ofVodou the streets, notably in towns like banjo players also frequently perform on The is fundamental in the South and Le Cap in the North. banjo the Jacmel music: as Richard Hector, who has played to the sound of7 Twoubado three decades, put it, the instrubanjo in Ti-Coca's group for the past He plays in a style that "holds the system" oft the music together. ment with meandering but pulsing mecombines rhythmic, hard strumming out the bass drum lodic lines. And, as he plays those lines, he thumps allowing head itself. The banjo is the guide and center, line on the banjo languages, sometimes sound, the soaring vocal exploration, sometimes five-string banjo with the offered by Ti-Coca. Hector plays a Fender locally seems removed. The tradition of making banjos short, top string U.S.-made instruments. In to have died out in Haiti, and musicians play by banza itself is rarely used for the instrument, replaced fact the term style kept alive in Twoubado the English term banjo. But the playing it has been alive some older traditions, even as inspired music likely keeps traditions." by more recent banjo playing of Richard Hector The music of Ti-Coca and the banjo playing worlds that have between the spiritual and music embody the crossings For enslaved Africans in the long shaped the history of the instrument. and the dead also the boundary between the living Americas, crossing between here and there, between the meant crossing the boundary instrument, replaced fact the term style kept alive in Twoubado the English term banjo. But the playing it has been alive some older traditions, even as inspired music likely keeps traditions." by more recent banjo playing of Richard Hector The music of Ti-Coca and the banjo playing worlds that have between the spiritual and music embody the crossings For enslaved Africans in the long shaped the history of the instrument. and the dead also the boundary between the living Americas, crossing between here and there, between the meant crossing the boundary --- Page 146 --- THE BANJO that the symbols in the later Americas and Africa. It was that crossing meant to symof The Old Plantation, including the frog, were version meaning of the banjo was about the bolize. In this sense, the spiritual the kind of exile from enactment of an impossible return, about refusing demanded. The and oneself, that the slave system one's natal community, these instruments in Haiti, human figures and crosses that decorated this instrument is and South Carolina were a way of saying: Louisiana, that takes us back, an insistence on conour link, the part ofthe cross ofbringing together and survival. Because it did SO also as a way nection ofthe continent, it was also inventing Africa people from different parts that felt like-but creating a new place again and again as it sounded, could never quite be-the old place. ultimately choices-rechnical, sonic, aesthetice-would All ofthese the of making an instrument have been made in order to serve purpose For a musiwelcoming, that could be a call to gathering. that could be would have been to make sure that all cian like Trois-Feuilles, the key would have the diverse world ofthe enslaved in Saint-Domingue within The banjo had to familiar in the sound ofhis playing. found something the collective of exiles before him, speaking be heard and understood by different spiritual traditions. different musical languages, harboring many aesthetic work all at once. deal ofcultural, sonic, and It had to do a great and other styles of construction-like Its creation was not a linear tale, the with a rounded in the Suriname engraving, or banjo the harp depicted the Sciences and Arts- -persisted neck depicted in the 1792 Liberty Displaying like The Old common construction we see in images alongside the more banza. But, over time, the particular strucPlantation and in the Haitian South Carolina, Haiti, and ture we see in the images from Jamaica, and embraced by musito have been adopted Louisiana seems gradually offer what they needed. cians as the form that could most successfully of choices, of needs and That form was the result of an accumulation ofthe banjo. By condensed in the structure hopes, that were ultimately the instrument was consolidated and the end of the eighteenth century, and North America. present far and wide across the Caribbean had been made The first stage ofits history was complete. The banjo different musical languages and to travel, to bring together to connect old and new, traditional and welcoming and traditions, to sound at once Louisiana seems gradually offer what they needed. cians as the form that could most successfully of choices, of needs and That form was the result of an accumulation ofthe banjo. By condensed in the structure hopes, that were ultimately the instrument was consolidated and the end of the eighteenth century, and North America. present far and wide across the Caribbean had been made The first stage ofits history was complete. The banjo different musical languages and to travel, to bring together to connect old and new, traditional and welcoming and traditions, to sound at once --- Page 147 --- 137 Three Leaves dramatic transformations of the nineteenth at the same time. Through the in new hands. But it would century, it would find itself in new places, obscured legacy, the esif sometimes carry forward, as a fundamental that ofcreating the sound of sential function that it was created to fulfill: gathering and solidarity. worlds together is captured in one The power of the banza to bring his world. The folktale about a man who uses music to transform Haitian called Ti-Malice), is a fixture of many main character, Malice (often enable him to turn the tables on Haitian stories, a trickster whose ruses and by Mimi In a version of the tale collected published the powerful. the descendent of Boton, the African Barthelemy, Malice is described as he plays fox. As a result of this mixing, hare, and Goupil, the European him in his sad life-barefoot, the banza. The instrument accompanies he dreams of something difof in his stomach. But poor, a pit hunger The king and queen of the ferent and one day seizes an opportunity. secret from evwhose names have been kept land have four daughters, offered his fortune and one ofhis in their kingdom. The king has four eryone who can figure out their daughter's hands in marriage to any subject be who try and fail will executed, names. But there is a price: any one. One day Malice Malice is not just a trickster, but a very lucky tree full of river, where there is a beautiful papaw wanders down to the is about to crunch into it, he fruit. He picks a papaw to eat, and just as he bathing in the river. and talking. It is the four princesses, hears laughter watches them undress, he drops his Trembling with excitement as he over who will into the water. The four princesses begin to argue apple to the other "Makakofi, it's not yours! eat it, and in the process one says how he can learn all their names It's mine!" Malice realizes that this is each of throw three more apples into the water, learning and proceeds to When he gets home, he composes a song the princesses' names in turn. names and then approaches for his banza that recites the four princesses' dressed in and SO that the King won't see he is rags, the palace at night, stunned, asks him to sing the song sings it under the window. The King, the King, true to his After having him bathed and dressed up, again. fortune and allows him to choose one ofhis word, offers Malice halfhis with the prinHe takes the money, spends a night daughters to marry. cellar and drinks all the alcohol, and cess he has chosen, sneaks into the for his banza that recites the four princesses' dressed in and SO that the King won't see he is rags, the palace at night, stunned, asks him to sing the song sings it under the window. The King, the King, true to his After having him bathed and dressed up, again. fortune and allows him to choose one ofhis word, offers Malice halfhis with the prinHe takes the money, spends a night daughters to marry. cellar and drinks all the alcohol, and cess he has chosen, sneaks into the --- Page 148 --- THE BANJO then leaves to go home. As do many Haitian folktales, the story ends with another twist: the narrator, hiding and watching the story unfold, gets discovered by Malice. "He invited me to follow him, and offered me a banza concert that charmed me SO deeply that I listened to him for sixty years, and have only now arrived in order to tell you this story." 69 --- Page 149 --- The Sound of Freedom Ir WAS "A SINGULAR SPECTACLE, wrote the British traveler George Featherstonhaugh in 1844: on the banks ofthe New River in Virginia, several hundred slaves were being marched toward the auction blocks of Natchez, Mississippi. A few enslaved women and "a great many little black children" were sitting on logs, "warming themselves on the fires of the bivouac." "In front of them, and all prepared for the march, stood, in double files, about two hundred male slaves, manacled and chained to each other." The slave traders, white men with "broad-brimmed white hats" were "standing near, laughing and smoking cigars. 79 Disgusted, Featherstonhaugh declared that the scene resembled "those coffles ofslaves spoken ofby Mungo Park" in West Africa. But instead of African slaves being carried to the sea, these were American slaves being torn from their communities in Virginia. "Black men in fetters, torn from the lands where they were born, from the ties they had formed . driven by white men, with liberty and equality in their mouths, to a distant and unhealthy country, to perish in the sugar-mills ofLouisianal" Throughout the early nineteenth century in North America, the sight ofsuch slave coffles was common across the South. With the transatlantic slave trade to the United States was outlawed, plantation owners seeking --- Page 150 --- THE BANJO in the new territories opened up through the slaves for the plantations the slave communities ofVirLouisiana Purchase had one main source: and traumatic and other parts of the East Coast. The defining ginia life during the first half of the nineteenth event in African-American kind of slave coffles that had tracentury, this process brought the same the North American versed West and Central Africa for centuries to and rural areas, and to its roads and crossroads. continent, to its towns of the enslaved and separated It demolished established communities from places like often established over several generations, families, Virginia and the Carolinas.? close to home, they looked When the enslaved were still relatively families. One ofthose to escape and head back to their for opportunities had happened had come the morning Featherstonhaugh opportunities coffle had to ford a large river. *This was one ofthe upon the group: the watchful to obtain their situations, ? he noted, "where the gangs-always that if one or two liberty-often show a disposition to mutiny, knowing free the rest." 9 wrench their manacles off, they could soon of them could techniques to try and quell the possibility The slave traders had developed "other negroes of such revolt. One of these was to hire entertainers, amused by lively to drive the rest, whom they trained by the slave-dealers to, and of the boasting of the fine warm climate they are going stories, there to be had for nothing." As part oftheir oranges and sugar which are urging the men in chains arsenal, these men were told to play the banjo, Never Tire' >3 and sing along to the song "Old Virginia to be merry long been rooted in many ofthe comThe banjo had, by the 1840s, the often of the enslaved in North America. On plantations, munities drove dances and celebrations on the plancombined with the fiddle, it in Jamaica them. In holiday festivals, such as Junkanoo tations and outside explosive sonic assault. Just as it and the Carolinas, it was part of a larger, invention, the banjo the Caribbean from the earliest days of its had in the of a world of for solidarity, to sound out possibility offered a space freedom. sadistic and cynical for the slave traders FeathIt was, then, particularly sound that probably erstonhaugh saw to use the sound of the banjo-a from their like home to many of the enslaved being torn sounded and dispersal. But communities-as the soundtrack to sale, separation, elsewhere in the was an extension of what was happening the gesture larger, invention, the banjo the Caribbean from the earliest days of its had in the of a world of for solidarity, to sound out possibility offered a space freedom. sadistic and cynical for the slave traders FeathIt was, then, particularly sound that probably erstonhaugh saw to use the sound of the banjo-a from their like home to many of the enslaved being torn sounded and dispersal. But communities-as the soundtrack to sale, separation, elsewhere in the was an extension of what was happening the gesture --- Page 151 --- 141 The Sound of Freedom brought onto the stage as a symbol country, where the banjo was being banjo music of slave life. The white musicians who began performing ofthe planthemselves as expert interpreters during this period presented created the form that became known tation music of the enslaved. They ofthe nineteenth blackface minstrelsy, the most popular entertainment as became a screen through which the century. These performances rapidly helping to create an experience of slaves themselves was interpreted, with their lot. In but largely content image of slaves as ignorant, funny, ofthe the late 1840s, the traveler Alex Mackay wrote "light-heartednes" 97 The banjo, slaves, who "make the present as merry as possible." ofthe accompaniment" to the joyful he wrote, was the "chief Instrumental The slave traders Featherstonsongs sung at the end of their workdays. real life into a 1841 were, in a sense, trying to transform haugh saw in "Old Virginia Never Tire" would minstrel show, imagining that hearing from about their forced expulsion somehow placate enslaved people their home in Virginia. Afro-American perforMinstrelsy brought together a deeply-rooted with and communicated tradition-one that had long grappled mance a need on the part of audiences to the experiences of Fenslavement-with itself. The banjo was both confront and set aside the terrors of slavery meanthe social and symbolic central to minstrelsy, which incorporated uses. As a result carried by the banjo and put them to new ings already crossroads of the cultures of various the sound oft the banjo, built at the symbol ofs slave in the New World, now became a popular African groups like the banjo itself, many things life and slave culture. Minstrelsy was, and a layering ofs symbols a sound, dance and theatre, at once: a practice, with one another to both repand meanings that clashed and interlocked cultural impact runs SO deep and transform the social order. Its resent difficult to track and enumerate. Indeed, that its legacies are sometimes of our cultural never really ended as a central part blackface performance ofthe nineteenth century, notably the life. The form shaped the literature Melville. And it had a profound culnovels of Mark Twain and Herman at the time-and on the waysin which people tural and ideologicalimpacte race, and music. As a resince-understood the link between slavery, hall of the banjo during this period is to enter sult, to write the history literature intermingle with, and of mirrors in which performance and social and cultural reality. sometimes become indistinguishable from, really ended as a central part blackface performance ofthe nineteenth century, notably the life. The form shaped the literature Melville. And it had a profound culnovels of Mark Twain and Herman at the time-and on the waysin which people tural and ideologicalimpacte race, and music. As a resince-understood the link between slavery, hall of the banjo during this period is to enter sult, to write the history literature intermingle with, and of mirrors in which performance and social and cultural reality. sometimes become indistinguishable from, --- Page 152 --- THE BANJO collision at work in a disturbing account of one slave's We can see the Slave traders sometimes used banjo experience on the auction block. slaves for sale, to the point that the music as part of the presentation of the table." 79 Sevblock itselfwas sometimes referred to as "banjo auction in the 1930s remembered this vividly. Sam eral former slaves interviewed Carolina-who described slavery as Mitchell, interviewed in South that he had but "a murdering" of people - explained though 7> The nothing sale himself, he had heard "tell ofthe banjo table." never seen a slave meanwhile, had seen slaves put on "the former slave Lucretia Heyward, Sam Polite, of Beaufort County banjo table" and sold like "chicken." of people sold on the South Carolina, also recounted seeing "plenty" the 17 He recalled how his uncle was placed on platform, "banjo table." dollars for his owner. bringing in a hundred of such an event comes in a 1931 book The most detailed account Armstrong, which presents accalled OldMassa's People, by Orlando Kay interviewed from more than 200 ex-slaves counts of slavery gleaned like those ofthe WPA narratives during the 1920s. Armstrong's text, the black vernacular speech during the same period, attempts to capture that the It does SO, however, in a way exaggerates of those interviewed. of black dialect in difference of this language. In fact, the construction of minstrelsy, this and other works was shaped by the broader context that supfor decades had promoted a certain idea, a vocabulary, which Nevertheless, these texts give posedly captured black vernacular speech. individuals had of slavery, and valuable access to the memories us rare how the ex-slave "Jolly old Uncle Buck" decades on. Armstrong recounts she added that he recalled "an incident of the banjo table." Startlingly, When the estate on "chuckles all the way through his account of it." "chained to which he lived was broken up, he was put in a warehouse could it! that buck play four other boys. 97 "One had a banjo-and how all the make him hush up SO the rest could sleep. Next morning Had to First boy up was Fred. *Get on de people gathered to bid on the niggers. but the auctioneer Fred, de bossman say." Fred stood on the table, table, needed to fill out some papers. "So Fred jus' wasn't quite ready to begin, stan' on de table." plunkety plunk! Dat nigger wid de By-m-by-Plunk, plunk, bench waitin' to be sold, he plunk his banjo settin' on the all the make him hush up SO the rest could sleep. Next morning Had to First boy up was Fred. *Get on de people gathered to bid on the niggers. but the auctioneer Fred, de bossman say." Fred stood on the table, table, needed to fill out some papers. "So Fred jus' wasn't quite ready to begin, stan' on de table." plunkety plunk! Dat nigger wid de By-m-by-Plunk, plunk, bench waitin' to be sold, he plunk his banjo settin' on the --- Page 153 --- The Sound of Freedom he rattle inter a real chune. Hi-yo! Fred 'gin ter banjo. Den feet, an' fine'ly he cain't stan' it no shuffle roun' on his big de table, dance. He slap his big feet on banjo longer. He gotta music. White men laugh an' clap an we all pat wid de banjo Wouldn't let de dey han's. Make him dance some mo'. Yo-ho! It auctioneer start till Fred dance de buck-an'-wing, he done De white man what bought Fred say sho'ly was funny! could dance hundrert dollars mo' 7 fo' dat nigger cause he paid like dat!s about the whole story and the fact that There is something uncanny the volition of an auctioneer or a with laughter. It is not it was delivered but rather the brilliant playing of another buyer that makes Fred dance, sold. In fact, Buck's telling ofthe himself chained and ready to be man, practices of the late have itselfb been shaped by performance story may African-American touring musical nineteenth century: in 1892, one included "banjo playing, an "auction scene" that troupe performed in 1892, and others in the laughing songs, negro dancing and patting" Through all these layers of have offered something similar. country may wonder what the original and interpretation, we can only recounting and how the musician depicted scene really looked like, and try imagine and why. But and wonder what song he played, understood the situation, fuses with the most brutal asin this story, the joyful sound ofthe banjo collusion between of slavery, inviting us to dwell on the disturbing pects the two. life is full of such The history of the banjo in African-American wonders "whether inscrutable texts. Saidiya Hartman painful and perhaps found in a theatre is to be no-longer-renenbered the origin of American bears the trace ofp punishment." primal scene oftorture, and whether song in minthe fantasy oft the plantation, as presented How do we untangle ofthe enslaved? How are we to understand strelsy, from the actual culture slavery the link between the terror and uprooting ofi ninetenth-century on the in the form of exuberant music and comedy, and its presence, that minstrelsy was in fact a continuaminstrel stage? Hartman argues "amusements' 7 in which tion of various kinds oflongstanding plantation by the master watched their slaves perform. "What was demanded masters she notes, but they also used performance was simulated by the enslaved," untangle ofthe enslaved? How are we to understand strelsy, from the actual culture slavery the link between the terror and uprooting ofi ninetenth-century on the in the form of exuberant music and comedy, and its presence, that minstrelsy was in fact a continuaminstrel stage? Hartman argues "amusements' 7 in which tion of various kinds oflongstanding plantation by the master watched their slaves perform. "What was demanded masters she notes, but they also used performance was simulated by the enslaved," --- Page 154 --- THE BANJO conducted under the cover of nonsense, indirection, as "acts of defiance within these >7 The intricate tactics deployed and seeming acquiescence." the aims of masters. This created a rich performances turned them against to deal with an set of strategies of song and performance and complex situation in which performance served conambiguous and ever-shifting What for masters was a display of power tradictory roles simultaneously. of and sometimes for the enslaved was an opportunity for layers response caricature that would The cycle of imitation and parody and resistance. then, in fact born much earlier. The be the key to the minstrel show was, "authentic" plantation culture minstrel shows' claim to be channeling an of practrue: but all that meant was that a sedimentation was, in a sense, carried on in a new setting." tices ofi imitation and mirroring was being imbrication of forms is crysand unavoidable This deep, troubling, most and enduring tallized in the song that became one ofthe popular Susanna." 97 Written hits the United States has ever produced: "Oh! Minstrels pop Foster in 1847, it was popularized by the Christy by Stephen work of music in America and in time became probably the most popular the world and still the nineteenth century, spreading throughout during familiar and recognizable of our country's kept alive as one ofthe most for me; I come from Alabama, airs. Its chorus: "Oh! Susanna, do not cry familiar line in American Wid a banjo on my knee" is perhaps the most music. and his first years in Pittsburgh. When Foster was born in 1826 spent named Olivia Pise, child, his family had a servant he was a very young Morrison as a "mulatto bound-girl." She later described by his brother probably a refugee from the ofa a "West India Frenchman," was daughter dance in Pittsburgh in the early 1800s. AcSaint-Domingue, who taught few old Pise took when Stephen was just a years cording to Morrison, colored people," where he enhim to services at "a church of shouting a taste for "negro and boisterous devotions" and gained joyed "singing channeled into his music. As a boy Stephen develmelody" that he later in his family's carriage house oped his love ofmusic and began performing that of a blackface performer for local audiences. His repertoire drew on When he was twentynamed T. D. Rice, notably his hit song "Jim Crow." minstrel "Susanna," 99 a song calibrated to join the one, Foster composed ofthe sings in dialect, telling of his repertoire. The black narrator song find in New Orleans. search for his love Susanna, whom he hopes to led into his music. As a boy Stephen develmelody" that he later in his family's carriage house oped his love ofmusic and began performing that of a blackface performer for local audiences. His repertoire drew on When he was twentynamed T. D. Rice, notably his hit song "Jim Crow." minstrel "Susanna," 99 a song calibrated to join the one, Foster composed ofthe sings in dialect, telling of his repertoire. The black narrator song find in New Orleans. search for his love Susanna, whom he hopes to --- Page 155 --- 145 The Sound of Freedom "Tll fall upon de ground. . But if I do When he finds her, he says when I'm dead and buried, find her, Dis darkey'l1 surely die, / And not Susanna don't you cry." the black narrator's freeThere is something odd about the song: Alabama to Louiand comic journey in search ofSusanna from wheeling in the late 1840s, and audiences siana would in fact have been impossible obvious way known that. At the time, however, the one very would have toward Louisiana was in slave coffles, or that black men were traveling heading to the state to try and with white masters who were else traveling It is that experience that was make their fortunes in the sugar economy. influence on Foster's ballad" that may have been an told in a "slave 1835 in the published journal of an lyrics. The lyrics were printed in States and had heard the song abolitionist who had toured the United forced to go to It was a comic lament about being sung in Philadelphia. "Il born in Sout Calina, fine country ebber Louisiana with a slave master: New Orlean' 9 The "boss" / I guine from Sout Calina, I guine to seen and set her on 7 and SO took his "mare, black Fanny" was "discontentum," where "de hear de He pushed on to Alabama, the path to "Lousy-Anny." And he must fudder go. The cotton grow: But he spirit still contrary, on to Louisiana, to in and pushed master felt the same way Mississippi, last line of the song puts it: "Old the chagrin of his slave. For, as the / Where de sugardat scarecrow for poor nigger, debble, Lousy-Anny, de turn to sugar. >10 cane grow to pine-tree, and pine-tree the abolitionist publication, orFoster could have read these lyrics in heard a in Philadelphia in the 1830s-even given that the song was sung during his years growing up. version of it somewhere in Pennsylvania of the is quite of the story, and of at least part journey, The structure from the perspective of a similar. Foster may turned a song clearly sung oflovelorn wandering. slave being forced to Louisiana into a comic story Carolina in the earlier from his home in South The slave brought away Instead oflooking for a loved would have likely left behind family. song the fact that he had been he would have been mourning one in Louisiana, then, may be haunted by a plea to a torn away from them. Foster's song, Louisiana. And if that was the loved one, sent by a slave sold away to comic song is a song of then somewhere hidden in this joyful case, a victim ofa slave system whose mourning, a farewell to a family, by ofthe banjo itself. were as hidden but as persistent as the sound meanings Instead oflooking for a loved would have likely left behind family. song the fact that he had been he would have been mourning one in Louisiana, then, may be haunted by a plea to a torn away from them. Foster's song, Louisiana. And if that was the loved one, sent by a slave sold away to comic song is a song of then somewhere hidden in this joyful case, a victim ofa slave system whose mourning, a farewell to a family, by ofthe banjo itself. were as hidden but as persistent as the sound meanings --- Page 156 --- THE BANJO have been the underside of"Oh! Susanna" We can glimpse what may Henson in his autobiography. in a story told by the abolitionist Josiah Beecher Stowe's character Henson, who was the inspiration for Harriet Henson was born his story with the silencing ofsong. Uncle Tom, began Maryland, where his father was a in 1789 on a plantation in Nanjemoy, his father sing. In fact his only beloved banjo player. But he never heard his "head bloody and his of his father was of seeing him with memory and mutilated. As he later back lacerated" after he had been whipped his wife his father had come upon a white overseer trying to rape learned, and had "sprung on the man like a in an isolated area of the plantation his father Henson wrote, prevented tiger. ? Only the mother's entreaties, He fled into the woods to avoid punishment from killing the overseer. and those nearby found. The slaves ofhis plantation but was eventually moral as he was given to watch "for their improvement" were summoned the end ofwhich his right ear was nailed lashes ofthe whip, at a hundred the his father was never the same. and sliced off. After beating, to a post and light-hearted man, the ringHe had once "been a good-humored buffoonery. His banjo and Christmas leader of all fun at corn-huskings would he the life ofthe farm, and all night long at merry-making was dance." Now, he was "utterly changed." play on it while the other negroes could be done with him." Even "Sullen, morose and dogged, nothing the master sold West had no effect, and eventually the threat of being and neither Henson nor his did sell him. He disappeared to Alabama, mother ever heard news of him again." * in the courthouse of Marion In August of 1839, a tense crowd gathered from the South, branOhio. A group of outsiders, white men County, in the center ofthe courtroom. They had come dished pistols and knives Bill, whom they claimed a man known in the town as Black to carry away of the residents of the town, including a was an escaped slave. But many believed he was a free abolitionists, weren't having it: they few Quaker slave traders. If Black Bill had SO by unscrupulous man being targeted in his year living in the area he had many allies, it was partly because barber and a butcher, freworking as a made himedrf"indispenabler and cure meat and known in particquently hired in local houses to cut claimed a man known in the town as Black to carry away of the residents of the town, including a was an escaped slave. But many believed he was a free abolitionists, weren't having it: they few Quaker slave traders. If Black Bill had SO by unscrupulous man being targeted in his year living in the area he had many allies, it was partly because barber and a butcher, freworking as a made himedrf"indispenabler and cure meat and known in particquently hired in local houses to cut --- Page 157 --- 147 The Sound of Freedom known for his ?7 He was also a musician ular for his "Virginny sausage." >12 "ability to play the fiddle and banjo. tried to leave the courtsided with Black Bill. But as he The court him by the throat, and a melee room, one ofthe white Virginians grabbed and managed to beat and drag broke out. Bill's attackers were well-armed toward the police station. courthouse and down the street Bill out ofthe town's main street was under construction Unfortunately for them, the broken stones: the perfect and had just been covered with a layer of small with rocks, and Local residents began pelting the Virginians projectiles. themselves in the police station, the infuriated when they barricaded arsenal. The riot ended when a crowd demanded access to the local police the release of Black Bill, judge entered the police station and demanded of several locals, he the With the help who was able to leave prison. members ofthe town and was hidden by sympathetic managed to escape to Canada. His case became a Underground Railroad and soon spirited hostile beyond Ohio, a part oft the increasingly flashpoint of controversy in the decades before the Civil War. national conflict over fugitive slaves in the area, music had made Despite Black Bill's relatively short residency hands, ultimately been visible. The fiddle and the banjo had, in his him for freedom, helping to set up a in his own struggle a critical weapon that a community against outpublic and quite violent conflict pitted siders claiming the right to kidnap.' 13 His name famous case, music led to a free man's capture. But in one two men who Northrop, and in 1841 he was tricked by was Solomon ready to hire him to play, then sold him presented themselves as agents ordeal, one he wrote about in into slavery. The result was a twelve-year ofthe slave narratives ofthe what was to become one ofthe most famous in 1853. As he renineteenth century: Twelve Years a Slave, published youth." 77 It the violin was "the ruling passion of my counted, playing and after he was sold into slavery, "the became a source ofhis livelihood him and to himself. His acof consolation" ? both to those around source the it offers us of music on for descriptions count is particularly precious written by an enslaved musician." the plantations one, proverbially," wrote "The African race is a music-loving fellow-bondsmen adding that "many there were among my Northrop, developed, and who could thumb whose organs oftune were strikingly explained, had enabled the banjo with dexterity." The violin, Northrop slavery, "the became a source ofhis livelihood him and to himself. His acof consolation" ? both to those around source the it offers us of music on for descriptions count is particularly precious written by an enslaved musician." the plantations one, proverbially," wrote "The African race is a music-loving fellow-bondsmen adding that "many there were among my Northrop, developed, and who could thumb whose organs oftune were strikingly explained, had enabled the banjo with dexterity." The violin, Northrop --- Page 158 --- THE BANJO can conceive how I would have him to survive. Without it "I scarcely tribute ofbondage." 99 Northrop offered up a moving endured the longyears could be a form of escape at once to the way a musical instrument for work away from the field it concrete-through the opportunities reminder of other worlds and other afforded-and abstract, through the possibilities: houses-relieved me of many days' It introduced me to great for my labor in the field-applied me with conveniences and and tobacco, and extra pairs of shoes, cabin-with pipes from the presence of a hard master, to oftentimes led me away and mirth. It was my companion-the witness scenes ofjollity loudly when I was, joyful, friend of my bosom-triumphing when I was sad. Often, uttering its soft, melodious consolations from the cabin, when sleep had fled affrighted at midnight, disturbed and troubled by the contemplaand my soul was On holy tion of my fate, it would sing me a song ofpeace. allowed, it Sabbath days, when an hour or two ofleisure was bank on the bayou would accompany me to some quiet place its voice, discourse kindly and pleasantly and, lifting up around the me indeed. It heralded my name country-made otherwise would not have noticed me- gave friends, who, feasts, and secured the me an honored seat at the yearly all the Christmas loudest and heartiest welcome ofthem at dancel15 happiness, rampant and Northrop described the particular "genuine That holiday, he wrote, unrestrained," he saw during Christmas dances. enslaved develthe children of Slavery." The was "a day of liberty among and channeled that evaforms of sound and motion that expressed oped Junkanoo celebrations that stretched nescent freedom. The Christmastime, often started on the from the Caribbean to the Carolinas, for instance, and outside them, creating sounds gestures plantations but soon spilled but also imand disturbing, difficult to categorize, that were disruptive from. One man who saw them in 1797 in possible for many to turn away assault: "The confusion Jamaica, described them as a sonic the Kingston, of chains and slings from the wharves, occasioned by the rattling expressed oped Junkanoo celebrations that stretched nescent freedom. The Christmastime, often started on the from the Caribbean to the Carolinas, for instance, and outside them, creating sounds gestures plantations but soon spilled but also imand disturbing, difficult to categorize, that were disruptive from. One man who saw them in 1797 in possible for many to turn away assault: "The confusion Jamaica, described them as a sonic the Kingston, of chains and slings from the wharves, occasioned by the rattling --- Page 159 --- 149 The Sound of Freedom the postmens horns, mock-driving of hoops by the coopers, winding and tabor, negroe militia and negroe drums, the sound of pipe beating ofthe violin, and singing ofmen flutes, gombas and djaw-bones, scraping instrument, rede9 Performers made everything into an and women." over public space and using ploying the tools of work and war, taking and communithe holiday as an occasion for pleasure, experimentation, orchestration ofs swirling cation. The banjo was one part of this broader Year'sDay resident Matthew Smith recalled how on New sound.Jamaica sounds ofthe drum and banjee" announcing a 1816 he heard "sudden Canoe," 2 and SO he spent an procession. "There was no resisting John A visitor to the afternoon in the "broiling sun" following and listening. master's house 1826 witnessed the slaves gathering in front ofthe island in "with their gombays, bonjaws, and an ebo the evening of Christmas Day of stretched over it. drum, made of a hollow tree, with a piece sheepskin in them, stuck carried small calabashes with pebbles Some ofthe women rattled in time to the songs, or rather howls on short sticks, which they who arrived 77 The Baptist Minister James Phillippo, of the musicians." recalled seeing John Canoe, carrying a in Jamaica in the early 1820s, "beating banjas and tom- "wooden sword," accompanied by musicians, black seed, called Indian COW horns, shaking a hard round toms, blowing bones of animals together, which, added shot, in a calabash, and scraping filled the air with the most discordant to the vociferations of the crowd, sounds. >16 celebrated in Jamaica as early as the mid-eighteenth Junkanoo was in the writings ofthe planter Edward century and was first documented enslaved men paraded During the Christmas holidays, he wrote, Long. habits" with "ox-horns on their heads, through the streets in "grotesque vizor, or mask, which about from the top of a horrid sort of sprouting terrific with large boar-husks." Followed by the mouth is rendered very refresh him frequently with a sup of a crowd of"drunken women who would dance in front of each door aniseed water," these costumed men Long theorized, was "John Connul" and dancing. The shout, shouting chieffrom Axim in honor of a man named John Conny, a "celebrated" instead that the term "John on the Guinea Coast. One linguist suggests Ewe used to Conoe" came from a term in the West African language this in tradition continues to day describe a sorcerer. The performance Jamaica and other parts ofthe Caribbean." unken women who would dance in front of each door aniseed water," these costumed men Long theorized, was "John Connul" and dancing. The shout, shouting chieffrom Axim in honor of a man named John Conny, a "celebrated" instead that the term "John on the Guinea Coast. One linguist suggests Ewe used to Conoe" came from a term in the West African language this in tradition continues to day describe a sorcerer. The performance Jamaica and other parts ofthe Caribbean." --- Page 160 --- THE BANJO I 150 One of the defining features ofJunkanoo dresses, wooden became elaborate headsculptures that depicted and times offered a remarkable ships houses and someof slavery. Matthew Lewis condensation, and analysis, ofthe social order doublet, and bearing saw a "Merry-Andrew dressed in a upon his head a kind of striped with puppets, representing, pasteboard house-boat, filed slaves some sailors, others on the plantation." 1 The three soldiers, others again soldiers, and slaves-were groups depicted in the boat-sailors, of Atlantic colonial those whose lives and labor kept "the wheels and commercial notes. John Canoe systems turning," as one historian Atlantic literally carried on his head those who carried the economy through their work. 18 Junkanoo and similar celebrations drawing on performance were an elaborate form oftheatre, dent traditions of both Africa and A resiofJamaica named Mary Nugent described their Europe. quality: "Nothing but bonjoes, drums, and relentless, unending and dancing and singing and tom-toms, going all night, madness, all the pants, she noted, were "superbly dressed" morning." Some particispangles, beads." One with "gold and silver fringe, a sort ofleader party of"dancing men and women" who or superior at their head, who "had seemed to regular all their 91 sang a sort ofrecitative, and "rude sort of drum, made ofl proceedings." bark They were accompanied by a their feet.' 23 There leaves," on which "they beat time was a party ofactors, and "a little with who was supposed to be a king, who child was introduced, dressed as "Henry 4th ofl France." stabbed all the rest.' 9> One man was "all began dancing with the "After the tragedy" was acted out, they greatest glee." Such were observed again in 1825, when theatrical performances group of slaves a man described being visited by a fantastically "considering of musicians, and a couple of dressed to represent kinds or personages white mask on his face, and of warriors; one of them wore a reference part the representation had to the play ofRichard the Third; for the evidently some exclaimed, A horse, a horse, man in the white mask The celebration my kingdom for a horse!' 19 called was also practiced among North it "John Koonering, 9 and it took Carolina slaves, who place on Christmas. character," one doctor who visited a "The leading man whose get-up' consists in plantation in 1829 wrote, is a ragend of each hangs loose and a costume of rags, SO arranged that one "Two dangles." He wore an elaborate great OX horns, attached to the skin of a headdress: raccoon," with just holes in the white mask The celebration my kingdom for a horse!' 19 called was also practiced among North it "John Koonering, 9 and it took Carolina slaves, who place on Christmas. character," one doctor who visited a "The leading man whose get-up' consists in plantation in 1829 wrote, is a ragend of each hangs loose and a costume of rags, SO arranged that one "Two dangles." He wore an elaborate great OX horns, attached to the skin of a headdress: raccoon," with just holes --- Page 161 --- 151 I The Sound of Freedom It was also a musical instrument: it was adorned for his eyes and mouth. of dried horns" that with "several COW or sheep bells or strings goat's fantastimoment." 93 There were six musicians "arrayed "jingle at every boxes"-like those cally in ribbons rags and feathers" and playing "gumba in West Africa during maroons that became popular played by, Jamaican frames covered over with tanned of"wooden the same period-made from the residents of the sheep-skins." 79 The dancers demanded change while dancing. Though house," andj Ijingled it for a while in the cup hours the "great offered a reversal of roles: for a few it was brief, Junkanoo and playing drums, deenslaved occupied the master's house, dancing documented in In some versions of the celebration manding money. became white for a day. An 1833 account Jamaica, the enslaved explicitly false-face or mask," and described performers in a "white from Jamaica "With white masks and powsometimes they wore white gloves as well. turned plantation writes one historian, "black laborers dered faces," was at it seemed-a world of society into a world in which nothing confusion, and unlimited potential,"a uncertainty, ex-slave Harriet, Jacobs recalls the joys of what In her autobiography, on Christmas ? It took place on the plantation she called "Johnkannaus." attraction" of the day morning, and the performers were the "greatest have a net thrown for the children. "Two athletic men, in calico wrappers, Cow's tails covered with all manner ofbright colored stripes. over them, and their heads are decorated with horns." are fastened to their backs, called a gumbo Drummers played a "box, covered with sheepskin, ofthe cel- "triangles and jawbones." At the center box" and others played during the previous months, sung ebration were songs carefully composed the white masters and demanded money and rum from as the performers carried back home to whet a continuation oft the overseers. The rum was themselves, away from the master's celebration within the slave quarters would be ridiculed All the whites gave money, for ifthey didn't they Got no eyes. down on his heels, SO dey say; in song: "Poor massa, SO dey say; God A'mighty bress you, SO dey say; Not one shillin, SO dey say; money, SO dey say. >21 the most visible manifestations Junkanoo celebrations were among with enslaved communities. of a matrix of cultural and ritual activity observers. In 1838, a Virginia Other practices were less visible to outside in the local Farmer's resident named William Smith published an account the whites gave money, for ifthey didn't they Got no eyes. down on his heels, SO dey say; in song: "Poor massa, SO dey say; God A'mighty bress you, SO dey say; Not one shillin, SO dey say; money, SO dey say. >21 the most visible manifestations Junkanoo celebrations were among with enslaved communities. of a matrix of cultural and ritual activity observers. In 1838, a Virginia Other practices were less visible to outside in the local Farmer's resident named William Smith published an account --- Page 162 --- THE BANJO focused around the wondrous ofRegister of one such smaller gathering, found treasures in tree. Residents of Virginia ferings of the persimmon and medicine with its shoes and bedposts with its lumber this tree, making made ink, vinegar, sugar, brandy, pie bark. From its leaves and fruit they that, though nonaland most marvelously a kind ofbeer and pudding, with the music of the became intoxicating when combined coholic, that persimmon As Smith wrote: "Although I am ofthe opinion banjo. witnessed great glee, and highly pleasurbeer is not intoxicating, I have of beer; but I in our slaves, over a jug-gourd able sensation produced hilarity to the wild notes of the ascribe this reverie or pleasurable >22 "banjor, 99 which gives zest to the beer. an exto his own reverie about the banjo, seeking Smith was driven that made it SO wonderful planation for what it was about the instrument in the tones of this rude to. "There is indescribable something to listen delicate and refined here with pleasing instrument, that strikes the most ofits produces a twang or vibration strings, emotion; the uninterrupted Smith caught somesound as it dies away, that borders on the sublime." though he also here about the attractive hum of the instrument, culthing how much he-an educated man, with seemed a little disturbed at he offered it. As he sought an explanation, tivated musical tastes-liked "I never could account another insight into the banjo's sonic achievement: of distinguishing for its wonderful effect on a well-organized ear, capable that concord agreeable sounds; unless it be admitted, >23 and appreciating harmony. blended as to produce perfect and discord are SO completely the sound oft the banjo in this The concord and discord produced by contours Smith also a part of a larger social ritual, whose case was key by the plantation because he'd only partially perceived. He'd stopped that the slaves ofthe 99 and was told by the master heard the "tones banjor, and had been barrel of beer requested-and had brewed a persimmon dance." The event opened "privilege" ofhaving a "beer granted--the who-za"- with a song called "Who-zen-John, with great ceremony" Canoe. This was the opening for dancing perhaps a reference to John about family. Inside, meanto songs about love and songs and socializing, celebration, more focused around the while, was another center of in a chair on top of persimmon beer itself. The "banjor-man" was sitting red ribbon, or- "A long white cowtail, queued with a the barrel ofbeer. down his back; over this he namented his head, and hung gracefully -za"- with a song called "Who-zen-John, with great ceremony" Canoe. This was the opening for dancing perhaps a reference to John about family. Inside, meanto songs about love and songs and socializing, celebration, more focused around the while, was another center of in a chair on top of persimmon beer itself. The "banjor-man" was sitting red ribbon, or- "A long white cowtail, queued with a the barrel ofbeer. down his back; over this he namented his head, and hung gracefully --- Page 163 --- The Sound of Freedom decorated with peacock feathers, a rose cockade, wore a three-cocked hat, 27 all ofit topped with "red pepper as a top a bunch of ripe persimmons," chosen carefully and for a reason knot.' 99 Each ofthese objects was likely it had offered: a man served the celebration ofthe tree and what tied to while two women put persimmon dough up the beer to all those present, music drove the movement in the fire to make bread. The banjo player's against theirl bodies slapping palms oftwo men who were dancing "Juber," unison with the notes of heels on the floor "in perfect and stomping between the the banjor.' 97 The song they sang offered a counterpoint and what labor- "Hoe corn, hill tobacco" "double trouble" of plantation From its fruit came bounty, from the seed of the persimmon tree. came something the banjo's sound-and the and a kind of independence, and sustain.21 ritual attire ofthe player-helped to capture complex and multiple roles on plantations. Enslaved musicians played Canadian writer after on the plantation, as the Instruments were sought States in the 1830s, observed. John Finch, who traveled to the United "field were the "bandjo" as an instrument that negroes" He mentioned ambition of every negro is fond of, though he added that "the supreme the money by saving a real violin." 97 They gathered together to procure them, selling chickens, and robbing a little, "a few pence which are given he concluded, "seems necessary "An instrument of music," if necessary." to their existence. >25 in along the novel Swallow Barn, set on a plantation Virginia The 1832 could play in River, depicts the vital role a musician banks of the James named Carey, who played a "banjoe"; plantation life. Itincludes a character into song past and the inspiration of his own muse, weaving "he sings He is considered as a seer amongst the nepresent annals of the family. Carey is represented in the As one historian has written, groes on estate." that ofa West African griot, comthe novel as fulfilling a role not unlike also, however, his about his patrons"- who were posing "historical songs "annals oft the family" could well have owners. But his recounting of the different one to Africanversion to white audiences and quite a offered one was a "seer, it meant that he American listeners. And if the musician evoked a very past and present in ways that probably was able to connect and beyond this world. 26 different set ofrealities both within meanwhile, the novelist of the period, For one African-American In the late 1850s Martin R. sound of the banjo was the sound ofrevolt. "annals oft the family" could well have owners. But his recounting of the different one to Africanversion to white audiences and quite a offered one was a "seer, it meant that he American listeners. And if the musician evoked a very past and present in ways that probably was able to connect and beyond this world. 26 different set ofrealities both within meanwhile, the novelist of the period, For one African-American In the late 1850s Martin R. sound of the banjo was the sound ofrevolt. --- Page 164 --- THE BANJO Delany wrote Blake; Or the Huts of America, the born slave who seeks to start story of a Caribbeanthe U.S. South a slave revolution. He tours trying to organize the enslaved, but throughout that he is able to launch it is finally in Cuba markable an insurrection and become its leader. scene, Delany connects the In a reof reconnecting with African project ofrevolution with the project bration in Cuba for the roots through the banjo. At a great celenovel's hero, Henry Blake, "the Army of Emancipation and the Leader of the from originator oft the scheme to redeem slavery," a character named Pino them himself"master ofthe Golias, a "black surgeon, : proves favorite instrument bango. 7 Others play the ofhis father land, the African instrument as well at the woman named Ambrosina Cordora. The gathering, including a been the most instrument surpasses what had popular one before: the Spanish be "a secondary instrument when guitar, which proves to oft the pathetic in compared with the touching melodies bango the hands of this Negro artiste.' 27 Martin Delany was born in 1812 in western a slave, but his mother was free; and Virginia. His father was child inherited the mother's according to the law of slavery, the status. Both African born, and they traced their Delany's grandparents were ancestry to West Delany wrote Blake while living in the African chieftains. ering place for town ofMarshall, Canada, a gathmany who had escaped southern Underground Railroad. slavery through the the music of the During his life, he must have encountered banjo, seeing how it created escape on the plantation. On this basis, spaces of sociability and he took another banjo music as a rebel sound that could step, imagining the ultimately upend the plantation, a space usually dominated by landscape of Blake was originally rhythms and sound oflabor. Anglo-African published serially between 1859 and 1862 in the Magazine and the Weelly which the final chapters of the Anglo-African. But the volume in been lost, SO we don't know book were published in May 1862 has lution how he ended the novel. Did Blake's ultimately begin, and succeed? As it 1s, we're left with revopromise ofwhat is to come, ofa a perpetual realized. But Delany's redemption foretold and planned but not the story ended. In his description of the banjo holds a clue about how description of the of bango" in honor of Blake, he flashes performance the "African remembered later. forward to the way the incident is Having been "heretofore the better class among them" in neglected and despised by favor of European instruments, the and succeed? As it 1s, we're left with revopromise ofwhat is to come, ofa a perpetual realized. But Delany's redemption foretold and planned but not the story ended. In his description of the banjo holds a clue about how description of the of bango" in honor of Blake, he flashes performance the "African remembered later. forward to the way the incident is Having been "heretofore the better class among them" in neglected and despised by favor of European instruments, the --- Page 165 --- The Sound of Freedom "the choice" for musical performance. Tied to- "bango" in time became with the evening of "associations and remembrances" gether through had coalesced the project of antislavery revothe 'great gathering" that thenceforth be seen in the parlors and lution, the "Nigriton bango could ofthis class of the inhabitants." drawing rooms ofall of the best families had in mind: one in ofthe future Delany In these lines, we get a glimpse of African descent-ofall which, having secured their freedom, people the sound also embrace their connection to Africa through classes-would. ofthe banjo. 28 * Administration oversaw a project in In the 1930s, the Works Progress about their experiences. which hundreds of ex-slaves were interviewed from music them recalled the sense of liberty they had gained Many of and Northrop's and dance. In contrast to both theatrical representations slavery, however, rendering of the place of music within more positive the sense of danger, surveillance, and these ex-slaves often emphasized to find a space for musical constraint that surrounded their attempts "slave patrols" who Throughout the south, whites formed The gatherings. for slaves away from their plantations. traveled the roads looking ofs sound as a weapon. In the enslaved, in turn, cultivated a knowledge sound traveled agricultural landscape of the South, nineteenth-century the road signaled to those who were far. The sound ofhorses' hooves on and on roads, that a slave patrol was nearing. In prairies running away but this was neutralized in the woods horses gave an advantage to whites; of the ear over the spaces defined "by the precedence and swamps, horses offered runaways an "early-warning eye." ?9 The tromping of the who were trying to that they could use to track the slaveholders for system often "a more useful sense than sight track them. ? Sound, too, was used it to find collective action over distance." Escapees coordinating their next move. And when the one another in the woods, planning constant watch for for dances, they also had to keep enslaved gathered watch over them.29 those who were trying to keep constant musical instruments, most Many ex-slaves interviewed mentioned mentions. The second most popoften the fiddle, which had a total of205 And the most the with 106 mentions. ular instrument was banjo, sense than sight track them. ? Sound, too, was used it to find collective action over distance." Escapees coordinating their next move. And when the one another in the woods, planning constant watch for for dances, they also had to keep enslaved gathered watch over them.29 those who were trying to keep constant musical instruments, most Many ex-slaves interviewed mentioned mentions. The second most popoften the fiddle, which had a total of205 And the most the with 106 mentions. ular instrument was banjo, --- Page 166 --- THE BANJO was banjo and fiddle. Percussion common combination of instruments third in the number of meninstruments of various kinds were ranked the decades before the The narratives make clear, then, that during tions. in rural communities of the enCivil War the banjo was well-anchored and west to Arthe South, from Virginia to Georgia slaved throughout also offer rich details about the banjo's kansas and Mississippi. And they role in the lives ofthe enslaved.3 who played the banjo. In a few of these accounts it was the master South Carolina, interviewed lin Spartanburg, Cordelia Anderson Jackson, his and playing it SO remembered her master taking out banjo in 1937, with him: "Oh, Bob white, is your wheat ripe? that she would sing a song Greene recalled how whites 99 And Georgia-born Isaiah No. no, not quite." "In those days would hire slaves to play music at their own gatherings. to furnish musicians who were always ready there were many Negro fiddle for the frolics. If a white family was music from their banjo and they would hire and needed a musician but didn't own one, the entertaining, for them." And in Virginia, a slave from another plantation to play whites"-who he recalled ex-slave Robert Williams recalled, some "po' to the back by wealthier whites, forced to come were treated quite badly -came to the dances door of the house and living "just like stray goats" them from doing SO, the slaves. Local white masters tried to stop held by have to steal in to see de dance.' >31 and they "would recalled the way the banjo animated smaller Many ex-slaves vividly events that brought totheir as well as larger gatherings on plantations Looking back from individuals from several different plantations. gether ex-slaves evoked the sense ofjoyous conviviality nearly a century later, In Florida, Louis Napoleon rememand solidarity at these gatherings. where he and his parents bered that in the evenings on the plantation cabins and "would sing gathered in front of one of their lived, people or fiddle played by one of their and dance to the tunes of a fife, banjo between Pierce Cody recalled, after marriages number." In Virginia, himself-there was a long night of celslaves-officiated by the master music from the fiddle "the danced far into the night by ebration: guests recalled: "On our place, and banjo. 97 Cora Gillam, born in Mississippi, tamborine player. They the slaves had a regular band: fiddler, banjo player, Harve Osof They would play for the dances." played any kind song. North Carolina, around borne, born a slave on a plantation near Asheville, number." In Virginia, himself-there was a long night of celslaves-officiated by the master music from the fiddle "the danced far into the night by ebration: guests recalled: "On our place, and banjo. 97 Cora Gillam, born in Mississippi, tamborine player. They the slaves had a regular band: fiddler, banjo player, Harve Osof They would play for the dances." played any kind song. North Carolina, around borne, born a slave on a plantation near Asheville, --- Page 167 --- The Sound of Freedom 1825, delighted to tell of"dancing to the music oft the youth on the plantation where he lived. 32 banjo" during his Marriah Hines, born in Virginia in 1835, on the plantation were described how evenings spent quilting, making clothes, singing "in the moonlight by the tellingjokes, and tune of an old woman who was a slavein Norfolk banjo picker." Another were allowed to visit each 15 described how in the evenings "slaves other," and an old banjo." 99 She also described sometimes danced "by the tune of where they would Sunday services at a small log cabin, "pray and sing in our own feelings and singing songs that sounded out across the hills. These expressions," freedom of expression, however, small moments of scribed the white were always watched. She tellingly depreacher who attended their As soon as the service services as an "overseer." was done, they all had to rush home cooking the "white folks' dinner." to begin enslaved gathered in Masters feared that anytime the groups "for conversations," 9 they plotting to escape or "to cause trouble of might actually be some kind. " caught at night without a pass, Hines recalled, Those who were where they were caught, and were "stripped and beaten" whippings. some never recovered from the Although the masters "severe" gatherings of the sought to contain and limit the musical enslaved, they also took advantage of their bringing those who they thought could talents, house" to entertain sing and dance well to the their guests. 33 "big A Virginian ex-slave named Baily was a German migrant and whose Cunningham, whose grandfather ginia grandmother and mother slaves, was nearly a century old when he were VirHe remembered hearing the was interviewed in 1938. at night, banjo often as a child. "They had sometimes. Somebody would play the fiddles big dances and sometimes had a drum. We did the and some the banjo would hold hands 'buck dance."' A boy and girl andjump up and down and with the music." 77 They drank swing around keeping time sometimes "coffee, corn whisky or ended up drunk. "We would apple brandy," and had to be ready for work the dance and play all night but any full escape from the next day," he added. But there was never eyes of masters. "We had to master or misses to go to the dance, get a pass from our Rolers""the slave as we were afraid that the 'Patty patrols-"would get us." "The eight or ten men on horses master would have was taken up and watching and any one caught without a pass punished, sometimes whipped." Whatever sense of We would apple brandy," and had to be ready for work the dance and play all night but any full escape from the next day," he added. But there was never eyes of masters. "We had to master or misses to go to the dance, get a pass from our Rolers""the slave as we were afraid that the 'Patty patrols-"would get us." "The eight or ten men on horses master would have was taken up and watching and any one caught without a pass punished, sometimes whipped." Whatever sense of --- Page 168 --- THE BANJO circumscribed, shadowed by the liberty these events granted was always threat that a dance might lead to a whipping. and a code their dances secret developed Slaves often tried to keep had found out about a secret for telling one another when the patrols in the wheat, 77 they would bugs in the wheat," or' "weevils dance. "There's Civil War, recalled how her One woman, born just at the end ofthe on say. had once planned to go to a "big dance." But mother, a housemaid, footman came to see her and, right the day ofthe event, the plantation's knew there were "bugs in the of their mistress, asked her if she in front what he was talking about, and wheat." 99 The mistress asked the footman on: the "bugs in "Nothin.' 79) But the message had been passed he replied: who had found out about the dance. the wheat" were the patrollers, she didn't, since said she wouldn't go to the dance," and was glad "Mother broken the dance and whipped several she'd heard the patrollers had up said that all those at the dance of the slaves there. Other slaves, though, else behind a windows or by hiding had escaped by jumping out ofthe look behind. Such stories of door that the patrollers were "too dumb" to dances themselves. and tricking masters, in fact, were sung at the escaping born in 1842 in Texas, remembered fiddlers singing: Harriet Robinson, Fooled the overseer three / Hand me down "I fooled Ole Mastah 7 years / >35 banjo / And I'll tickle your bel-lee.' my how banjo playing had been One man named James Davis described interviewed at the his life. When he was important to him throughout but he'd been born in of 96, he was cotton farmer in Arkansas, to age Christmas morning of 1840. "I went Raleigh, North Carolina, on he recalled, "and I worms off tobacco," work when I was seven pullin' learned to play the banjo. "I used been workin' ever since." But he'dalso He played for "white one of the best banjo pickers. I was good." to be and corn shuckin's, oh lord, yes." folks" at their dances. "We had parties nigger / Oh grandhe continued: "Oh lousy "Tll sing you a song," the old fence rider / Ask that pretty gal mammy / Knock me down with the coal." 1 At the age oftwentylet me court her / Young ggal, come blow he sharply re- "sold the speculator and sold to Texas"- one, Davis was and the currency it was paid in-but membered his exact selling price, Carolina, runand made his way back to North ran away immediately them back to his home. ning across Sherman's troops and accompanying both during slavery the musical gatherings where he played To protect "Tll sing you a song," the old fence rider / Ask that pretty gal mammy / Knock me down with the coal." 1 At the age oftwentylet me court her / Young ggal, come blow he sharply re- "sold the speculator and sold to Texas"- one, Davis was and the currency it was paid in-but membered his exact selling price, Carolina, runand made his way back to North ran away immediately them back to his home. ning across Sherman's troops and accompanying both during slavery the musical gatherings where he played To protect --- Page 169 --- The Sound of Freedom another skill beyond banjo playing. "I've seen and after, Davis developed We'dbe Klux in slavery times and I've cut a many a grapevine. them Ku the banjo and the grapevine strung in the place dancin' and playin' and run right into the road and the Ku Klux come ridin' along across Davis here combines two historical it and throw the horses down." and the era of the periods-that of slavery and that of Reconstruction both in the continuity between the two eras, Ku Klux Klan, capturing and the ways Affican-Americans terms of the music that was played them. Other ex-slaves could sometimes defeat threats that surrounded Turner, who the Virginian Cecelia recalled similar scenes, including horses ended up sprawled on remembered how both patrollers and their watched from the while the slaves who had set the trap the ground, Hartman writes, through such narratives woods, laughing. As Saidiya small-scale battles with owners, these rural slave gatherings "appear like local whites, and the law."90 threat ofthe slave patrols. Musicians wrote songs about the constant night dances Williams, born in 1843, remembered Saturday Robert the There was patting and that took place in a "big barn" on plantation. of one ofhis songs "dancin' for life," 99 driven by a banjo player. The chorus let de run, run nigger run / Don't paddle went like this: "Run nigger >7 Williams noted that the master was rollers catch you / Run nigger run. far and the music listening, for he sat on his porch not away, probably >9 The song was well-known throughout could be heard "for half a mile." Austin Pen Parthe words varied. Mississippi-born the South, though stories about the slave patrols and singing nell recalled his father telling 'Run, nigger, run / "Run, Nigger, Run" to him: a version ofthe song "That nigger run / That nigger The pateroles'11 get you" the chorus rang. couldn't remember bust / His Sunday shoe." Parnell flew / That nigger hearing "the boys . . pick it out the rest ofthe song, but he remembered in 2 Henry Turner, also born into slavery on the banjo and the guitar." for the song: "Run nigger run, Mississippi, remembered another verse That tore his / That nigger run, that nigger flow / nigger it's almost day slave in Arkansas, remembered the shirt into." 79 And Cresa Mack, born a who would beat slaves during the Civil War about patrols song sung without a pass." 37 "almost to death" if they were caught memorable events. the slave patrols, the dances clearly were Despite Williams, born in 1847, describedjoyously how The former slave Nancy guitar." for the song: "Run nigger run, Mississippi, remembered another verse That tore his / That nigger run, that nigger flow / nigger it's almost day slave in Arkansas, remembered the shirt into." 79 And Cresa Mack, born a who would beat slaves during the Civil War about patrols song sung without a pass." 37 "almost to death" if they were caught memorable events. the slave patrols, the dances clearly were Despite Williams, born in 1847, describedjoyously how The former slave Nancy --- Page 170 --- THE BANJO and recalled bands with two fiddles, every "gal had a beau" at the dances, latter made tambourines, two banjos, and two sets ofbones-the two the bones from out in the woods where by"devilish boys" who gathered dancing for religious had to die. Williams had since given up cows gone enthusiasm how she had danced with her friend reasons but recalled with ofwater on her head without Jennie-and the "devil" carrying a glass shoes she had wearing a yellow dress and yellow ever spilling a drop, would match her dress, shoes that hurt painted with stolen paint SO they her, though that didn't stop her from dancing. in 1938, recalled that Misissippi-born Lewis Brown, interviewed times," folks didn'thave much amusement in slavery although the "grown instruments. "They danced they did have the "banjo, fiddle," and other all such as that,' ?7 he the cotillions and the waltzes and breakdown steps, he recalled, adding an "U-umph," maybe remembered. "Pick banjo, it. Ninety-eightthe sound as he remembered attempting to recapture Davis also brought the sound ofsong with year-old Arkansas resident Jim he to his in Civil War times," explained him. "I used to be a banjo picker as I could a reel," he interviewer. "I could pick a church songjust as good well as that of his own versatility as a musician as added, emphasizing one went like this, he said, the banjo as an instrument. Used to pick farewell, sweet Mary / and launched into a forelorn love ballad: "Farewell, don't like me / I'm ruined forever / By lovin' of you / Your parents offered a verse "I could pick anything, ? he went on, and That I do know." like I talked Grace." "I used to talk that on my banjo just his of"Amazing that his banjo had been, in a way, it there," 97 he concluded, suggesting voice. 39 and made sure to pass it on Ex-slaves considered this music precious Reeves, born An Arkansas preacher namedJames to the next generation. talking about the in 1870, remembered his parents and grandparents had in "slave time." "breakdown dances with fiddle and banjo music" they Arkansas had them." A father in "Far after slavery, : he explained, "they with was passed determined to make sure the music he had grown up was remembered it, he would pull out his on to his children. As Kate Arbery here and dance" and fiddle and call to them: "You little devils, come up that brought Together, the family had an ensemble have them "marchin"." instruments- quills, played like a together fiddle and banjo with other called a "pack-five in a instrument flute, and an innovative percussion "Far after slavery, : he explained, "they with was passed determined to make sure the music he had grown up was remembered it, he would pull out his on to his children. As Kate Arbery here and dance" and fiddle and call to them: "You little devils, come up that brought Together, the family had an ensemble have them "marchin"." instruments- quills, played like a together fiddle and banjo with other called a "pack-five in a instrument flute, and an innovative percussion --- Page 171 --- 161 1 The Sound of Freedom canes tied together just like my fingers. "Anyrow," made up off fishing make music on 'em." >40 body that knowed how could sure showed similar creativity Curlett recalled in detail how slaves Betty "The only musical instrument we had was in building their own banjos. or a long strip of Some made their banjos. Take a bucket pan a banjo. twisted made the base string. 2 horsehairs twisted wood. 3 horse hairs twisted made the fourth and the made the second string. 1 horse hair all but drawn tight." fifth string was the fine one, it was not twisted at the Sea with beeswax. On Georgia The strings, she added, were greased raccoon skins that were Islands, drums and banjos were both made using and smooth. They tacked to the side of a house until they were dried named trunk to make drums. A woman were then stretched over a tree celebrate a crop" recalled how the music for dances held to "good Hettie "guitah' " made with "coon hides stretched over came from what she called hoops." vividly recalled hearing the banjo Ex-slaves in other parts ofGeorgia recalled how on the Henry Bland, born in 1851, on their plantations. the slaves on the plantation celebrated Fourth of July and Christmas, also did "after the crops had with song and dance, something they violin, banjo and clapping with music "furnished by been gathered," with a violin given to him ofhands." " Bland himself sometimes played, her Susan Castle recalled Christmas parties on plantation, 3 by his master. "ready to pick up the banjo. Berry where there was always someone heard from her parents about planClay, born after emancipation, had the chief form of entertaintation "frolics at which square dances were >42 99 driven by the music of"banjo or fiddle' ment, with songs about love, Marshal Butler, in an interview peppered "frolicked" on Satand a stubborn mule, recalled how people feasting, music." He remembered an instrument that was urday nights to "swell attached to a tin can. One man almost "like a banjo," made of strings the with "broom "beat his hand" on the can, while another "beat strings" Grows the Willow and "Green straws." 99 They sang "Little Liza Jane" head home. Ex-slave Tree," until two in the morning, then scattered to the "young folks" Carrie Hudson also recalled how, on Saturday nights, and "picked the banjo. 7 Easter Huffsimilarly stayed up far past midnight musicians who played banjo and recalled Saturday nights animated by Another ex-slave, Sarah "knocked on tin pans for music to dance by." room "beat his hand" on the can, while another "beat strings" Grows the Willow and "Green straws." 99 They sang "Little Liza Jane" head home. Ex-slave Tree," until two in the morning, then scattered to the "young folks" Carrie Hudson also recalled how, on Saturday nights, and "picked the banjo. 7 Easter Huffsimilarly stayed up far past midnight musicians who played banjo and recalled Saturday nights animated by Another ex-slave, Sarah "knocked on tin pans for music to dance by." --- Page 172 --- THE BANJO "frolics," 3 held "anytime the slaves chose Byrd, talked of Saturday-night bones, and quills, and the dancing to have them." > Musicians played banjo, everyone was that as the sun rose on Sunday morning went on SO long Emmaline Heard, born a few years laying around or sitting on the floor. "frolics" that included also described plantation before emancipation, sometimes drew slaves from nearby plandancing and banjo playing and who could 'buck dance' the tations. "A prize was given to the person the head. A cake or a quilt steadiest with a tumbler of water balanced on 2 Elisha Doc Garey recalled his childhood was often given as the prize." he and other children worked plantation as a time where on a Georgia had dances where musicians played the "like horses" but also sometimes times."43 banjo and quills, creating 'stomp down good decades of slavery, and Music had sustained communities through freedom finally came. the celebration of the day it also accompanied remembered her aunt describing how, one Violet Shaw of Arkansas white man come, in the field when "a great big day, they were working 'Freedom! Freedom!" . : He told them jumped up on a log and shouted, at the house. "Some free." 79 They stopped working and gathered they was had a time that day. They got down and prayed, some sung. They got Some got in the big road just the banjo and fiddle and set out playing. walking, >44 William Eastman Johnson On the eve ofthe Civil War, the painter of the banjo in images of the place created one ofthe most enduring he witnessed not African-American life. He was taken by something in DC. In the painting but rather in an alley Washington, on a plantation, for mothers and children, for a he produced, a banjo player performs behind a fence, listening courting, and for a white woman lurking couple under the title Negro Life at the Southin. In time, Johnson's painting and "the best-known painted image became both his most famous work from its original context, of American slaves." 99 It was rapidly unhinged life ofblacks in the the indolent and slow-paced taken by many to depict under the title Old Kentucky Home, South. Indeed, it long circulated because In an Alley in Washpatently resituating its location, presumably with the desired sense DC, would not have endowed the painting ington, its through American ofdistance and nostalgia. But although longjourney vital here is that it serves as a visual racial ideology is important, more time, and sound. visual archive of a particular place, its original context, of American slaves." 99 It was rapidly unhinged life ofblacks in the the indolent and slow-paced taken by many to depict under the title Old Kentucky Home, South. Indeed, it long circulated because In an Alley in Washpatently resituating its location, presumably with the desired sense DC, would not have endowed the painting ington, its through American ofdistance and nostalgia. But although longjourney vital here is that it serves as a visual racial ideology is important, more time, and sound. visual archive of a particular place, --- Page 173 --- 163 The Sound of Freedom Robert Eastman L. Stuart Johnson, Negro Life at the South, 1859, Collection. Courtesy, of the New York Historical Society. Johnson lived in looking for local Washington, DC, in subjects to beginning 1855, on the block where paint in the following and began he lived, on F years. He found some designed the city in the late Street. When Pierre L'Enfant had blocks, which led to the creation eighteenth century, he had created spaces behind the houses became oflarge alleys behind houses. large gathered. Outside his back the areas where slaves worked, These spaces. And he would windows, Johnson would have lived, and intense, controversies have been quite aware of the observed these neighborhood surrounding slavery in the ongoing, and often southern was a fashionable area that was nation's capital. His senators as well as to Massachusetts home to many proslavery Sumner-who once found the antislavery senator step as a warning against his severed finger ofa slave left on his Charles The center of political activities. 46 doorman. It is this Johnson's painting 1S the banjo, "node" of sound that played by an older "generates the rest of the painting's observed these neighborhood surrounding slavery in the ongoing, and often southern was a fashionable area that was nation's capital. His senators as well as to Massachusetts home to many proslavery Sumner-who once found the antislavery senator step as a warning against his severed finger ofa slave left on his Charles The center of political activities. 46 doorman. It is this Johnson's painting 1S the banjo, "node" of sound that played by an older "generates the rest of the painting's --- Page 174 --- THE BANJO what "sets the narrative of the painting in moactivity": the music is dancing with a child, tion." 99 There is a couple flirting and an older woman holds a small her daughter. From a window, another woman take in the perhaps outside the window, perhaps to child slightly precariously this yard from a neighboring one sound. From around a wall separating and looking in, interpocomes a white woman, well-dressed, curious, the outskirts of the scene, in a blue dress. But she is on lated by a girl but not welcome. The image captures a affecting it only slightly, curious system" world that stands against the "dehumanizing social and cultural here, children are nurtured of slavery: "all generations are represented found for communal cultural by adults ofboth sexes, and time has been in the an- "inner strengths present activities." 19 One gets a portrait ofthe 47 tebellum African American community." as well as dignity, to the and solidity, There is a particular strength looks like it has just struck down himself. His strong hand banjo player and he is about to pick the top the with the back ofhis fingers, on strings new and taken care of: this is something string. His banjo looks relatively he made. Along with his bought, rather than something the banjo player be a living from his music. clothes, this suggests that he may making of musical crefascinated by this particular image Johnson was clearly twice afterwards, entitling one ation: he repainted this part ofthe image the he saw in and Admiration. Those were feelings version ofit Confidence looking up and watching: standing next to the musician, the young boy taking in the music. the next generation, * banjo player named One night in the early 1830s, an African-American "He was seated in of dancing in a Tennessee tavern. Ben drove a night instrument, which he called Sal," the corner on his stool, holding his ofthe affair. A white Colonel David Crockett in his remembrance wrote "Uncle Ben, strike up!" and she and another woman shouted out to him whole house was up, knocking it began dancing to his song. "Soon the time with his feet, and off-while old Ben thrummed his banjo, beat started off of an ill-fated journey-"I sung." 97 The song told the story for me / He began to from Tennessee / My old horse wouldn't pull from Tento cus an' whip / Walk jawbone fret an' slip, / An I begin his remembrance wrote "Uncle Ben, strike up!" and she and another woman shouted out to him whole house was up, knocking it began dancing to his song. "Soon the time with his feet, and off-while old Ben thrummed his banjo, beat started off of an ill-fated journey-"I sung." 97 The song told the story for me / He began to from Tennessee / My old horse wouldn't pull from Tento cus an' whip / Walk jawbone fret an' slip, / An I begin --- Page 175 --- The Sound of Freedom the song went on, and Ben inherited only nessee." ? The "old horse died" Ben offered instructions on 17 Interspersed with the verses, "hisj jawbone." an' hell an toe" or "Now, weed corn, how to dance: "Now, back step all life," Crockett wrote. an' double shuffle." "The dance was kiver taters, asked for the song "Jim Crow," Dancers called out for more songs-one: "limber" on the dance one oft them for being and Ben complimented floor. 49 at other sites of public performance. Whites could hear the banjo River, for instance, boatmen working on the James African-American their bateaux were lying at the landing on often played the banjo "while could listen in. And Virginia where passersby the river at Lynchburg," who made a career performing banjo also had at least one banjo player and a newspaper white audiences. His name was Titus, tunes for largely at the in 1818 described him as a regular performer profile published old slouched hat-a coat considerably Richmond Racetrack. "With an known the value of a good which had not often worse for wear-shoes hand-he marched over the hill under arm and stick in offered the polishing-banjo races." " His songs to Fairfield. to him the great day-ofthe had witnessed: musical version of what they just crowd an improvised before he commenced, and "He usually waited until the race was over "Every circumthe incidents of the struggle for victory." then he sang music. He named "every gentleman who stance was brought in" to Titus's for a comparison, the owned a horse" and made him a "hero." Searching Ancient article reached for that of Pindar-the author of the newspaper those who triumphed at the Olympic Greek poet who "immortalized "which he evidently stole, it games. 1 Titus sang one appropriate ballad, ballad, which describes nothing more nor less than the old English being Gray Mare, and the Noble Skewball." the race between the 'Bonny One of his songs offered But Titus sang about more than horse races. individual who narrative of the acts and deeds of a certain "an elaborate whom he designates as would otherwise have been lost to history, that he shot Mullen, whose story he commences by telling us 'Archie the devil."So ofTitus's repertoire, however, was about The most remarkable piece remembered in Richmond. He an event that would have been vividly a true and had composed, "an entire piece, giving played, and perhaps as he calls him, account of the capture of the 'nigger general, graphic . individual who narrative of the acts and deeds of a certain "an elaborate whom he designates as would otherwise have been lost to history, that he shot Mullen, whose story he commences by telling us 'Archie the devil."So ofTitus's repertoire, however, was about The most remarkable piece remembered in Richmond. He an event that would have been vividly a true and had composed, "an entire piece, giving played, and perhaps as he calls him, account of the capture of the 'nigger general, graphic --- Page 176 --- THE BANJO Gabriel.' 27 Eighteen years after one of the most important slave conspiracies in the history ofthe United States, which was organized at the time oft the Haitian Revolution and led to the public trial and hanging of the main organizer, Gabriel, Titus was telling his story. It was a bold move: the threat of an insurrection of the enslaved was a constant fear in the South, and Gabriel's vision-which was based on the idea that an alliance between radical white artisans and enslaved people could overthrow slavery and create a new Republican order-was a serious threat to the social order in Virginia at the time. 51 Unfortunately the words ofTitus's version were not noted by the author ofthe 1818 article. A few decades later, however, various versions of a song called "Uncle Gabriel" appeared in the minstrel repertoire. Many of them made no reference whatsoever to the events of 1800 in Richmond. One 1848 version performed by the Ethiopian Minstrels, for instance, had a chorus that asked "What will Uncle Gabriel say," recounting the story of a comical hunt for a "coon" and its happy consumption at a plantation frolic: "De niggers de come all around / and kick up a debil of a splutter; Dey eat the coon and clar the ground, to dance the chicken flutter, Dey dance all night till de broke ofday, to a tune on de old banjo. >52 But at least one minstrel act performed a version of"Uncle Gabriel" which, like Titus's version, focused on Gabriel's rebellion: the Christy Minstrels. They published sheet music to the song in 1848. The words include a startling level of detail about the conspiracy of 1800, which, there is reason to believe, may have even come from Titus's version. "Oh my boys I'm bound to tell you," : the song began: announcing a kind of necessity on the part ofthe singer to recount the story. The chorus sang "Hard times in Old Virginy,' and from the focus and tone ofthe rest of the song, the "hard times" were those ofthe enslaved and ofGabriel himself. The verses of the song were as follows:53 Oh don't' you know Old Uncle Gabriel, Oh! Oh! He war the Chiefof de Insurgents, Way down in Southampton It war a little boy betrayed him, Oh! Oh! I'm bound to tell you," : the song began: announcing a kind of necessity on the part ofthe singer to recount the story. The chorus sang "Hard times in Old Virginy,' and from the focus and tone ofthe rest of the song, the "hard times" were those ofthe enslaved and ofGabriel himself. The verses of the song were as follows:53 Oh don't' you know Old Uncle Gabriel, Oh! Oh! He war the Chiefof de Insurgents, Way down in Southampton It war a little boy betrayed him, Oh! Oh! --- Page 177 --- The Sound of Freedom A little boy by the name ofDaniel Oh! Oh! Betrayed him at the Norfolk landing, Oh! Boys I'm getting done. The whites dey fought him and dey caught him Oh! Oh! To Richmond Court House dey did brought him Oh! Oh! Twelve men sot up on de jury; Oh! Boys I'm most done. Hard times in Old Virginy Dey took him down to de Gallows Oh! Oh! Dey drove him down, wid four grey horses, Oh! Oh! Brice's Ben, he drove de wagon, Oh! Boys, I'm most done. Hard Times in Old Virginy. And dare dey hung him an dey swung him, Oh! Oh! And dey swung him and dey hung him, Oh! Oh! And that war the last of the Niger General, Oh! Boys I'm just done. Hard times in Old Virginy. The song is far from critical of Gabriel's actions: it is more than anything a lament, with the guilty parties-even the four grey horses who pulled the cart to the gallows-named, almost as if on trial. Gabriel had made the headlines in 1800 by dreaming of a Virginia without slavery. In the song, he was brought back to life long enough for his story to be remembered and the names of others involved spoken. The lyrics themselves suggest whoever wrote the song understood it might be a bit hard for people to hear-"Boys I'm most done," he repeats, almost from the beginning, until in the last moments he announces "Boys I'm just done." , with the guilty parties-even the four grey horses who pulled the cart to the gallows-named, almost as if on trial. Gabriel had made the headlines in 1800 by dreaming of a Virginia without slavery. In the song, he was brought back to life long enough for his story to be remembered and the names of others involved spoken. The lyrics themselves suggest whoever wrote the song understood it might be a bit hard for people to hear-"Boys I'm most done," he repeats, almost from the beginning, until in the last moments he announces "Boys I'm just done." --- Page 178 --- THE BANJO adds a few details about the boy One verse in the printed song link to Titus. The Gabriel-and provides a possible who "betrayed" how he de do my Uncle Gabriel," to which boy, the verse recounts, "Says "My name it is Gabric-threatened with being unmaked-responde Mullin." It is a curious deMcCullen, / Some dey calls me Archey Jim with the rest ofthe verses. But Titus, according tail, somewhat at odds "elaborate narrative" of the the 1818 newspaper account, also sang an combined the two songs, Mullin. Perhaps at times he acts ofone Archey combined them in this version. someone who heard him play or perhaps to prove for sure, it seems very posThough it is obviously impossible the 1818 performance by Titus sible that there is some filiation between trace hints Minstrel version from 1848. That evanescent and the Christy African-American banjo players at a much larger filiation: that between in the 1830s. musicians who founded the minstrel genre and the white * Virginia, a white man named Writing of his childhood in Lynchburg, the banjo from recalled how he had learned to play Norman Eubanks He remembered that his the where he grew up. slaves on plantation told him that the banjo was "a wellfather-born in 1777-had often "My father had an instrument with the Negroes in the country." known banjo player," 99 he recalled. "The old Negro, Davey, who was an expert a Negro horsehair for strings. When I was a boy, Henry, Negroes used father's home, and watched every horse that came by my boy and myself, ofstrings." 77 One can imagine that the ifhe had a long tail we got a supply that particular house. horses oft the area might well have feared passing by in the 1830s.34 himselfimitated the slaves and built his own banjo Eubanks the But in the same area around the Eubanks never took to stage. the banjo, with fartime, another young boy was learning to play same Walker Sweeney, and he was His name was, Joel reaching consequences. in the tobacco country between Lynchburg born into a farming family At the time there were about and Richmond, today Appomattox County. whites. Most of the latter owned 10,000 blacks in the county and 7400 The farms, but there were a few larger plantations as well. small tobacco since the time of the American Sweeney family had been in Virginia the muMoses fought in the conflict-and Revolution-the grandfather , another young boy was learning to play same Walker Sweeney, and he was His name was, Joel reaching consequences. in the tobacco country between Lynchburg born into a farming family At the time there were about and Richmond, today Appomattox County. whites. Most of the latter owned 10,000 blacks in the county and 7400 The farms, but there were a few larger plantations as well. small tobacco since the time of the American Sweeney family had been in Virginia the muMoses fought in the conflict-and Revolution-the grandfather --- Page 179 --- The Sound of Freedom Several of his siblings also played sician's father was a wheelwright. learned to play did some ofhis local cousins. As a boy, Sweeney music, as resident named P. C. Sutphin the violin. He was SO good, as one local "chiefviolinist at a special dance recalled much later, that he played as the turned to of the 'elite' of Lynchburg." But his attention party of some he "took a fancy to the banjo, which, another instrument, wrote Sutphin: 99 Sweeney was, in before that, had only been in the hands ofthe negro. and intro- "the first white person to play on it Sutphin's estimation, whites." By the age oftwelve, another residuce it to the society ofthe proficient on the banjo and dent recalled, Sweeney was already "quite violin.' >55 teachers? Sweeney's father, John, was a Who were Sweeney's banjo few slaves when Sweeney was a small farmer and probably owned a Next door to their small child-an 1850 census listed him as owning two. Flood and owned by Major Henry plot, however, was a larger plantation slaves in 1820, and 121 his son, Joel Walker Flood. They owned twenty his son the 1850. The two families were close: John Sweeney gave by According to one researcher, the younger two first names ofhis neighbor. and learned to play Sweeney got to know the coachman on the plantation and "the music oft the African" from him.56 the banjo Walker Sweeney learned to play, he probIfthis is indeed how Joel on other sourcesably learned techniques and songs by drawing Sweeney began his perhaps, the singing of Titus himself. including, wandering through central Virginia, playing public musical career "by sessions." >7 That was proband singing for crowds during county court his recollections of the ably where Judge Pore, who in 1895 published the doggeral first heard him sing. "He was a one-man show, singing boy, or had improvised from their tunes, [sid he had learned from Negroes and roaring in imitation of anidancing, reciting, and crowing, braying on the played the banjo; he was equally accomplished mals. He not only influenced by other acts circulating violin." Around this time, presumably named T. D. Ricethe timethose of a performer at -particularly his face for these performances." In addition Sweeney "began blacking for dances at the courthouse, he almost certainly performed to performing local Tavern. In 1836, he had in local homes as well as in the Sunnyside a blackface singer on a concert stage when he joined his first performance Extravaganzas" at Richmond's named James Sanford to present "Negro enced by other acts circulating violin." Around this time, presumably named T. D. Ricethe timethose of a performer at -particularly his face for these performances." In addition Sweeney "began blacking for dances at the courthouse, he almost certainly performed to performing local Tavern. In 1836, he had in local homes as well as in the Sunnyside a blackface singer on a concert stage when he joined his first performance Extravaganzas" at Richmond's named James Sanford to present "Negro --- Page 180 --- THE BANJO Sweeney found a few other gigs in Terpsichore Hall. In the next years 1837 and 1838-at the theatres but also performed in circuses and-in York, Within a few years, he would go on to New Lynchburg racetrack. the urban stage for the first time.7 where he would bring the banjo to perform a song called Norman Eubanks recalled hearing Sweeney written by the racetrack. It was "The Coaling Ground" at Lynchburg Moon and recounted an ill-fated journey. another resident named Billy though in the end the help His cart was "broke in the coaling ground," with rum allowed him to go on. He was even plied ofvarious strangers The song was an intimate one- mentioning and cake at a friendly tavern. and celebrating the fact of of and tavern keepers names wheelwrights But it also described the travails of people helping one another out. Eubanks recalled that working people in a landscape in transformation: for the local had been - denuded ofall timber to make charcoal" the area the racetrack songs of Titus and iron works. Though much distinguished, of local events and names and Sweeney, sung decades apart, both spoke places, using music to voice a specific experience. the sound ofhis Titus, however, was ultimately largely forgotten, textual trace in a Richmond newspaper. banjo left only in one fleeting Bob Carlin calls "the Elvis meanwhile, became what historian BeSweeney, who could like a black man." Presley ofhis time, a white man sing and other Africanhe was white, he was able to do what Titus cause the banjo to the mainstream could not: bring American performers when African American music and of North America. "At a time stages to main street America," or inaccessible musicians were unacceptable "provided an acceptable version writes Carlin, musicians like Sweeney Sweeney brought music for most listeners." "In the process, Joe ofblack and tunes, as well as their instrument, into African Americans' songs music. >59 American popular African-American banjo, Cece Conway In her pioneering study ofthe who learned that several minstrels truly did begin as "apprentices" she argues enslaved people on plantations. There was, to play the banjo from the instrument at the time expoints out, no way to learn how to play 99 They had to "absorb tra- "through oral transmission and imitation." to them and cept banjo players by listening dition" from African-American but other minwith them. Sweeney is the most obvious example, for playing from black musicians. Ben Cotton, strels also learned to play directly pioneering study ofthe who learned that several minstrels truly did begin as "apprentices" she argues enslaved people on plantations. There was, to play the banjo from the instrument at the time expoints out, no way to learn how to play 99 They had to "absorb tra- "through oral transmission and imitation." to them and cept banjo players by listening dition" from African-American but other minwith them. Sweeney is the most obvious example, for playing from black musicians. Ben Cotton, strels also learned to play directly --- Page 181 --- 171 The Sound of Freedom interview late in his life that while he was instance, explained in an he would visit slaves riverboats as a young man working on Mississippi cabins and we would start the banjo and "sit with them in front of their air in their their voices would ring out in the quiet night twanging, and me, 19 he went on. "I weird melodies." 79 "They did not quite understand did; but we were the first white man they had seen who sang as they was . The style ofsynbrothers for the time being and were perfectly happy" ofminstrel songs, as recorded in "methods" copation present in early that they had learned from fered to aspiring banjo players, indicates helped to create a body of African-American players. In time minstrels tradition, a fact notation meant to transmit the plantation music musical to the story: the minstrel tradition that adds another layer of deep irony the soundscapes of the is in fact one of the few ways we have to access therefore ofrecovering a crucial piece of African-American plantation and musical history." 60 had learned their music Minstrels depended on the claim that they ofthe way they marketed their perfrom blacks: this was a key part sometimes called themformances. They were interpreters-or, as they to white the black music ofthe plantations selves, delincator--bringing and absorb. Though they acknowlaudiences in a form they could enjoy and even debt, this never led to an incorporaedged this apprenticeship, musical collaboration. musicians into their acts or any public tion ofblack have wished to play alongside black perThough some minstrels might the this seems to even invite their mentors on stage, formers, perhaps in the antebellum theatre. The fact that have been a cultural impossibility white minstrels a tremendous blacks were excluded from the stage gave the broader took advantage of. They negotiated opportunity, one they transmitting certain aspects of racial landscape by simultaneously some ofits tradition and obscuring and transforming Affican-American unstable, contradictory, and key elements. Minstrelsy was an inherently a transformaform. It became both a conduit for, and ultimately shifting ofmusic, offering a layered and contradictory pattern tion of, earlier forms On the minstrel stage a song ofincorporation, appropriation, and parody. memory, Run!"-devcloped as a form of critique, like "Run, Nigger, become a form of comic and resistance within the plantation-would of the more overtly racist and insulting aspects relief. And over time, and influential became more dominant. In his pioneering minstrelsy sy was an inherently a transformaform. It became both a conduit for, and ultimately shifting ofmusic, offering a layered and contradictory pattern tion of, earlier forms On the minstrel stage a song ofincorporation, appropriation, and parody. memory, Run!"-devcloped as a form of critique, like "Run, Nigger, become a form of comic and resistance within the plantation-would of the more overtly racist and insulting aspects relief. And over time, and influential became more dominant. In his pioneering minstrelsy --- Page 182 --- THE BANJO study of blackface minstrelsy, Eric Lott described the contradiction of the form as being the combination of"love and theft": an attraction and even respect for a musical tradition that was ultimately expressed and activated on the basis ofracist exclusion. For that reason, minstrels have often been seen as cynical cultural appropriators, and the accusation of"minstrelsy" in contemporary popular culture continues to carry a highly negative charge. 61 The banjo was, from the beginning, at the heart of the minstrel show. Its sound, and the symbolism surrounding it, made possible the strange transmogrification that sustained blackface minstrelsy. By the 1830s, audiences had come to see this instrument as deeply tied to AfricanAmerican life. Sweeney was among the first who saw that this created an opportunity, that carrying the instrument onto the stage would provide kind of a badge of authenticity, a visible and material link to the black musical tradition. But for audiences to accept that a white man could play the banjo, he and other performers first made themselves black, tapping into a long theatre performance tradition. It was the encounter between the tradition ofblackface and the sound ofthe banjo that made minstrelsy possible and in turn sent the banjo into a dramatically new chapter in its winding story. American life. Sweeney was among the first who saw that this created an opportunity, that carrying the instrument onto the stage would provide kind of a badge of authenticity, a visible and material link to the black musical tradition. But for audiences to accept that a white man could play the banjo, he and other performers first made themselves black, tapping into a long theatre performance tradition. It was the encounter between the tradition ofblackface and the sound ofthe banjo that made minstrelsy possible and in turn sent the banjo into a dramatically new chapter in its winding story. --- Page 183 --- The Banjo Meets Blackface MAYBE IT WAS QUEEN ANNE who started it all the day she decided to paint herself black. At her 1589 wedding, a group of four naked "Negroes" -whites in black makeup-danced in the snow. She was perhaps remembering this when, in 1605, she asked the author Ben Jonson to write a play in which she and her court ladies could perform as "black Moors." 99 He offered The Masque of Blackness, which features King Niger and his twelve daughters, African "nymphs. They are told that because they are black, they are not beautiful, though redemption beckons: ifthey find their way to Britannia, they will become white. Niger protests, declaring that in fact they are "beautiful as well as black": they were the "first form'd dames ofearth . in whose sparkling and refulgent eyes / The glorious sun did still delight to rise : in their black the perfect'st beauty grows. 99 In the end, though, the play celebrates the idea that the British crown, expanding into a global empire, will absorb and control black outsiders. Despite the comforting plot, however, there was something provocative and troubling about the spectacle. The Queen of England, six months pregnant at the time, appeared in public with "her face and arms coated with black grease. Everyone watching knew that --- Page 184 --- THE BANJO the Queen. But what, exactly-with the African nymph was actually -was she doing?! England beginning its long colonial expansion- characters: the buffon, or European theater long included "black" black devils in mediCommedia dell'arte and various clown, in Italian The actors playing these roles, eval drama and vernacular performance. and her court ladies did however, usually wore black masks. The Queen oftheir bodies in different: they covered their faces and parts something washed off. It was, on one black grease, which had to be painstakingly elsewhere in their lives, these Indeed, here and level, an act ofrebellion. standards of female dewomen were rebels "who resisted patriarchal the mistress of a prominent English corum." 2? There was Penelope Rich, Lady Arabella Stuart, publisher and mother of four illegitimate children; for which she was married to a Lord, a transgression who was secretly ofLondon; one Lady who would go on to eventually sent to the Tower 1621 would be exiled from her husband; and another who in poison novel. Queen Anne and the court the court after publishing a romance and perwanted to shock and disturb by commissioning ladies probably And what was probably most reforming in a play as black nymphs. much the plot membered by those who watched was not SO satisfying ofthe British greatness but the pure and surprising spectacle celebrating ladies transformed, for a day, into Africans.? country's leading unusual for its time. But it repreQueen Anne's performance was performance that would sented the beginning of a tradition ofblackface the course ofthe expand and root itselfin English theater over slowly centuries. On stage, white actors increassixteenth and early seventeenth African characters. themselves black in order to depict ingly painted of"blackness" was applied to many groups-including Though the trope ultimately coalesced around the "idea Native Americans and the Irish-it reification and a reining in of that of African difference." It was both a ofthe cultural encoundifference, an attempt to deal with the meaning in the slave trade. of increasing involvement ters that were part England's of symbols, a combination From the first, blackface was a concatenation desire to be someone else. and exoticism, ofracism and of transgression unruly, leaving audiences uneasy Blackface performance was perpetually because of it-it became and destabilized. Despite that-or perhaps ofthe of as part landscape increasingly popular, even institutionalized, the Atlantic world. not only in England but throughout performance the cultural encoundifference, an attempt to deal with the meaning in the slave trade. of increasing involvement ters that were part England's of symbols, a combination From the first, blackface was a concatenation desire to be someone else. and exoticism, ofracism and of transgression unruly, leaving audiences uneasy Blackface performance was perpetually because of it-it became and destabilized. Despite that-or perhaps ofthe of as part landscape increasingly popular, even institutionalized, the Atlantic world. not only in England but throughout performance --- Page 185 --- 175 The Banjo Meets Blackface history of this form beyond the borUnderstanding the long and complex and it became the United States is critical to grasping how why ders ofthe North America.' theatrical form in nineteenth-century most important 1580s and 1590s that a few white actors in It was during the late ofblack characEngland began trying out the full-fledged "impersonation of subthose from "the exotic and dangerous regions ters," particularly for such roles in travel Saharan Africa." Playwrights found inspiration with African slaves narratives about Africa as well as through encounters the ambassador also visitors, such as in London. There were high-profile to London to negoMoroccan king Muly Hamet, who was sent ofthe Elizabeth I and was the subject ofi much fascination tiate an alliance with character appeared in the The and commentary. The first such speaking Moor" who sees his blackBattle of Alcazar: a violent and tragic "Negro Titus inherited from his mother. But it was Shakespeare's ness as a curse established a set Andronicus that, during the same period, most forcefully The character of Aaron is a villainous ofl long-standing racial tropes. because he was evil, but evil because "Black Moor," who "was not black will have his soul black 9) The character declares: "Aaron he was black." by a white actor with a painted face: like his face." Aaron was performed play, he is set apart sketch of a Shakespearean in the only contemporary The character is an adulterer both in his color and his body language. him "the first in a long line who has sex with a white woman, making who flaunt their sexuof black male heroes (crafted by white authors) and inherent in their blackness." 97 The most legendary ality as a quality was the depiction of a "Moor" in influential example ofthis, of course, for the ensuing centuconsistently Shakespeare's Othello, a play performed rewritten as part and North America and eventually ries both in England U.S. blackface theater." of the nineteench-century black figures in plays were often By the early seventeenth century that involved people "bedtricksters," central players in romantic romps intended in bed with people other than those they unsuspectingly getting and lust frequently depended to. These comical intrigues about adultery white-black sexual the additional charge of planned or unplanned on direction put it, a key turning point would be "A encounters. As one stage then Blackamoor in it. s) The theater played with, though bed discovered with a sex with black women, usually dispelled, the specter ofwhite men having fold. But these plays back into the racial and marital bringing everyone central players in romantic romps intended in bed with people other than those they unsuspectingly getting and lust frequently depended to. These comical intrigues about adultery white-black sexual the additional charge of planned or unplanned on direction put it, a key turning point would be "A encounters. As one stage then Blackamoor in it. s) The theater played with, though bed discovered with a sex with black women, usually dispelled, the specter ofwhite men having fold. But these plays back into the racial and marital bringing everyone --- Page 186 --- THE BANJO L 176 of dealing with a reality that was increasingly wellwere an oblique way culture: that in the Caribbean known, if somewhat repressed, in English sexual relations with and North America, many white men were having and African black female slaves, and children of mixed European their ofthe colonial social world.5 ancestry were becoming a part Thomas Southern's hit play At the end of the seventeenth century, role. The work was Oronooko offered a very different kind ofblackface the of an African Behn's 1688 novel, which told story based on Aphra and ended up in Suriname. Southern's king who was sold into slavery and both it and the novel were popular play was first performed in 1695, and Orothe eighteenth century. The play was a romance, throughout and tragic figure. Along with ongoing nooko was depicted as a dignified play The Revenge, whose performances of Othello and Edward Young's these works of theater main character is a villainous slave named Zanga, of the blackface performance as a mainstay anchored and popularized English stage." blackface could earn performers apCuriously, although wearing them thrown in jail if they did SO off plause in the theater, it could get used blackface to disguise themstage. Some outlaw groups in England the "Waltham and Windsor selves, notably a group of poachers called ofland by the upper class. Blacks," as part of protests against the enclosure crime to "black" law called the Black Act made it a capital In 1723 a out such behavior. The act remained one's face as: a way oftrying to stamp In both Europe and North on the books into the nineteenth century. part of a this period, popular street celebrationsAmerica, throughout of"charivari" in which social roles were reversed long-standing tradition wearing blackface. In early nineparticipants in public spaces-involved for instance, callithumpian teenth- century New York and Philadelphia, New Years, *often bands of young men wandered the streets around whistles, horns, masked in chimney soot and grease" playing "drums, and inferiors" and kettles, taunting both their social superiors pots, pans, and residents, pelting "houses by demanding money from passersby white and getting in with lime, flour, and other powders" and persons vernacular use of blackface shaped theatrical fights. The realm of the a kind of subversion too: the idea that blackness represented practice raffish one- became a critical part and rebellion-at times an attractive, of the popularity ofblackface? masked in chimney soot and grease" playing "drums, and inferiors" and kettles, taunting both their social superiors pots, pans, and residents, pelting "houses by demanding money from passersby white and getting in with lime, flour, and other powders" and persons vernacular use of blackface shaped theatrical fights. The realm of the a kind of subversion too: the idea that blackness represented practice raffish one- became a critical part and rebellion-at times an attractive, of the popularity ofblackface? --- Page 187 --- 177 The Banjo Meets Blackjace century, a few pioneers began to push the During the eighteenth themselves as boundaries of blackface performance by presenting blacks in the Americas. "authentic" interpreters ofthe culture ofenslaved channel and reprodonned blackface but also claimed to These actors and singing. The most prominent duce black ways of moving, speaking, for himselfby playing Charles Dibdin, who first made a name ofthese was in the 1768 hit comic opera The Padlock. The the role of a black slave about an old miser who keeps opera was based on a story by Cervantes slave, bride locked up. The miser's guitar-playing his beautiful young in to make love to the imprisLuys, however, helps a young man sneak West Indian slave oned wife. In The Padlock Luys became Mungo, a of the dialect and speech patterns whose lines were written to reproduce ofthe role. Caribbean. English audiences loved Dibdin's interpretation the hearing black vernacular on the They liked the idea that they were lines outside absorbed what they heard and repeated stage, and they dere, / Mungo everwhere," Dibdin the theater. "Mungo here, Mungo saying for ofthe play, and the phrase became a common sang in one part about. The role helped launch Dibdin's describing someone scurrying whose songs celebrated Encareer as a solo performer and impresario Italians, and Jews. But it glish sailors and offered burlesques ofIrishmen, famous and successful. By his imitation of blacks that made him was well that he opened his own theater in London, 1796 he had done SO calling it "Sans Souci." life in the Caribbean and Dibdin drew on accounts of plantation cultural life of the enslaved, of the social and sought to portray aspects African-born and Creole slaves. And including the conflicts between to black the first white performer to attempt present he was perhaps from 1795 called "Kickaraboo," a rough music on stage. In a composition the bucket, ?' Dibdin played the equivalent ofthe modern phrase "kicking of another slave. He sang in what role of a slave reflecting on the death instrument he had as black dialect, accompanied by a hybrid he presented ofthe pianoforte and the chamber organ, built "combining the properties and a gong. 29 he added "a set ofbells, a side drum, a tambourine, to which that makes the whole thing seem like a There is a comic tinge to the song in the confusion: bit of a joke, but shards ofs something else come through that death erases racial of the absence ofa future and the idea a sense and white be one colour a hundred years hence. The difference: "Black as black dialect, accompanied by a hybrid he presented ofthe pianoforte and the chamber organ, built "combining the properties and a gong. 29 he added "a set ofbells, a side drum, a tambourine, to which that makes the whole thing seem like a There is a comic tinge to the song in the confusion: bit of a joke, but shards ofs something else come through that death erases racial of the absence ofa future and the idea a sense and white be one colour a hundred years hence. The difference: "Black --- Page 188 --- THE BANJO when the master finally dies and the ensong looks forward to the day and then sing and a banjer thrum slaved can celebrate: they'll "dance instrument he invoked-the thrum." >7 Dibdin didn't himself play the in his footBut in time some of those who followed banjo-on stage. steps would do just that." crossed the Atlantic, and this style of perEngland's blackface theater Between 1751 and 1843 formance thrived in North America as well. in which whites blackened 5,000 performances there were approximately Urban audiences had plenty of themselves to play various roles on stage. than one on the same to choose from, sometimes more such performances numbers. Until the 1820s these evening, and they attended them in large from England. operas, or pantomimes brought were almost entirely plays, in 1751 in North of all was Othello, first presented The most popular in 1769 and was also featured America. The Padlock was first performed seen by most auAmerican stages. Mungo was likely regularly on North rather than West Indian, making him esdiences as African-American, black character in the history of North sentially the first fleshed-out there were several new blackface American performance. By the 1790s which featured including The Happy African, plays being performed, audience she was happy to be a slave. Some black Cubba, who assured the named Sambo in the play Laugh When characters, including a musician by being more moral than parYou Can, pushed against racial stereotypes Mungo to Cubba and odied white characters. All of these roles-from characters who, in critical precursors ofthe various black Sambo-were would increasingly take over the stages of the early nineteenth century, that one play, the 1777 North America. Blackface was popular enough black and becomes a Polly, starred a main character who paints himselfl "dead he and SO became pirate: "I diguis'd myself as a black," explains, to all the world." focus on the English and Most histories of blackface performance tradition ofblackAmerican stages. But there was also a thriving North in the Caribbean colony of French Saint-Domingue, face performance influence on the later development ofblackwhich may have had an equal called et Thérèse in North America. In 1758 a play Jeannot face minstrelsy the economic capital ofthe colony. premiered in the theater of Le Cap, director named Clément, and The play's author, a well-known performer Le Devin du Village and transtook Rousseau's French blockbuster opera Most histories of blackface performance tradition ofblackAmerican stages. But there was also a thriving North in the Caribbean colony of French Saint-Domingue, face performance influence on the later development ofblackwhich may have had an equal called et Thérèse in North America. In 1758 a play Jeannot face minstrelsy the economic capital ofthe colony. premiered in the theater of Le Cap, director named Clément, and The play's author, a well-known performer Le Devin du Village and transtook Rousseau's French blockbuster opera --- Page 189 --- The Banjo Meets Blackface ferred it to a Caribbean plantation. He referred to the opus, 99 resulting play as a Noo-Damat-lorige and opera.' It included dances newspapers described it as a "Creole described as "pas d'esclaves" steps") and "pas nègres" ("black dance ("slave dance was written entirely in the Creole steps"). Perhaps most strikingly, it timid incorporation language. This was not the kind of Someone who didn't of"dialect" represented in a play like The Padlock. really understand Creole It was, in fact, one of the first couldn't follow the play. attempts to create an language, and the earliest existing orthography for the literary work in Creole.' 11 Jeannot et Thérèse is a romantic comedy that ters' jealous conflict and eventual focuses on the characmain female character seeks reconciliation. In the out Rouseau'opera errant lover back. In a "magician" in her village to get her Jeannot et Thérèse the village becomes a complete with a "provision grounds" and a slave "hut" plantation, And the "magician' : becomes depicted on stage. Papa Simon. Thérèse asks an African-born religious specialist named him for an ouanga, using a practice for an object that condenses term from Vodou to her, Papa Simon spiritual power. When he offers it sings a song that evokes his home in cluding such religious "Dahomé." Infirst practices in the play was fairly bold: the performed in 1758, the same year that the play was Makandal, who terrorized whites famous slave rebel having spiritual with poison and was credited with powers, was burned to death in the Cap. But white planter audiences loved central plaza ofLe Simon seems to have been the play, and the character one ofthe central ofPapa like the later attractions oft the work. Unplantation scenes in blackface minstrelsy, which developed and performed in the urban were largely tual centers oft the North, far from acplantations, Jeannot et Thérèse was written and center of the plantation world in the performed at the epithe carriages on their eighteenth century. Planters got in into plantations, driven by an enslaved town to see a plantation not unlike driver, and headed Unlike their own depicted on stage. eightenth-century England and North Domingue had a few actors ofAfrican America, SaintLise-the sister descent. A woman of color named formed the role ofwell-known actress and singer Minette- once ofThérèse, Most of the actors, however, perperformed these plays in blackface. An were white and mance ofJeannot et Thérèse in advertisement for a 1781 perforPort-au-Prince would perform the role of explained that an "amateur" Papa Simon in the "real costume and color of on stage. eightenth-century England and North Domingue had a few actors ofAfrican America, SaintLise-the sister descent. A woman of color named formed the role ofwell-known actress and singer Minette- once ofThérèse, Most of the actors, however, perperformed these plays in blackface. An were white and mance ofJeannot et Thérèse in advertisement for a 1781 perforPort-au-Prince would perform the role of explained that an "amateur" Papa Simon in the "real costume and color of --- Page 190 --- THE BANJO for another local play, an actor playing the nègre." ?? In a 1785 advertisement known for perfectly the role of a black character was described as "being 29 And a 1788 adverthe gestures and language of the Nègres. the imitating by Clément provided perhaps one of tisement for a different play and oddness of blackface perfordefinitions of the power most striking would perform, "a visage noir pour mance. The whites on stage, it noted, black face in d'avantage à P'illusion de se rapprocher du naturel""in prèter of the natural."12 order to add to the illusion approaching diverse. There were The audiences in Saint-Domingue were quite and soldiers based and local authorities, along with sailors wealthy planters also significant audiences of African in the port towns. But there were to access to the thedescent. Though initially they had to struggle get reserved century they had access to significant ater, by the late eighteenth in the colony. Though seating was segseating in all the many theaters but the theater itself regated, socializing was not. Not only the hallways spoke to the with conversation, as young people" were often noisy conversations that could "offend the ears, women of color sitting above in mingled those difficult to harm.' 77 During intermissions theatergoers even cafés such as "chez Yoyo," 99 run by, Jean-Baptiste dit outside or at nearby the from France and adverYoyo, a black man who had come to colony make in Paris. Some sauces and desserts he had learned to tised the special was cancelled bewhites were not pleased, and in 1784 a performance first boxes.' ?" In fact of the bad behavior of"nègres sitting in the cause urban slaves as well as domesthe audience likely included some paying Orleans in 1809, just after the their masters. In New tics accompanying in the city, one arrival oft thousands of refugees from Saint-Domingue that henceforth local theater posted an announcement explaining which suggests that would have to buy tickets for their slaves, masters they could just bring them along for free. prior to this most assumed in the theaters ofSaintPeople of African descent were more present the audiences for perthan in most of North America. But Domingue and New York were also quite diformances in cities like Philadelphia orchestra occupied by regular with wealthier patrons in boxes, the verse, offering the least-expensive seats and paying customers, and the galleries hosting poorer patrons, including African-Americans." century, whether blackface of the late eighteenth The performances rich with contradiction. They were a in England or the Americas, were for free. prior to this most assumed in the theaters ofSaintPeople of African descent were more present the audiences for perthan in most of North America. But Domingue and New York were also quite diformances in cities like Philadelphia orchestra occupied by regular with wealthier patrons in boxes, the verse, offering the least-expensive seats and paying customers, and the galleries hosting poorer patrons, including African-Americans." century, whether blackface of the late eighteenth The performances rich with contradiction. They were a in England or the Americas, were --- Page 191 --- The Banjo Meets Blackface way for audiences to grapple with, and sometimes creasingly intense debates about also to deflect, the inRevolution, and the abolition of slavery. The Age of particularly the Haitian fear ofslave revolt, Revolution and the expanding reshaped the representation ofblacks created new patterns of cultural on stage. It also circulation. A mass from Domingue to Louisiana in the early migration Saintnineteenth population ofl New Orleans and century doubled the city. Part ofwhat was carried profoundly reshaped the culture of the was Clément'sjcamore et performed under the title Papa Thérèse, which was Simon, ou Les Amours de Thérèse emphasizing its African-born character. etJeannot, créole"i it was part ofa Advertised as a "Vaudeville fund-raising was considered a surefire performance, which suggests that it attraction for audience is just one small trace of possible members. Though this that the transfer from the Caribbean, it is likely cighteenth-century theatrical culture nineteenth-century blackface ofSaint-Domingue shaped acknowledged performance in North America in unways. Where a play like The Padlock featured character, nearly all the characters one black African in Jeannot et Thérèse were descent. The advertisements and people of the attempt to incorporate the content ofthe play suggest that ofthe enslaved gestures, music, intonations, and went quite a bit further than even in language like Charles Dibdin. The the work ofsomeone Saint-Domingue theatrical many ways more similar to the early tradition was in tion than any oft the nincteenth-century minstrel tradiIn the Anglo-American precedents. 14 early 1800s a slave rebel took to the stage in America, occupying it for decades. His England and North main character in a work called name was Jack, and he was the Obi, or on the true story of a Jamaican slave Thre-FingenedJade. It was based who between came a "bandit" 1779 and 1781 bethreatening both whites and told at length in a 1799 book about blacks. The story was first was the inspiration for both Jamaica, The Tieatise on Sugar, which become novels and plays about the one ofthe mainstays ofthe Atlantic character, who Premiering in London in 1800 and stage in the coming decades. curious in New York in 1801, the object. At the height of the of play was a the 1791 slave insurrection age revolution, a few years after in and Revolt in Saint-Domingue soon after Gabriel's Virginia, a play foregrounding a houses oflargely white audiences. maroon played to packed the specter of slave revolt That is partly because the plot evokes but then rapidly tames it: the play makes no Premiering in London in 1800 and stage in the coming decades. curious in New York in 1801, the object. At the height of the of play was a the 1791 slave insurrection age revolution, a few years after in and Revolt in Saint-Domingue soon after Gabriel's Virginia, a play foregrounding a houses oflargely white audiences. maroon played to packed the specter of slave revolt That is partly because the plot evokes but then rapidly tames it: the play makes no --- Page 192 --- THE BANJO communities, or ofHaiti for that matter, mention of established maroon victims of Jack along with and enslaved people (who are depicted as The begins with when Jack is caught and killed. play whites) delight their "Massa"is: "When Buckra happy slaves singing about how great is foreheart Merry. 99 Still, the character of Jack be kind, then Negro way, also celebrated. grounded and, in a subterranean and infiltrating His actions often Instead, he pantomimes and sings. He never speaks. the stage directions say offstage and through sound: at one point, happen In fact his name itselfis uttered only simply "A Noise by, Jack is heard." and poses. 99 His presence by" "hisses, gestures in a whisper, accompanied and magical. He lives in an "Obi onstage is itself almost supernatural through paths in caverns Woman's Cave" and appears and disappears, three tunnels, with a kind of magical ability. His fingers-two and account of Jack's life, in a were cut off, according to the historical him-became a struggle with a Maroon who was trying to capture mutilation and for the character, a mark of both kind of trademark survival.5 the play ended up traveling and popping up Like Jack himself, was performed everywhere, echoing the "bandit's dangerous mobility."It in the midst of a and North America for decades, on stages in England and terrified ofblack revolt. Jack was, in culture that was fascinated with he Gabriel, he was perhaps even asense, a proxy-he was Makandal, was could be displayed, observed, Toussaint Louverture-a character who with and the slave order admired, before being dispensed even briefly reviewers and audiences seem to almost returned to its regularity. Oddly, least not openly-to Haiti or never have directly made a connection--at) for Africanrevolts. But, in time, the play became a vehicle to other in 1823 in New York City at American performers. It was performed black-owned and catered Brown's "African Theater," which was William the Later, in England, it was performed with to black audiences in city. in the lead role. Jack gained the African-American actor Ira Aldridge abolitionist message, respeaking parts, and the play carried a powerful West Africa and slave raid that captured him in calling the terror ofthe calling for liberation and "due revenge. for the fact Jack was perhaps most significant The play Three-Fingered, vernacular performance into the Caribbean that it openly incorporated called "Rejoicings ofthe Slaves" plot. At the end ofthe first act, a scene in England, it was performed with to black audiences in city. in the lead role. Jack gained the African-American actor Ira Aldridge abolitionist message, respeaking parts, and the play carried a powerful West Africa and slave raid that captured him in calling the terror ofthe calling for liberation and "due revenge. for the fact Jack was perhaps most significant The play Three-Fingered, vernacular performance into the Caribbean that it openly incorporated called "Rejoicings ofthe Slaves" plot. At the end ofthe first act, a scene --- Page 193 --- 183 The Banjo Meets Blackface clearly drawn from the muchincludes a character named Junkanoo, and North America during observed character popular in Jamaica ofbreach, one already Christmastime festivities. This represented a kind performance culture ofSaint-Domingue, visible in the Creole-language of the street and plantation found in which the culture and characters infiltration," 1 forms of public themselves onstage. Through "vernacular and of the and theater visible on the streets plantations performance America became part of Anglo-American theater.' Caribbean and North Thérèse and Obi, which made a gesBut even in works like Jeannot et remained black vernacular music, the instrumentation ture to performing theater. That was the case even in Saintessentially that of European ofthe musicians playing in the Domingue, where many, indeed most, enslaved musicians. In the thetheater were of African descent, including theatrical scores rooted in French cighteenth-century ater, they played were on stage, but there was relatively music. The simulacra ofblack people blackface was still looking at black music. In a way, little attempt imitating find it outside the theater- -on for its soundtrack. It would ultimately the itself. the wharves, and farther afield on plantation the streets, along in the early nineteenth century would The great innovation to come blackface perforof the theatrical culture that included be the bridging cultures that existed outside the themance with the vernacular musical who realized That bridging was the work ofa a few performers ater walls. could be the root ofa and impersonation that absorption, appropriation, new world of performance. * the white audiMusic, after all, was everywhere. In Saint-Domingue, and banzas have avoided the sounds of drums, probably ences could not lived. And many oft those of African descent in the world in which they the musicians themselves, who enjoyed their time in the theater, including in the in other cultures of performance almost certainly participated There were occasional onstreets or plantations of Saint-Domingue. celebrations in the Northslaughts and outbreaks of sound in Pinkster North Carolina. But celebrations and Kingston and east and Junkanoo and wharves of the Atlantic world also in fact, all year long, the ports diverse audiences. hummed with music, played in front of not lived. And many oft those of African descent in the world in which they the musicians themselves, who enjoyed their time in the theater, including in the in other cultures of performance almost certainly participated There were occasional onstreets or plantations of Saint-Domingue. celebrations in the Northslaughts and outbreaks of sound in Pinkster North Carolina. But celebrations and Kingston and east and Junkanoo and wharves of the Atlantic world also in fact, all year long, the ports diverse audiences. hummed with music, played in front of --- Page 194 --- THE BANJO trace oft the ongoing W. T. Lhamon Jr. has analyzed one remarkable entitled "Dancing for around music and dance: an engraving encounters Island on the shore of the East Eels 1820 Catherine Market," on Long man dancing, anRiver. The image centers on three black figures-a To the side are three engaged other drumming, and a third clapping. in. Behind them leaning in and clearly wanting to join white onlookers, white and black, taking in the dance. Behind is a crowd of onlookers, of flags of many ships, and beyond the onlookers we can see the masts the Atlantic. The engraving is a that-undrawn-the river and, further, ofsuch moments, of of one moment among a multitude rare photograph of the bustling crossroads of who took advantage street performers that drew diverse audiences towharves to create styles of performance spaces of"street Lhamon Jr. argues these were effectively already gether. and indeed the dancer in the engraving is already perculture as theater," from the boards ofa the pier-a short step away forming on boards-oft white and black gazes and practices, vitheater. In such spaces, where oflabor and trade, an sions, and desires crossed regularly through a space Atlantic performance culture was cultivated.' created the painter ofstriking portraits of musicians by Using a series nineteenth century, Henry ChristoWilliam Sidney Mount in the early the importance of a performance pher Smith similarly emphasized the Caribbean coasts, the U.S. culture rooted in practice in sites "along dances, and other Atlantic coast, and the U.S. inland waterways." *Tunes, along the cultural memes, 7 he notes, "traveled by water"t to communities "the In these spaces developed, over the long term, rivers and oceans. that were ultimately brought creole sounds, practices, and procedures" and musical forms dethe Over the decades, as new theatrical to stage. creative interplay between the veloped, there was "extensive, day-to-day, 9 And part of what drew and the stage performance." street performances the "frisson," "the shock of recaudiences to forms like minstrelsy was 'their' performance ognition," 7 felt by a working-class audiences seeing wharves, decks the music and dance they knew from the streets, idiom, and canals" performed on stage." and the theater was The interface between vernacular performance in the 1820s on in a popular work oftheater that emerged taken up early London. It rapidly crossed the Atlantic and called Tom and_Jerry, or Life in imitations and adaptationsbecame a staple in U.S. theaters, spawning shock of recaudiences to forms like minstrelsy was 'their' performance ognition," 7 felt by a working-class audiences seeing wharves, decks the music and dance they knew from the streets, idiom, and canals" performed on stage." and the theater was The interface between vernacular performance in the 1820s on in a popular work oftheater that emerged taken up early London. It rapidly crossed the Atlantic and called Tom and_Jerry, or Life in imitations and adaptationsbecame a staple in U.S. theaters, spawning --- Page 195 --- 185 The Banjo Meets Blackface Life in New Orleans. The original Life in New York, Life in Philadelphia, men-with the delightful version is the story ofthree white upper-class ofall, Bob Hawthorn, and, best Logic-who names Corinthian Tom,Jerry Tom and Hawthorn are "rakes" go into town to do a little slumming. sidekick and guide. He brings estate, and Logic is their from a country "All-Max," whose name is a play on the upperthem to a dive called called African Sal and Dusty social club "Almack's."In the bar, a duo crust number, described in one 1823 advertisement Bob perform a blackface Bob." 17 The upper-class visitors de Deux by African Sal and Dusty as: a "Pas In one particularly demand a "double shuffle" from the two performers. tune, Bob Logic asks the fiddler to play a "danceable" layered moment, and snuff." To encourage him, he walks urging him on with some "gin blackface to a white his face." On stage, Logic applies over and "begrimes who attended the play were inactor already in blackface. Theatergoers and laughing at their to watch themselves both enjoying vited in a sense culture while getting to see that verown fascination with vernacular mediations. 20 through a series of comforting nacular culture performed vernacular street music Tom and Jerry openly sought to incorporate enter a early scenes, the three protagonists into theater. In one ofthe with "low characters"is "Beggar's Hall" where a banquet populated Walters. The character One ofthese is a fiddler named Billy underway. busker Billy Walters who in the was based on a real musician: a black small change outside Loncentury frequently played for late eighteenth who had fought during the Theater. Walters was a sailor don's Adelphi made his way to London, where he began to American Revolution then Tom Some ofthose watching play the Strand for the tips of theatergoers. real Walters. And though perhaps remembered the and Jerry in England one white actor was dead by the time the play premiered, the musician at the news that some actually who filled the role in the play delighted thought it was Walters himself performing on stage. in New Orleans, In 1837 a version of Tom and Jerry was performed black musician on further actually featuring a live and it went a step by and he had made his reputation as the stage. His name was Corn Meal, cornmeal, through the who sang as he drove his cart, selling a vendor an extensive repertoire, perstreets of the city. In time he developed of the city. A visin front oflarge crowds in the public spaces forming Orleans, Francis Sheridan, who heard iting English diplomat in New thought it was Walters himself performing on stage. in New Orleans, In 1837 a version of Tom and Jerry was performed black musician on further actually featuring a live and it went a step by and he had made his reputation as the stage. His name was Corn Meal, cornmeal, through the who sang as he drove his cart, selling a vendor an extensive repertoire, perstreets of the city. In time he developed of the city. A visin front oflarge crowds in the public spaces forming Orleans, Francis Sheridan, who heard iting English diplomat in New --- Page 196 --- THE BANJO Corn Meal sing in 1840, was enraptured by his "He sings in a manner as remarkable vocal range: perfectly novel as it is a deep bass & at every other 3 or 4 words of inimitable, beginning in falsetto of power.' 99 One admiring his song, jumping into a reviewer ofone mances effused about the ofCorn Meal's perfor- "great compass to describe him as having several ofvoice." Others found it easier "voices" rather ertoire included his signature than just one. His repsong, "Fresh Corn Meal," the song "Rosin' in the Bow," and his well-known Banner.' 9 There own take on the were clearly other types of "Star-Spangled topics were deemed songs as well: a few of his unsuitable to reprint in the With Life in New Orleans, Corn Meal newspaper. African-American musicians got an opportunity that other rarely ifever before him, and even ofl his got: to perform on a major stage in generation, ican city. That this happened in New a major North Amersocial makeup and Orleans was no accident: the city's exist in other performance culture created an opening that did not settings. Nevertheless, the limits around Corn formance were clear: he remained Meal's percuriosity, contained within essentially a cherished and celebrated with his a particular kind ofr role. He cart and horse to remind audiences appeared on stage cosm of minstrelsy writ ofhis true status. In a microlarge, the event harnessed the vernacular street performer in order to popularity of a theater. But the bring paying customers into the performance was such a success the one was organized, and the first night that a second that "the celebrated potential audience reassured by the Corn Meal will come out with a newspaper comic Extravaganzas." The reviews new effusion of his time elapsed between his were largely positive. When some Corn Meal? We miss the performances, writers worried: "Where is old music of his Ethiopian performing on stage until his death in 1842, melodies." He kept range,". with his obituary and "fame outran his actual appearing in New We don't know what Corn England newspapers." 23 though he himself Meal was paid for these did pay a price: on the second performances, 1837, his night of his debut in horse-spooked by the odd and was killed. It was, ultimately, circumstanees-fell off the stage music, which a series of later others who profited most from his stage. Corn performers drew on and adapted for the Mealappearsi in an early history who "furnished" one early minstrel ofminstrelsy only as someone the white performer with "many airs," 3 which performer "turned to account.' 99 Corn Meal himself had not performances, 1837, his night of his debut in horse-spooked by the odd and was killed. It was, ultimately, circumstanees-fell off the stage music, which a series of later others who profited most from his stage. Corn performers drew on and adapted for the Mealappearsi in an early history who "furnished" one early minstrel ofminstrelsy only as someone the white performer with "many airs," 3 which performer "turned to account.' 99 Corn Meal himself had not --- Page 197 --- The Banjo Meets Blackface been able to turn his talents "to account" for many reasons. Outside New Orleans he would likely not have been allowed on stage at all. Even within the city, his access to the capital and institutions that would have perhaps allowed him to take further control ofhis work, to create a troop and go on tour for instance, was simply not there. And sO, while he was lauded in the New Orleans press ofthe time, his place in the broader history of American music is that of a curious, local talent whose work required appropriation by others to truly take flight. 24 Corn Meal's brief sojourn on the New Orleans stage is a ghostly reminder ofwhat might have been: a tradition of African-American performance brought to the stage by African-American performers. That, however, is not what happened. Instead, the racial order ofthe country ultimately produced a remarkable and curious configuration: one in which white performers, tapping into the long tradition of blackface theater, created an extremely popular genre ofmusic and dance entirely based on a bold attempt to be black and white at the same time. Blackface was reassuring in that it kept the stage as a space for white actors only. But it was troubling, since it made clear that the stage was ultimately made to be a place for black music and dance. In order for this strange balancing act to work, it needed a particular kind ofsound, and a symbol. It found it in the banjo. About some twenty years ago Old Butler reigned with his old Banjo, Ah, ah, Twas a gourd, three-string'd, and an old pine stick, But when he hit it he made it speak. Ah, ah. Picayune Butler's comin, comin . Decades after he performed in the streets and on the stages of New Orleans, Picayune Butler was still famous and his memory kept alive. A popular song about him was published in the 1858 Phil Rice's Method for the Banjo: With or Without a Master, whose goal was to allow the aspiring banjo player to learn even ifthere was no "master"musician to be found to Twas a gourd, three-string'd, and an old pine stick, But when he hit it he made it speak. Ah, ah. Picayune Butler's comin, comin . Decades after he performed in the streets and on the stages of New Orleans, Picayune Butler was still famous and his memory kept alive. A popular song about him was published in the 1858 Phil Rice's Method for the Banjo: With or Without a Master, whose goal was to allow the aspiring banjo player to learn even ifthere was no "master"musician to be found to --- Page 198 --- THE BANJO teach him. It is fitting that Butler would, within its pages, get his due: for he and other musicians like him were the often-forgotten founders of the tradition of minstrelsy that became America's most important popular and influential form of entertainment in the mid-nineteenth century. The song about Butler had a long and flourishing career: it became a campaign song for a political campaign; inspired a series ofwhite men, including Civil War generals and later musicians, to take on Picayune Butler as a nickname; and was featured in the first minstrel performance in Japan in 1854. In the 1850s, a white banjo player sought to channel the legacy ofthe song and the musician by taking on the same stage name and debuting a new Picayune Butler. 25 Beyond the song, we know almost nothing about Butler. But his evanescent presence in the written history ofthe banjo and of minstrelsy highlights the critical place New Orleans plays in this story. The city had a unique cultural cartography at the crossroads of North America, the Gulf Coast, and the Caribbean; and it was there that some of the critical encounters and collusions that lay the foundations for minstrelsy took place. The 1858 song hinted at the ways his spirit hovers over American history. Picayune Butler gwine to rise, And meet his friends up in de skies Some thing else am mighty true De Banjo gwine to be dar too, Ah, ah. Now ladies all I'll hab you know, Dar is no music like de old Banjo Ah, ah, And when you want to hear it ring, Just watch dese fingers on de string. 26 Music in New Orleans was shaped and sustained by the cultural world oft the surrounding Louisiana plantations. Théodore Pavie, who traveled to the territory from France, described seeing a dance on a plantation, part of the "second, nocturnal life" the slaves had after a long day of working in the fields. "When everything was ready for the dance," Pavie wrote, "one of them tuned a rude guitar, mounted on a calabash with like de old Banjo Ah, ah, And when you want to hear it ring, Just watch dese fingers on de string. 26 Music in New Orleans was shaped and sustained by the cultural world oft the surrounding Louisiana plantations. Théodore Pavie, who traveled to the territory from France, described seeing a dance on a plantation, part of the "second, nocturnal life" the slaves had after a long day of working in the fields. "When everything was ready for the dance," Pavie wrote, "one of them tuned a rude guitar, mounted on a calabash with --- Page 199 --- The Banjo Meets Blackface cat gut, and began warming up as ifhe was Another turned over a copper tub and playing a Moorish mandolin." signal ofthe guitar player," the dance drummed a beat. Then, "with the to the began. "The songs varied inspiration ofthe musicians." >7 They included according upon which African slaves like to sigh for "melancholy songs négresses" repeated the liberty," and when "the words, a "monotone murmur" young circle of elders, rose up from the accompanying "this sad and other hemisphere. 3 'Dance the dance plaintive melody from anthe overseer as he of the Congos for mel," ordered approached the group an instant, and they obeyed": "Three ofslaves, who were resting for and others took up their drums. elderly négres tuned their banjas, 99 ofmoves that were "almost The dance, wrote Pavie, was made up it. Pavie's military," and the men threw account seems to suggest a distinction between themselves into struments, the first a "rude guitar" made two such inthe "banja,' taken out ofa calabash, and the second the white specifically for the "Congo dance" overseer. Ifthese were indeed distinct demanded by suggests that there may have been a of instruments, then this the time, including differences in how range construction styles in use at strings the instruments necks were built and in how had,27 many Within New Orleans, the banjo continued to Like Latrobe, later visitors sound in Congo to New Orleans often made a Square. increasingly well-known space ofgathering. trip to see the early 1830s, the self-styled "Yankee" Visiting New Orleans in the seeing a particular instrument Joseph Holt Ingraham described another visitor there: "Congo banjo. 99 Three decades described seeing banjos there: later, hundreds may be seen in different "Groups of fifties and tom-toms, violins, sections of the square, with banjos, from which harsh jawbones, triangles, and various other or dulcet sounds may be extracted." instruments with "fringes, ribbons, little bells, and shells Dancers dressed and flirting" and balls," their adding to the music. When dancers "jingling "down gracefully on the grass," were grew tired, they sank while others fanned, and were offered a drink, jumped up to take their places. 28 These varied musical and performance the thriving Mardi Gras traditions found a home in tradition, the result ofthe tion, and precipitation" ofvarious cultural "collision, coordinaincluding plantation festivities elements present in Louisiana, (like those among the enslaved, the influence of ofJunkanoo), African practices Caribbean traditions, the impact of music. When dancers "jingling "down gracefully on the grass," were grew tired, they sank while others fanned, and were offered a drink, jumped up to take their places. 28 These varied musical and performance the thriving Mardi Gras traditions found a home in tradition, the result ofthe tion, and precipitation" ofvarious cultural "collision, coordinaincluding plantation festivities elements present in Louisiana, (like those among the enslaved, the influence of ofJunkanoo), African practices Caribbean traditions, the impact of --- Page 200 --- THE BANJO the of the commerAnglo-American practices, and finally pressures in late of leisure. These came together cialization and theatricalization New Orleans, condensing eighteenth- and early nineteench-century that were at once an array of cultural practices and institutionalizing and deeply Creole American and Afro-Atlantic, African and European, in all the senses ofthe word. 29 might have meant different perspective on what the banjo We get a first published by George Washington in Louisiana from a Creole song folklorist Maud in 1886 and later arranged by Cable in CenturyMagazine that it had been sung "on a plantation in Cuney-Hare, who explained Là"-"Look at That Charles Parish." 99 She called it "Gardé Piti Mulet St. subtitle "Musieu Bainjo," or "Mister Banjo. Little Mulatto" -adding a versions of the song, they all Though there are texts of a few different of a man who is "ina satirical portrait use the banjo as a way ofoffering Creole version published in 1887, solent" or puts on a "saucy air." In a Badine dan lamain, ti banjo! milate, ti banjo! the song calls out "Gardé piti little banjo! A ho côté, ti banjo - "Look at that little mulatto, Chapo en His hat cocked to the side, little banjo!" cane in his hand, little banjo! "crin-crin." 3 The 1921 His boots, the song goes on, are SO new they go fun of a man with a version offered by Cuney-Hare is similar, making "cricwith his hat "cock'do one side," shoes SO new they go "saucy air," his vest," and a cane in his hand. Though crac" as he walks, a "kerchiefin know how old the song was collected in the 1880s, it is difficult to it was in the latter half of the nineteenth century, by then. Ifit was composed the had become enough ofan a moment when banjo it probably registers of aspiring to a higher social status, urban phenomenon, and a symbol make fun of the citified dandy. that it could allow for rural people to another marker ofthe Whatever its moment of origin, however, it offers evoked and deployed in Louisana song. way the instrument was of New Orleans and its surroundIt was out of this sonic landscape who bridged the Butler emerged as a tentative pioneer ings that Picayune streets and plazas with the more convernacular culture and sound ofthe archive is light: there are ofthe theater. His imprint in the fined space about Butler. The first is a critical two fragments of written information Advertiser about a performer who review published in the 1830 Louisiana would not The critic, hoping that the performer had appeared on stage. recommended that ifhe did: "we would appear again to perform "Juba, was out of this sonic landscape who bridged the Butler emerged as a tentative pioneer ings that Picayune streets and plazas with the more convernacular culture and sound ofthe archive is light: there are ofthe theater. His imprint in the fined space about Butler. The first is a critical two fragments of written information Advertiser about a performer who review published in the 1830 Louisiana would not The critic, hoping that the performer had appeared on stage. recommended that ifhe did: "we would appear again to perform "Juba, --- Page 201 --- The Banjo Meets Blackface borrow old Butler's banjow, as an admirable accomrecommend him to Butler, which 97 The reference must have been to Picayune with his paniment." Orleans readers would have been familiar suggests that New from having seen him play on the playing. That could have been simply Butler had appeared on stage although there is also a chance that street, would make him probably the first performer in at some point-which instrument onto the stage. Decades later, a North America to bring the Butler a small place in his writer named T. Allston Brown gave Picayune Brown, it was Picayune tale of"The Origins of Minstrelsy" According to Nichols to white minstrel named George Butler who inspired an early Crow." "Nichols his act, centered on a character known as "Jim develop clown," Brown writes, "afterwards as a negro. first sang 'Jim Crow' as a darkie, a banjo player, known He first conceived the idea from a French Butler-a copper-colored from New Orleans to Cincinnati as Picayune 'Picayune Butler who gathered many a picayune by singing >31 gentleman, himself on his four-stringed banjo. is Going Away," accompanying another early performer, one who ulButler seems to have influenced His name was Thomas timately had much more ofan impact than Nichols. understood that Dartmouth Rice, and he brilliantly and enduringly him could be vernacular culture he saw around the African-American codified, and turned to theatrical practice-and effectively translated, he created a new profit. Drawing on these Atlantic forms ofperformance, around the charperformance in the 1820s, centered form ofblackface character became SO popular and acter of Jim Crow. In time the stage ofthe ofsouthern central in U.S. culture that it became the name system Rice had heard The character's name came from a song Rice segregation. performers, notably Picayune Butler. played by Aftican-American the New Orleans banjo player in his first explicitly indicated his debt to Crow in 1830. One of the recorded performance ofthe figure of Jim with words was "Jim Crow's Trip to New Orleans," songs he performed career was based on his claim by Picayune Butler. His entire performance and dance, channeling copying black gesture that he was successfully in crafting a new form deeply rooted forms of vernacular performance ofhis authenin blackface was at once a signal oftheater. His appearance ticity and an act ofselceransformuation the 1830s, Rice became the most popFor two decades starting in the United States and Britain, ular actor ofhis time, traveling throughout with words was "Jim Crow's Trip to New Orleans," songs he performed career was based on his claim by Picayune Butler. His entire performance and dance, channeling copying black gesture that he was successfully in crafting a new form deeply rooted forms of vernacular performance ofhis authenin blackface was at once a signal oftheater. His appearance ticity and an act ofselceransformuation the 1830s, Rice became the most popFor two decades starting in the United States and Britain, ular actor ofhis time, traveling throughout --- Page 202 --- THE BANJO black men. 17 By the 1840s he was the by "blacking up and imitating and America. Rice has long perplexed highest-paid actor in both Europe who should be ighistorians: some have considered him an "anomaly" is to conwhile others have felt that the only appropriate approach nored, black performance in enabling a demn him for having appropriated his cultural imprint was undeniably long tradition ofracist caricature. But of vernacfor he managed to bridge two styles performance: profound, in the enduring history ular and high culture. He was a crucial pioneer bringing the cultural industries, which have thrived by of American's and streets to the stage, often to great performance styles of the ports in cycles ever since." What Rice did in the 1830s has "recurred profit. blackness," writes W. T. Lhamon Jr., "is arguably "Imitating perceived for what it is to be American." >33 the central metaphor blackness in White actors and audiences were drawn to performing social shattering economic and uppart because they were experiencing and industry disrupted and heaval, as changes in trade, transportation, urban whites were experiencing disentangled communities. Many poorer had and dislocation that blacks long experienced forms ofmarginalization from different European in a much deeper and wider scale. Immigrants diverse neighborhoods, cultures were thrown together in extremely ofcultures and languages. trying to make do in the midst of a confusion and bring identities, which had been built precisely to bridge In "black" and Central African cultural forms, they together a diversity of West and shifting map for navigating their own confusing found a preexisting developed over centuries in the spaces landscape. The diverse strategies for whites buffeted by of the Afro-Atlantic world were "good guides" the changes ofthe nineteenth century." his way from sites of Jim Crow would have a curious life, winding Rice. From there, he vernacular performance to the stage, thanks to and his name theatrical icon; would build a life as an endlessly repeated legal system that was would be adopted to refer to a post-emancipation and the very currents of transmission, sharing, aimed in part to prevent in his figure in the first place. Rice's influence that had been embodied and not easily sumCrow character was in fact exceedingly complex what Jim He represented the opposite of marized as a pure racial stereotype. the deep and today, in that the character emphasized the term signifies and European-American culunstoppable mixing of African-American and his name theatrical icon; would build a life as an endlessly repeated legal system that was would be adopted to refer to a post-emancipation and the very currents of transmission, sharing, aimed in part to prevent in his figure in the first place. Rice's influence that had been embodied and not easily sumCrow character was in fact exceedingly complex what Jim He represented the opposite of marized as a pure racial stereotype. the deep and today, in that the character emphasized the term signifies and European-American culunstoppable mixing of African-American --- Page 203 --- 193 The Banjo Meets Blackjace blacks and whites. He was a ture and potential alliances between brotherhood" poorer between these groups. symbol ofthe potential of"demotic much of Rice's audience urban audiences who made up The lower-class than did elites, many of whom sharply lived in far less segregated spaces Rice's plays, Jim Crow came to criticized his performances. Through oceans," passing from "comwander not just across regions but "across of"African royalty and back again," a troubling figure moner to royalty Crow behaved like a sovereign." in rags." "Dressed like a ragamuffin, Jim where they pursued and He and other black characters took center stage, for doing their own means and won support achieved their own ends by the audiences that thronged to see such performances: SO from Crow repertoire was a song, endlessly adaptAt the core ofthe Jim of verses. Crow, 97 for which Rice wrote hundreds able, called "JumpJim about an'turn about / And do jis' SO / The chorus was simple: "I wheel about, / Crow." In a version published And ebry time I wheel IjumpJim and oppositional. One in 1832, some ofthe verses were frankly political, whites might create invoked the possibility that conflict between verse blacks: "Should dey get to fighting / Perhaps de blacks an opportunity for freedom, / Is shining in deir eyes. Another will rise, / For deir wish for / Aldough I'm announced: "I'm for freedom, / An for Union altogether, broder." 99 Such lines could be heard a black man, / De white is call'd my transmit antislavery sentiBut they could also as farce or provocation. Ricein the late 1830s called Flight to America, ment. In a play performed by and makes his way to Jim Crow escapes slavery on a Virginia plantation gives a speech York, where-before catching a boat to England-he New oft the has Jim Crow and other celebrating freedom. The last scene play "Strike de bango characters dancing to celebrate onrushing freedom: Bobolition for de nigger dance and play / Freedom reigns o'er the plains / >36 tamborine thrum / On dis happy day." / Beat big drum, most clearly on display in his Rice's transgressive politics were the first time in 1844. By this time, rewriting of Othello, performed for oft the dangers ofinterOthello was often cited by elites as confirmation 1833 with disgust of John Quincy Adams wrote in racial relationships. and "thickDesdemona's "unnatural passion" for a "sooty-bosomed" the "cause of wool-headed Moor' 9 The marriage ofthe two was lipped Rice titled his riposte and rejection all the tragic incidents in the play." 7 There had already been other of this vision "Otello: Burlesque Opera.' 4. By this time, rewriting of Othello, performed for oft the dangers ofinterOthello was often cited by elites as confirmation 1833 with disgust of John Quincy Adams wrote in racial relationships. and "thickDesdemona's "unnatural passion" for a "sooty-bosomed" the "cause of wool-headed Moor' 9 The marriage ofthe two was lipped Rice titled his riposte and rejection all the tragic incidents in the play." 7 There had already been other of this vision "Otello: Burlesque Opera.' --- Page 204 --- THE BANJO including an 1833 version in which reworkings of Shakespeare's play, further: his Otello was a Othello came from Haiti. Rice took this a step New York's nowho had settled in runaway from a southern plantation of district. Rice transforms the tragic impossibility torious Five Points Shakespeare into full conceivable the interracial relationship offered by together. Not In his version, Otello and Desdemona get romantic reality. with a face painted white only that, they have a child who is presented of the chorus side and black on the other, to the acclamation on one direction commanded the "whole house" and the audience. The stage to celebrate at the final applause. to dance together and unmovable cultural comRice's career left behind an unending constructed that remains with us to this day. It was, however, largely plex all the impossible colluaround him as a star performer who condensed his the Crow figure. Even as he was performing sions embodied in Jim another movement was afoot, provocative Otello in New York City, would take to build on his success. A new group of performers and seeking it to create a new form of theater what he had built and appropriate an instrument that music. They would do SO by bringing to the stage Crow did: the and its contradictions as richly as Jim embodied history tradition of musicians like Titus and banjo. Building on the performance front and center and turned Butler, these pioneers put the banjo Picayune mainstay of cultural perit from an unusual instrument into a necessary Orleans, or elsewhere in formance in America. They did SO not in New that the heart of New York City. It was in the Bowery the South, but in the banjo finally met blackface. * the stage in the hands of the Virginian Joel The instrument came to around his home in Walker Sweeney. In 1839, after years of performing South farther afield and joined a circus in Charleston, Virginia, he traveled in a T. D. Rice producCarolina, in February of that year, appearing New York in April The circus traveled north, carrying Sweeney to tion. place for musicians: it was where summer 1839. The city was a gathering out and also where traveling traveling circuses assembled before heading there much of the year, wintered. A lot oftalent was gathered troupes for many minstrel groups. Despite the comand it served as an incubator years of performing South farther afield and joined a circus in Charleston, Virginia, he traveled in a T. D. Rice producCarolina, in February of that year, appearing New York in April The circus traveled north, carrying Sweeney to tion. place for musicians: it was where summer 1839. The city was a gathering out and also where traveling traveling circuses assembled before heading there much of the year, wintered. A lot oftalent was gathered troupes for many minstrel groups. Despite the comand it served as an incubator --- Page 205 --- 195 The Banjo Meets Blackjace arrived and quickly got a gig at the Old Italian Opera petition, Sweeney in between acts by "plate spinners, House near Broadway, playing banjo ear 97 He caught the eye and ofaudiences, polka dancers," and "magicians" Herald wrote that the "great feature" and one reviewer from The New York which is exceedingly act was his "playing upon the 'banjo' ofS Sweeney's satisfaction." 19 He joined forces with a white well done and gave general Diamond, who was advertised as dancer from New York named John in his growing "the Prince of the Darkies!" He was confident enough Barnum for a twothat he turned down an offer from P. T. his reputation in New York and hone week gig in Philadelphia, preferring to stay with Broadway Circus solo act. But in the spring of1840, Sweeney set out it. 38 as one newspaper put on a tour of New England, "banjoizing" 97 writes Dale Cockrell, "jan- "Early minstrelsy's music (or, its noise)," oft those who believed in music that was proper, gled the nervous system melodies." But respectable, polished, and harmonic, with recognizable first. In even for the minstrels, at least at the banjo seemed a little scary called "the Louisiana Banjou the mid-1830s, one performer offered a song in "the true banjo which he played Style," >9 but performed it on a violin, came to the show warned audiences that ifthey style." One 1840 playbill and Organs, de BANJO." they would hear "dat terror to all Pianos, Harps, that this the concern, of course, was the clear understanding 39 Underlying instrument, straight from the plantation." was an African-American sought to domesticate the banjo Promoters of minstrel music quickly wild. 1841 audiences that the instrument was not too By and reassure their celebrated the "scientific touches" advertisements for Sweeney's concerts redeemer: and presented him as the instrument's of his banjo playing "know what music there is only those who heard him play would truly "magic music 99 His inspired an effusive praise poemin a banjo. playing ofthe comthrills those cords ofthine / Thou master Banjo-string-ande of famed lyre" and the music Paganini. pared it favorably to "Orpheus' fire / Breathes softly from thy sweetness and melodious "More witching Banjo-string. musician, was a great self-promoter Sweeney, like many a successful the banjo by adding and claimed for himselfthe honor ofhaving improved regarding the fifth string to it. This has led to long-running confusion a the ofthe instrument: some on construction extent ofSweneyvinfucnee inventor" ofthe banjo. Sweeney had have gone SO far as calling him the it favorably to "Orpheus' fire / Breathes softly from thy sweetness and melodious "More witching Banjo-string. musician, was a great self-promoter Sweeney, like many a successful the banjo by adding and claimed for himselfthe honor ofhaving improved regarding the fifth string to it. This has led to long-running confusion a the ofthe instrument: some on construction extent ofSweneyvinfucnee inventor" ofthe banjo. Sweeney had have gone SO far as calling him the --- Page 206 --- THE BANJO of course, and he also did not-as in no way invented the instrument, of the banjo, which believed-add the short drone string on top some iterations in the Caribbean and North was also present from its earliest in Virginia, he had America. By the time he was eighteen, still playing above the short however added a lower bass string to the instrument,, just with this banjo. Whether he had come up string, making a five-stringed else is hard to say. But himself or had gotten the idea from somewhere The five-string banjo the new construction. he definitely popularized the instrument and therefore opened offered a larger melodic range to chords and songs. It became the for different kinds of new possibilities standard during the nineteenth century." transform the banjo from a Sweeney's riveting performances helped Over the and anomaly on the stage to a near-necessity. relative stranger was codified by minstrel acts. next few years, a new style of performance diverse musical and theatWhat had before been made up of a series of ensemble presentation by an rical acts now morphed into a concert-like authors oft that transband with the banjo at its literal center. The major New York Minstrels, who came togetherin formation were the Virginia named Dan Emmett, 1843. At the core of the ensemble was a man in Vernon, Ohio. After a stint in the army, Emmett who came from Mount what he later described as his "first joined a circus and in 1838 authored Crowder who disembarks song, 7 about a black man named Bill negro on the example ofthe in Cincinnati. The song was a hybrid, drawing for Bill Crowder already popular. Jim Crow and Gumbo Chaffcharacters common Jewish stock character more but incorporating a stereotypical in English theater. 42 him to learn to play the Emmett's foray into songwriting inspired in the spring While his group was in the western part of Virginia who banjo. named Archibald Ferguson, of f1840, they came across a banjo player all over' except in Emmett later put it, "was very ignorant and 'nigger as the circus to hire him. Fercolor.' 99 Emmett, taken by his playing, pushed told to on of ten dollars a month and was "jump guson accepted a salary card we ever had," drawing the wagon." 99 1e He turned out to be "the greatest the circus landed. the "talk ofthe town" wherever crowds and becoming from Ferguson. Once he got good Emmett set about learning the banjo the West the favor, in classic showbiz fashion, by replacing he returned blackface performer man. He then teamed up with an established Virginia 99 Emmett, taken by his playing, pushed told to on of ten dollars a month and was "jump guson accepted a salary card we ever had," drawing the wagon." 99 1e He turned out to be "the greatest the circus landed. the "talk ofthe town" wherever crowds and becoming from Ferguson. Once he got good Emmett set about learning the banjo the West the favor, in classic showbiz fashion, by replacing he returned blackface performer man. He then teamed up with an established Virginia --- Page 207 --- 197 The Banjo Meets Blackface from Baltimore. Brower had helped pionamed Frank Brower, who was In their to add percussion to minstrel performances. neer the use ofbones together banjo and bones, a Emmett and Brower brought performances, that would become central to minstrely. combination their act to New York City in the fall Emmet and Brower brought a dancer. The of 1842, where they teamed up with a third performer, "the in The New York Herald as great Midwesterner Emmett was praised became "the Melodist," 7 while the Baltimorean Brower Southern Banjo Southern Negro characters." Emmett perfect representation of the offering "an exhibition' 7 of appeared for a week at a Bowery theater including one called Banjo melodies and Negro dances," "enlivening with Brower Serenade." 97 In January of 1843 he performed "Ethiopian Holiday Sports in Carolina and Virginia." in a performance called "Negro understood that this was Though neither ofthem was a southerner, they to do that was to and that the best way what they needed to become in blackface during their become black. Both had probably performed this tobut New York gave them an opportunity to bring circus days, with the sound of their music in a new way.t gether Emmett and Brower got to know another banjo player In New York Whitlock. Traveling in 1837 or 1838 through and singer named William Whitlock had met Joel Sweeney the South as part of a circus company, from him. He later claimed he'd in Virginia and took a few banjo lessons night during his also learned from watching Virginia slaves play: "Every steal off to south, when he was not playing, he would quietly with journey hear the sing and see them dance, taking some negro hut to darkeys all the merrier.' >> Whitlock impressed him a jug ofwhiskey to make them review described him as "quite audiences with his banjo playing: an 1842 that 9 P. T. Barnum was SO impressed equal if not superior to Sweeney." regularly him, and Whitlock was soon performing he offered to manage known for his dancing as well as his skillful in New York, where he was >7 In article as "combustious." banjo playing, described in one newspaper the role of"Sambo Squash," standard routines, Whitlock played one ofhis in the hopes of seducing "Dear Fanny."s who played the banjo out at the Bowery One night Whitlock and Brower were hanging bones, violin house where Emmett was staying. "The banjo, boarding around loose, as ifb by accident, each one picked and tambourine, lying Dan Tucker, while Emmett his tools and joined in a chorus of'Old up article as "combustious." banjo playing, described in one newspaper the role of"Sambo Squash," standard routines, Whitlock played one ofhis in the hopes of seducing "Dear Fanny."s who played the banjo out at the Bowery One night Whitlock and Brower were hanging bones, violin house where Emmett was staying. "The banjo, boarding around loose, as ifb by accident, each one picked and tambourine, lying Dan Tucker, while Emmett his tools and joined in a chorus of'Old up --- Page 208 --- THE BANJO It went well, and they repeated it without saying was playing and singing. oft the principal and origword. Each did his best, and such a rattling a band was never heard before.' Another muinal instruments in a minstrel with the tambourine. "Charmed sician, Pelham, stopped by andjoined in about how well they fell the soul" the music, buoyed and enthused to by Bowery theater-probably a little in together, they sauntered to a nearby idea of what was to follow," dedrunk-and, "without a ghost of the that "he would succumb manded a gig from the owner. They calculated as they the horrible noise" they were making in preference to standing later that evening in together. They played their first engagement played hotel and soon after at the Bowery Theater.* the nearby advertised as a One of their first performances was prophetically original "First Night of the novel, grotesque, moment oft transformation. band, entitled Virginia Minstrels, and surprisingly melodious Ethiopian combining the banjo, violin, musical entertainment being an exclusively from the vulgariand tambourine, and entirely exempt bone castanets, features which have hitherto characterized ties and other objectionable was presented as "musical Their performance the negro extravaganzas. kind of elevation over prior blackface enentertainment" and also as a offered scenes, such "melodious" and structured. They tertainment, more 99 as well as comic interludes, but it was as "Dan Tucker on Horseback; ofa an "Ethiopian Conmusic that structured the evening. The program list in Boston in March 1843 was essentially a ofsongscert" performed a story told by interrupted by "A Negro Lecture on Locomotives," with one included "Uncle Gabriel" and concluded Whitlock. The songs ?7 billed as "a Parody, written by Old called "Fine Old Colored Gemman, himself on the Dan Emmet, who will, on this occasion, accompany with that will make all guitar players turn pale BANJO, in a manner including an 1843 coldelight: 9 The group quickly released sheet music, shows several black Banjo Melodies." The cover lection of "Original and three oft them are carrying banjo. The figures dancing and singing, head-butting a tree, has instrument seems to be in danger: a large goat, is trying to chomp around one ofthem, while an alligator his tail wrapped down on the body ofhis banjo." full The use was this invitation into a world ofbanjos? What exactly itselfan interesting signal of what ofthe term "minstrel" in the name was "minstrels" had was afoot. Before then, some troupes calling themselves of "Original and three oft them are carrying banjo. The figures dancing and singing, head-butting a tree, has instrument seems to be in danger: a large goat, is trying to chomp around one ofthem, while an alligator his tail wrapped down on the body ofhis banjo." full The use was this invitation into a world ofbanjos? What exactly itselfan interesting signal of what ofthe term "minstrel" in the name was "minstrels" had was afoot. Before then, some troupes calling themselves --- Page 209 --- The Banjo Meets Blackjace performed in the United States, but these groups--and their imitators- -such were European singing German Minstrels who as the Tyrolese Minstrels and the catered to white, the Virginian Minstrels middle-class audiences. What crafted for sought to do was to take a medium that had rowdy, popular theaters- -blackface been it the cast ofsomething that could be performance-and give the name "minstrel" performed in a concert hall. was a way of doing that. It was Using of burlesque, making fun of the on one level a kind naled "the more respectable genre. But it also possibility of accommodation." 948 sigHaving created this "novel ensemble," the an experiment into a new medium-the musicians rapidly"turned tury." At its center was jazz band ofthe nineteenth cenabandon, Whitlock, who "played his banjo with roughly striking the strings with the nail complete the early minstrels used this ofhis forefinger' All or"clawhammer," same style-what is known today as "frailing" the backs striking the strings downward and of the fingers. The Virginia rhythmically with playbills that their "instruments Minstrels announced on their These banjos had a "mellower, were manufactured by themselves." bright and metallic fuller, more resonant sound" than the one we imagine today, and more tuned lower than the modern their gut strings were tuning. Whitlock called his neck" and-unlike instrument a "Congo banjo. It had a "long, thin chords. Sweeney's banjo -only four strings. He didn't Instead, the banjo drove the melody for the play key accompaniment to the singing, the lead songs, forming the It also varied the main instrument oft the ensemble. melody by "inserting into it two highest strings. 99 The motion of the the open tones ofhis ting tones on accented beats," : song was "intensified by omitWhitlock added creating a syncopated sound. a beat by tapping or his Sometimes The show consisted ofsongs stomping foot on the ground. played by the ensemble, banjo with other bringing together the kling, instruments to create a sound that was cackling, and "scratchy, tinludes humorously incongruous. 3 In between played on just banjo and bones, like those were interhad developed in their days in the Emmett and Ferguson solos, which circus. Whitlock also performed delighted the audiences. The banjo characters that allowed them troupe developed fantastical frequently to showcase the banjo as well. Dan Emmett performed a song called "The Fine Old which depicted a "Tennessee Color Gentleman," Negro Sambo' from the backwoods, who scratchy, tinludes humorously incongruous. 3 In between played on just banjo and bones, like those were interhad developed in their days in the Emmett and Ferguson solos, which circus. Whitlock also performed delighted the audiences. The banjo characters that allowed them troupe developed fantastical frequently to showcase the banjo as well. Dan Emmett performed a song called "The Fine Old which depicted a "Tennessee Color Gentleman," Negro Sambo' from the backwoods, who --- Page 210 --- THE BANJO 200 small railroads wid a spoonful was eleven feet tall, able to swallow"two sung the banjo and singing-"He ofice cream," and constantly playing >50 he scared the pigs and goats. SO long and sung SO loud, the Minstrels, as perminstrel shows by Virginia The first complete inspiring many imitators and formed in 1843, were an instant hit, quickly entertainments what was to be the most popular of popular 'initiating Immediately other bands formed with for the next forty years or more." They all consisted of instrumentation, and approach. a similar structure, One ofthe most influenwhite musicians who performed in blackface. Minstrels, led by E. P. minstrel troops was the Christy tial subsequent music he heard in New Orleans as a Christy. He had been inspired by were slaves, He managed a ropewalk where the performers young man. their singing. He regularly visited Congo and became fascinated with their "queer words and and listened to the music there, studying Square melodies." 19 In Buffalo in the 1830s he began persimple but expressive drawing on the singing styles of a man forming as a blackface entertainer, church and whom named Harrison, who sang in a local African-American Minstrels in the early He founded the Christy he visited frequently. Minstrels-had actu1840s and later claimed he-and not the Virginia that effect the form. He went SO far as to get his claim to ally invented Court. Though historians have endorsed by the New York Supreme it is clear that the Christy ultimately sided with the Virginian Minstrels, minstrel form by the Minstrels played a central role in codifying the side Christy had a man with a tambourine on one mid-1840s. On stage the other end, creating two "endand another playing the bones on and Bones." 3 They created men" who were often referred to as "Tambo "the Interin which other musicians sat. At the center was a semicircle and often played the banjo. locutor," who served as master ofceremonies enthusiastic audiences in Minstrels garnered large and The Christy P. Christy had done 2700 performances North America and beyond-E. continued on without by the time he retired in 1856, though the company him after that. 51 off figures like T. D. Rice. Like The minstrels built on the earlier acts varin blackface and developed him, these white musicians performed something different and characters. But they also offered ious black stage centered around the structured than Rice's earlier performances, more "musical theater" as "theatrical music.' The music. It was not SO much P. Christy had done 2700 performances North America and beyond-E. continued on without by the time he retired in 1856, though the company him after that. 51 off figures like T. D. Rice. Like The minstrels built on the earlier acts varin blackface and developed him, these white musicians performed something different and characters. But they also offered ious black stage centered around the structured than Rice's earlier performances, more "musical theater" as "theatrical music.' The music. It was not SO much --- Page 211 --- 201 The Banjo Meets Blackface 7 At least twenty-nine printed programs looked "like concert programs. between 1843 and 1847. performed in the United States different troupes varied, the troupes always had a banjoThough the instrumentation ensembles. Some troupes even had two which was "at the heart" ofthe player to accompany players. All the minstrels had a tambourine banjo bones and fiddle players. Some had other kinds the banjo, and most had like accordions or flutes.2 of percussion, as well as instruments an moment in The meeting of the banjo and blackface was epochal deploying of American and, indeed, global popular culture. By the history concretized the idea that they were chanthe banjo on stage, the minstrels and translators ofthe music neling plantation music, serving as conduits the sound and symbolism provided of the enslaved. The instrument's of content and combination ofsonic presence and romanticism, perfect and codified different form. And the minstrel show, in turn, brought strands ofthe banjo's history. instrument that could The banjo had been developed as a versatile and fifty years, diverse audiences; and for at least a hundred bring together through its sound within communities of it had been creating solidarity also increasingly present in the enslaved. But by the 1830s the banjo was of plantation life, as a key prop various kinds ofliterary texts as a symbol or not. It was, slaves were happy in debates over the question ofwhether symbolic and ultimately, in the meeting between these two realms-the and its ofthe instrument as a symbol of slave life, discursive construction the enslaved-that the actual resonance as a source of music played by emerged. Minand popular practice of blackface minstrelsy powerful already carried by depended on the social and symbolic meanings strelsy also them to new uses by bringing together a deeply the banjo, but it put tradition with an urgent need on the rooted Afro-American performance the terrors of slavery itof audiences to both confront and set aside part slavery and the forms of music it had produced self. The form absorbed and important way and became, for a time, perhaps the most widespread and SOabout and experienced the central political Americans thought became by far the most popular and cial question oftheir day. Minstrelsy North America, profitable form of entertainment in nineteenth-century frontier, and ultimately the construction of theaters along the Africa, spurring Latin America, South had a global reach stretching to Europe, and beyond, performance the terrors of slavery itof audiences to both confront and set aside part slavery and the forms of music it had produced self. The form absorbed and important way and became, for a time, perhaps the most widespread and SOabout and experienced the central political Americans thought became by far the most popular and cial question oftheir day. Minstrelsy North America, profitable form of entertainment in nineteenth-century frontier, and ultimately the construction of theaters along the Africa, spurring Latin America, South had a global reach stretching to Europe, and beyond, --- Page 212 --- THE BANJO 202 the minstrel show, the banjo had become By the 1850s, thanks to In New Orleans the comfamiliar sound on the American stage. a deeply two to the city, a Louis Moreau Gottschalk, the son of immigrants poser and a mother from Haiti, wrote a piano composition father from England ofa series in which Gottschalk in honor of the banjo. The piece was part and Afro-Caribbean from Afro-American sought to draw inspiration notably at Congo which he had observed in New Orleans, culture, for his piece is still a mystery, though Square. The direct inspiration was attempting to scholar has argued that Gottschalk most likely one musician from New capture the banjo playing of an African-American document we have making his composition "the most complete Orleans, African-American banjo tradition." Called ofthe ninetenth-century and subtitled "An American Sketch," "The Banjo, Grotesque Fantasy" sound like a banjo, is an attempt to make a piano the composition that would have been made on the instrument capturing a kind ofsound downstroke and picking. through a skillful combination of percussive "The Banjo" and energetic flow of his composition The enthusiastic compositions, one that influenced made it one efGatnchikybeaclened The illustration for the sheet European composers, including Debussy. the banjo had the extent to which music itself suggested powerfully there, enough to spell out taken over: there were banjos here and banjos suggested, it itself. And now, Gottschalk's composition the word banjo learn the music ofthis one-time newwas other instruments that had to the American stage. In 1857 now established permanently on comer, Caribbean and played "The Banjo" to packed Gottschalk toured the In 1859, he brought the song to audiences in Cuba and St. Thomas. on sounding out his piano composition Guadeloupe and Martinique, Labat had first noted the presthe islands where the priest Jean-Baptiste earlier. 54 ofthe banza in the hands of slaves nearly two centuries ence electric enthusiasm many felt for the banjo Mark Twain captured the to Gottschalk's the middle of the nineteenth century. In a response to by out that even ifhe was trying hard music, Twain ultimately pointed the end there was truly no substitute make a piano sound like banjo, in itself. "I like Gottschalk well for the humming, thumping instrument much out of the piano as enough," 9 wrote Twain. "He probably gets as does out ofit is But the frozen fact is, that all that he get there is in it. instrument thicker and faster 'tum, tum." 1 He gets 'tum, tum, out ofthe response to by out that even ifhe was trying hard music, Twain ultimately pointed the end there was truly no substitute make a piano sound like banjo, in itself. "I like Gottschalk well for the humming, thumping instrument much out of the piano as enough," 9 wrote Twain. "He probably gets as does out ofit is But the frozen fact is, that all that he get there is in it. instrument thicker and faster 'tum, tum." 1 He gets 'tum, tum, out ofthe --- Page 213 --- The Banjo Meets Blackface than my landlady's daughter, Mary Ann; but, after all, it simply amounts to 'tum, tum. 9 While the piano might be fine for "love-sick girls," 9 Twain went on, it just wouldn't do for him. "[Glive me the banjo. 79 When you want genuine music- --music that will come right home to you like a bad quarter, suffuse your system like strychnine whisky ramify your whole constitution like the measles, and break out on your hide like the pinfeather pimples on a picked goose,-when you want all this, just smash your piano, and invoke the glory-beaming banjo!"55 * In the years up to the Civil War, minstrelsy increasingly offered racist visions of African-Americans, and a corresponding apologia for plantation slavery. Proslavery writers offered exuberant depictions ofhappy, singing slaves, leaving U.S. abolitionists the unenviable task of"convincing the public that life under slavery was not like a minstrel show." An 1852 response to Harriet Beecher Stowe's Unde Tom's Cabin described this happy scene on a plantation: There were several of the slaves who were tolerable musicians, and these having formed a band, played occasionally in the summer evenings in the lawn before the hall, for the amusement ofthe family. These were now ranged apart from the rest, near a sparkling fountain between the sycamore and the mansion, and even to the refined ears ofthe Colonel and his children, "discoursed most elegant music. 99 The leader of the band was Jerry, who sat on top of a hogshead with his legs hanging over the side, doing great execution with his "fiddle and his bow.' The others performed on banjoes, bones and other instruments, and were seated around their leader, some on the ground and some on rude benches brought from the cabins. 56 "No matter where they may be or what they may be doing,' wrote D. R. Hundley of the enslaved in 1860, *whether alone or in crowds, at work or at play, ploughing through the steaming maize in the sultry heats of June, or bared to the waist and with deft hand mowing down doing great execution with his "fiddle and his bow.' The others performed on banjoes, bones and other instruments, and were seated around their leader, some on the ground and some on rude benches brought from the cabins. 56 "No matter where they may be or what they may be doing,' wrote D. R. Hundley of the enslaved in 1860, *whether alone or in crowds, at work or at play, ploughing through the steaming maize in the sultry heats of June, or bared to the waist and with deft hand mowing down --- Page 214 --- THE BANJO homeward in the dusky twilight after a the yellow grain, or trudging they are singing and happy, day's work is done- -always and everywhere heartily free from all mental cares or troubles, singing happy in being which he claimed the birds sing"' 97 He praised this music, and naturally as pleasantly entertained." He no one could listen to "without being very heading up boatman" singing on a steamship recalled hearing "negro singers oft the day to "profrom Mobile and defied the reigning opera melody than duce, with the aid of many orchestras, a more soul-stirring found most Africans then and there!" What Hundley did those simple of the slaves were the "wild cho- "peculiar and striking" in the songs with them from lullaloos, which their fathers must have brought ruses and "even their tamest and most civilized efAfrica." But he admitted that the music's days were good." Still, he thought, forts" were "surpassingly introduced to the true freedom that came with numbered: once properly enslaved "readily give up their banjos, conversion to Christianity, the and are eager to and break-downs, their fiddles, their double-shuffles, >57 learn what is right and becoming. traveled anew, this time in Once the Civil War began, the banjo The ex-slave ofsoldiers and sailors on both sides ofthe conflict. the hands in 1936 in Edisto Island, South Carolina, William Rose, interviewed near the end ofthe Civil War remembered going with his father into town from Charleston a train full ofConfederate soldiers heading and watching he recalls "all going down to die," and yet north into battle. They were, went. One ofthem, cards, laughed, and played music as they they played and another was picking a banjo. Another he recalls, played the fiddle, in hell today." It was, Rose called out: "Boys, we going to eat our dinner do: laughing, the "bravest" thing he had ever seen anyone remembered, >58 and singing, "on their way to die.' their weapons into While some soldiers carried banjos alongside instrument. In one also played and listened to the battle, sailors on ships in the midst of the deck densely 1861 picture of the gunboat Mendota, back at the camera. One packed with sitting sailors, two musicians stare drummer astride a while next to him is a of them is holding a banjo, Union warships actually had drum, his two sticks at the ready. Several who were either proformed minstrel troupes, made up of sailors its fully musicians. The Wabash was famous for fessional or aspiring amateur instrument. In one also played and listened to the battle, sailors on ships in the midst of the deck densely 1861 picture of the gunboat Mendota, back at the camera. One packed with sitting sailors, two musicians stare drummer astride a while next to him is a of them is holding a banjo, Union warships actually had drum, his two sticks at the ready. Several who were either proformed minstrel troupes, made up of sailors its fully musicians. The Wabash was famous for fessional or aspiring amateur --- Page 215 --- 205 The Banjo Meets Blackjace Inviting a Shot Before Petersburg, Dexter M. 1864. Ferryjr. Fund/ Winslow Homer, Defiance: of Arts. Founders Society purchase and Courtesy of the Detroit Institute Bridgeman Images. fiddles, and other instruments which sported two banjos, a guitar, helped to pass many a long troupe, music and amusing songs and "whose good >59 the Civil War is captured evening. curious way that minstrelsy haunted Homer called Defiance: The 1864 painting by Winslow at Petersburg in a striking if opaque Homer spent several weeks of Inviting a Shot before Petersburg, sketches of the shattered landscape the battle and made several he returned, he painted a work during and churned earth. When frustrated with the tree stumps soldier who, manifestly the disthat centers on a Confederate exposed on the earthworks taunting cover. endless stalemate, is standing other soldiers, taking Around him are various a banjo player tant Union troops. and somewhat surreal figure: a kind of But below him sits a striking looking up at the man with strumming out a tune, in discussions in uniform, The musician, long ignored theatrical and sardonic grin. its The banjo player painting, is in fact the key to interpretation. like he is wearing blackface. ofthe he in fact looks is, in some sense, a minstrel: alongside a trench in Peteraburg" What is he doing sitting other soldiers, taking Around him are various a banjo player tant Union troops. and somewhat surreal figure: a kind of But below him sits a striking looking up at the man with strumming out a tune, in discussions in uniform, The musician, long ignored theatrical and sardonic grin. its The banjo player painting, is in fact the key to interpretation. like he is wearing blackface. ofthe he in fact looks is, in some sense, a minstrel: alongside a trench in Peteraburg" What is he doing sitting --- Page 216 --- THE BANJO culminated in the Battle of the Crater. A The battle of Petersburg holes beneath the Confederate ofPennsylvania coalminers dug regiment explosive charge there. As they worked, defenses and placed an enormous tunneling and Confederates began hearing noises from the underground what was shafts down into the ground to try and figure out sent listening breaks, some ofthe soldiers going on. At times they heard music: during the charge created a played the banjo. When it was detonated, tunneling southern regiment in the process; but massive crater, killing an entire soldiers-including a regiment of black troops-charged when Union in the churning mud, and into the crater, they found themselves trapped thousand dead. Hombattle became a fiasco that left more than six the and vivid memory of that battle: er's painting evoked the traumatic soldier was literally would have understood that the defiant viewers keg that is ready to explode. But, as Homer standing on top of a powder underneath the Confederacy the real "explosive charge" was suggesting, the ofthe banjo-player, itself, depicted here through presence was slavery the trench, a spectral emand waiting, He is "a ghost haunting watching origins oft the war.' >961 bodiment of the underlying than the others face is painted rather differently The banjo player's Homer painted in other and than other black figures in the painting, "blacked with painted lips, just as works. It looks, in fact, like it is up," This adds another cuthe face of a blackface minstrel would have been. reference for the Minstrelsy was a well-known rious layer to painting. Union soldier described two "darsoldiers fighting in the war: in 1861, a that they "look kies" he saw in his barracks in Virginia by declaring deferral and minstrels. " If minstrelsy was itselfa curious exactly like our in American culture, Homer's stateprojection oft the problem ofs slavery but the counnot just the fact ofslavery, ment here is even more complex: had led to the catastrophe try's vexed incapacity to confront it directly, parallels a gun held battles like Petersburg. Indeed the player's banjo ofl the instrument is a kind of weapon, perhaps, more by a nearby sentry: fate of the perhaps just powerful than a gun. For the courageous-or In the distance Confederate soldier is written in the painting. foolhardyshots from the Union lines, bullets racing can be seen the puffs ofs sniper essentially functions as a Greek to kill the defiant soldier. "The banjoist the hero's downfall." the macabre accompaniment to chorus, providing the banjo- --sought in this painting Perhaps Homer-who himself played is a kind of weapon, perhaps, more by a nearby sentry: fate of the perhaps just powerful than a gun. For the courageous-or In the distance Confederate soldier is written in the painting. foolhardyshots from the Union lines, bullets racing can be seen the puffs ofs sniper essentially functions as a Greek to kill the defiant soldier. "The banjoist the hero's downfall." the macabre accompaniment to chorus, providing the banjo- --sought in this painting Perhaps Homer-who himself played --- Page 217 --- The Banjo Meets Blackface to write a kind of song of the war by placing the blackface minstrel as a kind of apparition behind Confederate lines.62 Another Civil War-era painting depicts the banjo in a different light: as one ofthe few possessions being carried out of slavery by the newly freed who were seeking lives elsewhere. The 1864 work Old Virginia Home by Pittsburgh artist David Gilmour Blythe depicts a dark, clouded, apocalyptic landscape. Walking out onto the road from a broken-down house, a black man has a small bag of possessions over his shoulder and is carrying a banjo. Trailing behind him, on the ground, are broken chains, though his leg is still in a shackle linked to a part of the old chains. The painting is clearly a send-up of the image ofthe southern plantation as a space of peace and joy. Here, there is little but smoke and chains. But the future of the departing slave, who looks out at us with tired and worried eyes, is nothing if not uncertain. Still, the banjo is there, a precious posesion-secmingly necessary for whateverjourney lies ahead. 63 is carrying a banjo. Trailing behind him, on the ground, are broken chains, though his leg is still in a shackle linked to a part of the old chains. The painting is clearly a send-up of the image ofthe southern plantation as a space of peace and joy. Here, there is little but smoke and chains. But the future of the departing slave, who looks out at us with tired and worried eyes, is nothing if not uncertain. Still, the banjo is there, a precious posesion-secmingly necessary for whateverjourney lies ahead. 63 --- Page 218 --- --- Page 219 --- Rings Like Silver, Shines Like Gold ON THE BANKS OF THE MISSISSIPPI, in the taverns that dotted a Cincinnati neighborhood known as Bucktown, the most popular song was an epic about the new era offreedom. Lafcadio Hearn, one ofthe keenest observers of popular culture in nineteenth-century America, heard the songin 1871. It was sung by the roustabouts, the mostly African-American men who worked the ports and boats ofthe Mississippi. Hearn described them as "a society of wanderers who have haunts but not homes," who found solace in music. A visitor to Bucktown could listen as "the sound ofthe wild banjo-thrumming floats out through the open doors of the levee dance houses." One of their favorite songs was called "Shiloh." 99 It took twenty minutes to sing, as one man led with the verses and everyone else joined in for the chorus, "chanted by twenty or thirty voices of abysmal depth at the same time with a sound like the roar of twenty Chinese gongs struck with tremendous force and precision. 9 The song was "accompanied with that wonderfully rapid slapping of thighs and hips known as 'patting Juba. >1 --- Page 220 --- THE BANJO battles ofthe Civil War and a critical Shiloh was one oft the bloodiest battle and told oft the desperate Confederate defeat. The song recalled the a black in Columbus, Ohio. It celebrated rebel soldiers in a prison camp >7 And it named men who found roustabout character named "Limber, Jim." ofthe war: in the midst of the chaos their way from freedom to slavery dash, / Las' time I saw Morgan came to Danville and cut a might "John For the roustabouts who sang along, him, he was under whip an' lash." had come, an ode to of how far they the song was partly a reminder obstacles and harsh realities.? freedom that was hard won and full of new for migraCincinnati, was a site of refuge and a magnet Bucktown, of"blacks and mulattoes from all tion. The community was made up and Eastern Virginia, where ofthe States, but chiefly from Kentucky parts before Freedom." of them appear to have toiled on the plantations most residents of the town went further back than to The memory of some resident "was said to be a hundred the plantation: one recently deceased to the States from Africa old, and had been brought and seventeen years woman, SO that she remembered by a slave-trader while a vigorous young and the strange animals, the interesting things-the tropical trees many the roar of lions in the night, the cushive-shaped huts of her people, >3 oftheir wild tongue." toms of the tribe and some fragments music from the plantations The residents of Bucktown had brought where they also and Virginia to the banks ofthe Mississippi, ofKentucky talked of"levee life in like "Shiloh' " and others that created new songs steamboats running on the 'Muddy Water, Cincinnati, ofa all the popular bank and in Bucktown." favorite roustabout haunts on the river and ofthe shared their experiences and also passed Through song the roustabouts and down the river where information about the various places up and along with the capacious skills they might end up. Hearn was impressed together when they perwide-ranging influences musicians brought of turning of the tables, given that a number formed. In an interesting several seemed to have speblackface minstrels were ofIrish background, kind of imitation. One of the "negro singers," cialized in a particular which "can mimic the Irish accent to a degree ofperfection Hearn noted, could not hope to acquire." Anor German an American, Englishman to Hearn a "famous Irish roustabout, sang other, an African-American musician, Hearn noted, "could cerditty" with a perfect accent. This his mimfor Irish specialties in a minstrel troupe; tainly make a reputation veral seemed to have speblackface minstrels were ofIrish background, kind of imitation. One of the "negro singers," cialized in a particular which "can mimic the Irish accent to a degree ofperfection Hearn noted, could not hope to acquire." Anor German an American, Englishman to Hearn a "famous Irish roustabout, sang other, an African-American musician, Hearn noted, "could cerditty" with a perfect accent. This his mimfor Irish specialties in a minstrel troupe; tainly make a reputation --- Page 221 --- Rings Like Silver, Shines Like Gold and he possesses a voice of icry of Irish character is absolutely perfect, flexibility, depth and volume." >54 great brought him to a "well-conducted" One night, Hearn's wanderings roustabouts. It cost ten cents to get in and establishment that catered to disorder. When on hand to contain any potential had a local policeman he noted, the place was "overthe boats came in from New Orleans, muby a "well-dressed, neatly-built flowing." " The music was provided the >7 another who played the fiddle "remarkably latto" who "picked banjo," "short, stout negress, illy ? and Anna Nun, a well and with great spirit," natured face and a bed shawl tied about dressed, with a rather good and that with no inexperienced her head" who "played the bass viol, politihand." The crowd included a prominent local Affican-American attacked by a mob Moore, who the previous year had been cian, George in the of defending himself. That at his home and killed a man process to Hearn. Around though, he danced-and quite well, according night, including a "lithe quadroon him were people of many backgrounds, eyes" and "very fair skin," named Mary Brown, with auburn hair, gray all found solidarity and several white women. In Hearn's telling, though, ofinfluences and types in the music, which brought together a wide range the crowd an evanescent piece ofheaven: to bring musicians struck up that weird, wild, lively air, known The readers as "Devil's Dream, 99 and in perhaps to many of our the ghost of which "the musical ghost of a cat chasing spectral succession of"miauls" and "squeaks" a rat" is represented by a double at first, the fiddle. The dancers danced a quadrille, on but warming with the wild spirit ofthe silently and rapidly; each other off the floor, music, leaped and shouted, swinging shook the building and keeping time with a precision which old the music. Then the music changed to an in time to became wild; men patted Virginia reel, and the dancing. danced with the most juba and shouted; the negro women incredible curves fantastic grace, their bodies describing almost backward; limbs intertwined rapidly in a wrestle forward and the room presented a tide of with each other and with the music; Once more bodies and tossing arms, and flying hair. swaying withthe chorusthemusic changed- tos oxomepopularnegroair and keeping time with a precision which old the music. Then the music changed to an in time to became wild; men patted Virginia reel, and the dancing. danced with the most juba and shouted; the negro women incredible curves fantastic grace, their bodies describing almost backward; limbs intertwined rapidly in a wrestle forward and the room presented a tide of with each other and with the music; Once more bodies and tossing arms, and flying hair. swaying withthe chorusthemusic changed- tos oxomepopularnegroair --- Page 222 --- THE BANJO "Don't get weary, I'm goin' home." dancers joined in; and the The musicians began to sing; the feet, "patting dance terminated with a roar of song, stamping Even the curious spectators juba," 7) shouting, laughing, reeling. the drunkkept time with their feet; it was very involuntarily intoxication of dance. Amid such scenes enness ofr music, the and this heaven is certainly does the roustabout find his heaven; not to be despised.? communities in the midst ofr major Bucktown was just one of many With the agrarian life of in the wake of the Civil War. transformations the North industrializing, and settransformed, the South fundamentally transformation, the banjo was tlers flowing into the Midwest in steady down new ones. It up some ofits roots and setting on the move, pulling migrants like those who contraveled in the hands of African-American who continued to perin Bucktown, as well as the minstrels new gregated the sound of the banjo. But it also found form "plantation songs" to York City and in the railroad tunhomes, in the upscale parlors ofNew The banjo, created in the nels and mountainsides of the Appalachians. the realities of a new era of midst of exile and upheaval, spoke easily to of musical spaces and and motion, finding a place in a multiplicity dispersal it would be transformed as an object, more musical forms. In time, built and the way it was sold mechanized both in the way it was and more And it would find a new life in a kaleidoscope and deployed in sound. and condensation ofwhat ofs symbols, presented as the very expression America had been, and was to be. * had made minstrelsy. But, in turn, minstrelsy The sound of the banjo As the instrument gained transformed the sound and shape ofthe banjo. Profesaudiences, it also gained more and more players. ever-expanding did increasing numbers of amasional musicians needed banjos, but SO Banjo makers in who wanted to play the songs they heard on stage. teurs New York began to fulfill that need and in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and what ofs symbols, presented as the very expression America had been, and was to be. * had made minstrelsy. But, in turn, minstrelsy The sound of the banjo As the instrument gained transformed the sound and shape ofthe banjo. Profesaudiences, it also gained more and more players. ever-expanding did increasing numbers of amasional musicians needed banjos, but SO Banjo makers in who wanted to play the songs they heard on stage. teurs New York began to fulfill that need and in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and --- Page 223 --- Rings Like Silver, Shines Like Gold with new ways of constructing the instrument, the process experimented of the structure and sound of the banjo. resulting in the transformation a unique piece Until the 1840s banjos were all made individually, muand but constructed for a particular based on traditions prototypes sound of the instrument, which varied sician. That fact governed the By the early of different types of construction. remarkably as a result North America and the Caribbean nineteenth century, some people in and instead using rounded were trading the traditional gourd body sifters or box covers, for wooden hoops made for other purposes-for recalled that make the resonators. One resident of Virginia instance-to banjos were made with a piece of maple in the early nineteenth century, in the 1880s "rim of a sugar box." 99 A Michigan ex-slave interviewed or the made a banjo we would first of all recalled about his youth: "When we known in the north as a woodchuck. catch what we called a ground hog, of timber fashits hide, it would be stretched over a piece After tanning if not most, ofthe ioned like a cheese box," 99 he added. Nevertheless many, The first printed instruments were still made with gourd resonators. in the sheet music of one ofhis songs published portrait ofJoel Sweeney, with a gourd resonator." 6 in 1840, seems to show him playing a banjo and dried; and they Gourds have to be carefully grown, harvested, task. Changes the drumheads onto them is a delicate are fragile. Tacking stretch or slacken a head, which puts in temperature and humidity can the head or damage the resotension on the tacks and can potentially rip techwooden frames, the tacking of head to body poses nator. Even on worse in colder and wetter nical difficulties. These problems are made wreak havoc on drumclimates, where the changes in weather could that, centuries stretched across resonators. This was one reason skins had largely avoided the use of earlier, European musical instruments bodies. Preserved in African drumheads in favor of wooden instrument World banjo, this form of musical culture and maintained in the New into North American and European popular construction had erupted level of demand for the minstrelsy. The result was a new culture through members sought to learn to play the instrument, as enthused audience of had seen on stage. In the 1840s a pioneering family instrument they had to Baltimore found the instrument makers who migrated European demand, the way for an increasingly largekey to fulfilling that opening scale and standardized production of banjos. heads in favor of wooden instrument World banjo, this form of musical culture and maintained in the New into North American and European popular construction had erupted level of demand for the minstrelsy. The result was a new culture through members sought to learn to play the instrument, as enthused audience of had seen on stage. In the 1840s a pioneering family instrument they had to Baltimore found the instrument makers who migrated European demand, the way for an increasingly largekey to fulfilling that opening scale and standardized production of banjos. --- Page 224 --- THE BANJO Friedrich Wilhelm Esprit Boucher, was The family patriarch, Johann but the family moved to born in 1790 in the Alsace region of France, he to the when he was a child. From there migrated Hanover, Germany, ofi instrument making with him. In United States, carrying knowledge for making Baltimore, he and his sons set up shop and gained a reputation the drums were made with ropes holding excellent drums. Traditionally, But in 1837 a drum maker patskins to the bodies of the instruments. rod. Combined with technology called the metal tensioning ented a new it held the skin of a drum to its body made of wood or metal, a hoop tension and keeping it taut. The tightly and firmly, distributing the equally Their used this technique in their drum manufacturing. Boucher family in Baltimore the instruments in a neighborhood business produced performed, and a theater where minstrel acts regularly that included for banjos. One day they likely got occasional and increasing requests idea: to use the techin their workshops had a revolutionary someone their drums to make a new kind ofb banjo. nology they had been using on looking at a banjo imagine the moment when, perhaps One can almost held onto the round hoop with small that had its drum head precariously drum and said of the artisans looked from that to a nearby tacks, one breakthrough. Stretching "Aha!" However it happened, it was a significant rim with screws and brackets kept it much more taught, the skin across the in humid climates. It also that made the banjo easier to play something solid and easier to transport. Three made the instruments much more 1847, deposited in made in the style oft those from 1845 through In banjos 1890, showcase the artistry ofthese instruments. the Smithsonian in the skin, the necks were addition to the new method for attaching usually in an *S" shape. elegantly carved with a distinctive peg heads, examples of the Boucher banjos are today among the most treasured collectors." instrument among sold artisanal, handcrafted banjos The Boucher music stores in batches. the nineteenth century, producing the instruments throughout the for other businesses to start making But their innovation opened way As more and more builders banjos in a more industrial, largescale way. the best wood for banjo necks, began producing banjos, some sought out the maple, and later particular trees-certain pear trees, identifying rosewood--as ideal for strength and tropical woods like mahogany and parts, many of developed and patented various new banjo sonority. They banjos The Boucher music stores in batches. the nineteenth century, producing the instruments throughout the for other businesses to start making But their innovation opened way As more and more builders banjos in a more industrial, largescale way. the best wood for banjo necks, began producing banjos, some sought out the maple, and later particular trees-certain pear trees, identifying rosewood--as ideal for strength and tropical woods like mahogany and parts, many of developed and patented various new banjo sonority. They --- Page 225 --- Rings Like Silver, Shines Like Gold them focused on improving the attachment of the skin Banjo builders to the sought not just to make the resonator. also to improve the tone ofthe instruments more solid but instrument. The production ofthese instruments increasingly industrial and instruments helped to standardize the were produced in larger and construction, lower price, putting the larger numbers and at a players, instrument in reach of many more spreading the banjo far and wide within potential The mass production American culture.9 ofbanjos was as much was a commercial one. a cultural project as it During the late nineteenth became known as century, the "America's instrument," 3 banjo achievement, celebrated as an creating a sound more indigenous than that ofEuropean appropriate for the country's music instruments. When Walt an "American Opera' should sound Whitman imagined what "put three like, he started with the banjos (or more?) in the instrument: (at times orchestra-and let them exclusively) the songs ofthe baritone or tenor.' 3 accompany context ofthe nineteenth Yet in the racial century, those who wished to strument as "American" celebrate the inconfronted a cultural conundrum. popularity was based on its association with The banjo's ture that was both disdained and an African-American culthe experience of fetishized. It was its very rootedness in slavery that made it particularly American European. The reason it was seen as an rather than new forms of American instrument that could invigorate music was because it was pression of"musical primitivism," understood as an exup a product ofa a black made of"emotional, not very rational, population "far from industrial life.' >9 The instinctively artistic souls" who lived banjo's to find a way to absorb and channel nineteenth-century boosters tried they distanced it, and the power ofthe instrument even as themselves, from the offered it to them. Over the people and culture that had course ofthe second half of the century, performers, critics, teachers, and nineteenth to find a way to make the banjo banjo manufacturers all sought "elevate" the banjo by suitable for upper-class audiences, to bringing it "out of the into the bright light ofofficial culture." >10 sentimental shadows and At the center of this process were a series of Brothers, Frank Converse, and Samuel figures-the Dobson Swaim ways changed both the literal Stewart-who in different cultural shape of the banjo and the contours ofthe imagination that surrounded it. Their cultural work interconnected: strands ofd distortion: involved two presenting the gourd banjo as nothing levate" the banjo by suitable for upper-class audiences, to bringing it "out of the into the bright light ofofficial culture." >10 sentimental shadows and At the center of this process were a series of Brothers, Frank Converse, and Samuel figures-the Dobson Swaim ways changed both the literal Stewart-who in different cultural shape of the banjo and the contours ofthe imagination that surrounded it. Their cultural work interconnected: strands ofd distortion: involved two presenting the gourd banjo as nothing --- Page 226 --- THE BANJO for the "true" banjo as created by more than an inspiration or prototype the musical styles and abiliartisans starting in the 1840s, and portraying As these figures players as essentially primitive. ties of African-American but it was only in the hands saw it, the banjo had always had potential, became what it was always meant of white makers and players that it truly to be. the virtuosity of to "elevate" the banjo was by showcasing One way competitions. In 1857, a "banjo tournacertain players through public Old Chinese Assembly Rooms on ment" was held in New York at the of a crowd of three contestants competed in front Broadway. Twenty of their Many players were there as representatives thousand people. two from Brooklyn neighneighborhoods-one was from the Bowery, called "the another from an East Side uptown neighborhood borhoods, their (sometimes sevHook"--and when they took the stage supporters had to offer five whooped and cheered. Each player eral hundred strong) The best-known banjoa waltz, schottische, polka, reel, andjig. pieces: last. The first of them was Picayune ists in the competition performed the name of the legwhite musician who had taken on stage Butler-the enthusiastically, SO much New Orleans banjoist. He was greeted endary the roof would fall off." Unfortunately, SO that one observer "thought influence ofliquor; SO much SO however, Butler was "a little under the during his trial" and gave an underwhelming that he broke two strings Plummer, who played "five tunes as performance. He lost out to Charles >> Plummer into another. without stopping' a medley, running one tune banjo" and the title of"champion received a "one hundred dollar prize banjoist of America. >11 audiences attending minstrel By the late 1850s, with enthusiastic realized there was savvy musicians shows and such banjo competitions, the banjo to aspiring made selling manuals on how to play money to be its movement from the stage to the amateur musicians. The banjo began had minstrel troupes and individual composers page. During the 1840s musicians and amateurs could learn sold sheet music SO that both other manuals did something and sing their songs. But the new banjo to play who had never played an indifferent: they promised to teach someone offered tips on how strument how to master the banjo in easy steps. They the with musical notation laying out banjo to play the instrument, along transition in the to popular songs. This was a significant accompaniment musicians. The banjo began had minstrel troupes and individual composers page. During the 1840s musicians and amateurs could learn sold sheet music SO that both other manuals did something and sing their songs. But the new banjo to play who had never played an indifferent: they promised to teach someone offered tips on how strument how to master the banjo in easy steps. They the with musical notation laying out banjo to play the instrument, along transition in the to popular songs. This was a significant accompaniment --- Page 227 --- Like Silver, Shines Like Gold Rings Previously banjo players had always way banjo playing was transmitted. transmitted from one musilearned by ear, with playing styles and songs different way Musical notation communicates in a very cian to the next. of especially on an inall the intricacies playing, and can't easily capture is much that isn't conveyed: precisely strument like the banjo. There as well as varthe oft the drumhead, how hard strings are struck, tapping complexities. of stretching notes, not to mention rhythmic ious ways lost in translation to written music, the Although certain things were styles to shape banjo playing manuals also gave musicians an opportunity The first banjo manual, pubnew styles of playing. and to popularize collected minstrel songs and lished under the name Phil Rice in 1858, later, style favored in their playing. But two years taught the down-stroke waltzes, schottisches, Buckleysbook expanded to include European the James for the banjo, helping to expand and marches that he had arranged repertoire ofbanjo players.2 travel faster and further, placing it The manuals enabled the banjo to with the 1860s America's cities were ringing in many new hands. By New York City in 1866, one writer debanjos. Writing a dispatch from dozen banjos in this city, and they clared: "In 1844 there were not halfa today there to be met with in grog-shops or bagnios [brothels); were only and the rich melody ofits five strings instruments in use, are over 10,000 of Fifth Avenue down to the slums of reaches from the marble fronts favorite, and a banjo street. The - instrument has become a universal Baxter the minds of even the most aristocratic and prefever seems to possess ? The new demand led to an "extensive comtentious ofMetropolitans? and the creation of a "veritable banjo modification" of the instrument music also wanted to play the songs culture" in which audiences for banjo the banjo was a way homes. To purchase and learn to play in their own ofbecoming, in a sense, one's own minstrel.3 culture was influential voices shaping this emerging One ofthe most two popular and inmusician named Frank Converse, who published a in 1865. He urged students to learn a picking, fluential banjo manuals the three or four finthan down-stroke, style for playing banjo: rather while the thumb picked downgers were to be used, picking upwards, "soften" the sound ofthe banjo by wards. He also recommended ways to them close the strings with the nails, as well as picking avoiding touching the drumhead. His tutor instrument rather than over to the rim ofthe ofthe most two popular and inmusician named Frank Converse, who published a in 1865. He urged students to learn a picking, fluential banjo manuals the three or four finthan down-stroke, style for playing banjo: rather while the thumb picked downgers were to be used, picking upwards, "soften" the sound ofthe banjo by wards. He also recommended ways to them close the strings with the nails, as well as picking avoiding touching the drumhead. His tutor instrument rather than over to the rim ofthe --- Page 228 --- THE BANJO the banjo, as he saw was, in a sense, a manual for a sonic transformation: to something from being loud, resonant, rhythmic it, needed to change and cultural space." 14 suitable for a different kind of tradition more this was part of a much larger project of"elevating" For Converse, about back decades later in a series ofreminiscences the banjo. Looking himself: as a key player in the elevation his life and career, he presented Converse, "was in the "The first banjo I ever heard," wrote of banjo. mulatto-whose name I have the hands of a colored man-a bright villages," Elmira and the neighboring forgotten." "He frequently played and passing his hat for collecConverse continued, "playing and singing with his comicalities, tions. His repertoire was not very extensive, but, sufficed to gain him a living." I learned anything from his execution, which, I cannot say limited to the thumb and first finger, though amusing, was with both. He was quite conpulling or picking the strings I believe), his abilities in banjo players, ceited as to (pardonable of them, his listeners with a due appreciation and to impress circumstance as the he would announce that such a trifing and SO, being out of tune caused him no inconvenience banjo careless fumbling of the pegs, he would with a seemingly de banjo out * tune," he said-but disarrange the tuning--fro the second string a semitone higher. : . His merely pitching only the first finger ofthe left fingering was unique, requiring the first string at the first fret hand for stopping the strings-on fret. With the right hand he and the second string at the second used only the first finger and thumb. 15 he visited southern plantations and saw Years later, Converse wrote, "characteristic of "manner of fingering," which he wrote was the same he insisted, were "of colored But such banjo players, the early player." they played was "ofthe rudest conand the instrument rare occurrence," skin stretched over the with a coon struction, often a divided gourd he would for the drum." "With this for accompaniment large part 79 he added, 'generally mentioning improve his song as he went along, 77 In these lines, Converse his massa or missues or some local incident. were the first acknowledged the fact that Affican-Americans grudgingly he insisted, were "of colored But such banjo players, the early player." they played was "ofthe rudest conand the instrument rare occurrence," skin stretched over the with a coon struction, often a divided gourd he would for the drum." "With this for accompaniment large part 79 he added, 'generally mentioning improve his song as he went along, 77 In these lines, Converse his massa or missues or some local incident. were the first acknowledged the fact that Affican-Americans grudgingly --- Page 229 --- Rings Like Silver, Shines Like Gold he loved. But he did SO in a way that sought to players ofthe instrument claiming there weren't that many contain and downplay their influence, and limited.1 and presenting their playing as primitive banjo players his readers he had not "learned anything" from Even as he assured remember, Converse offered up this player, whose name he didn't even cultivated style of of what was in fact a complex and carefully a portrait that this man play was, in a sense, playing. And he also admitted hearing of awakening and event in his life. It was a moment the most important in the sound of that banjo --crudely conversion. "There was something never before experithough it was-that gave me a delight >> manipulated one and play it dates from that time.' enced, and my eagerness to possess Presbyterian" who had Converse's father was a "super-conscientious SO that the "instruabout the banjo, "imbibed the prevailing prejudice" of but >7 He considered it "an instrument ment was tabooed in our home." and upon which consideration not susceptible to any improvement, trifing thrown away." Converse persisted, labor and time would be foolishly for 79 He "dein the stable, his "only safe refuge practice." secretly playing the banjo and "applying to it theovoted all his spare time" to studying ofs study bounded retical musical principles, arranging a complete system studies." With a few musical rules acquired from his piano on correct he tried and failed to be a lawyerill-advised: linterruptions-at one point of the banjo for the rest he defined himself entirely through his playing favorite instrument his life. He sought to "elevate the position of his of "those musicians who, through and its music" by seeking to convert it." oft the instrument, have spoken against ignorance ofthe capabilities wasn't enough; he adtimes when his missionary zealj just There were in Colorado met with failure: mitted that his efforts in an "Indian village" met indifferent to the banjo. 77 But, elsewhere, Converse "they were quite the banjo and gain in the rewith more success in working to redeem spect he thought it deserved." on that of claimed to have modeled his own playing partly Converse Butler, whose drunkenness had gotten the well-known minstrel Picayune Butler, then "heralded as the second place in New York in 1857. him a brought his musical troupe to the greatest banjo player in the world," Converse watched Butler when Converse was a teenager. town ofElmira below his window" listening to at his concert but also sat "unobserved whose name Unlike the playing ofthe "colored gentleman" him practice. that of claimed to have modeled his own playing partly Converse Butler, whose drunkenness had gotten the well-known minstrel Picayune Butler, then "heralded as the second place in New York in 1857. him a brought his musical troupe to the greatest banjo player in the world," Converse watched Butler when Converse was a teenager. town ofElmira below his window" listening to at his concert but also sat "unobserved whose name Unlike the playing ofthe "colored gentleman" him practice. --- Page 230 --- THE BANJO 220 a style he admired and sought to imitate. Converse forgot, Butler played anything I had with the thimble, his execution-unlike "As he played impressed me, and in my heard, powerful and brilliant-s strongly ever favored mortal on earth." Converse enthusiasm I thought him the most a few tips from to introduce himself and garnered got up the courage Butler a foundation that had to be Butler. Still, he ultimately considered while effective, was far from surpassed and left behind. "Butler's playing, walkarounds and and his repertoire limited chiefly to jigs, reels, artistic, with a ill-fitting He wore blackface, along "patched, his comic songs. collar, slouch hat," and played plantation get-up of old boots, exaggerated thrown across the ditties" while "sitting with one leg his "plantation other. >18 audiences sensitive to the fact that many upper-class Converse was In fact his whole life as a musician disdained this kind ofbanjo playing. in the face ofthose who rewas shadowed by a kind of nagging anxiety with blackface minjected the instrument because of its association that "even at As he looked back at his long career, he lamented strelsy. it has shown in all that goes this day, despite the marvelous development there still exists a species an instrument a musical instrument, to make shut their ears to fact when the with 'souls SO dead' that they obstinately the old prejudice. The to cherish and hug banjo is in question, preferring the one 'black sheep" among fact that the banjo had been "singled out as for the fact ofits oriinexplicable," except instruments was "well-nigh having first domiciled with gins: "the senseless reason that the instrument have originated on the plantation, it necessarily must the ignorant negroes being of SO humble an origin, could there and therefore, by inference, this merit. 77 He sympathized and understood possess no intrinsic musical ofthe music played on the banjo on interpretation, given the low quality the slaves "True enough, there were no players among the plantation: and its destiny seemed fulfilled capable of arousing its slumbering powers, that told of the cotton fields, to the darkey songs as an accompaniment tobacco posies, or 'Gwine to Alabama cane brakes, 'possum hunts, sweet because it etc." 79 But that was, he suggested, only wid banjo on my knee, the instrument's true incapable of realizing lay trapped in a social group embraced by its "white adpotential. What the banjo needed was to be awakened its in the North, 97 who were the ones who ultimately mirers "inherent beauties." >19 of the cotton fields, to the darkey songs as an accompaniment tobacco posies, or 'Gwine to Alabama cane brakes, 'possum hunts, sweet because it etc." 79 But that was, he suggested, only wid banjo on my knee, the instrument's true incapable of realizing lay trapped in a social group embraced by its "white adpotential. What the banjo needed was to be awakened its in the North, 97 who were the ones who ultimately mirers "inherent beauties." >19 --- Page 231 --- Rings Like Silver, Shines Like Gold whites who had awakened the slumIn order to argue that it was to ofthe instrument, Converse went to great lengths bering possibilities origins. For him the minimize both its African and its African-American but rather the wasn't really even a banjo, instrument played on plantations banjo." "History informs "what may be called its protorype": "the gourd from Africa to us," Converse wrote, that this instrument "was brought But it was in by the negro slaves in the days ofthe slave ship." America one that "did not originate in Af fact a much more ancient instrument, Converse found a way rica. >7 With slightly nervous and convoluted prose, moving to a much the African roots of the banjo by quickly to skirt longer history. its would extend research to pre-historic To trace germ the musical twang times-to the time when first was heard for instruments with characteristics essentially ofthe bowstring; doubtless, akin to it-are included among the banjo--and SO, the beliefthat all our earliest discoveries-a fact strengthening derived from instruments had one common ancestry; are stringed ifyou like-and the same common root, or germ-inspiration, its evolution modifications developing throughout the many needs and musical requirements of consistently with the taste, various peoples. 20 of instruments was, ofcourse, corConverse's brief history stringed that although But it served here as a way of suggesting rect in principle. oft the instrument to the Americas, that Africans brought the "prototype" dulled and diffused the story just happenstance. Converse was essentially, a combination of aborigin, deflecting its impact through of an African that the instrument shouldn'tbe and forgetting. And he insisted sorption in their hands, where its true musical potential condemned to remaining he sought to create a distance would never be unleashed. In his manuals, from the rhythmic tradition by moving away from the Affican-American he considered to be a more deliand louder "stroke-style" playing to what of other banjo manuals, of Along with authors cate style fingerpicking. styles increasingly common. In he did manage to make fingerpicking new and different pieces took advantage ofthis, offering turn, composers often drawing on for the banjo that were seen as more sophisticated, , where its true musical potential condemned to remaining he sought to create a distance would never be unleashed. In his manuals, from the rhythmic tradition by moving away from the Affican-American he considered to be a more deliand louder "stroke-style" playing to what of other banjo manuals, of Along with authors cate style fingerpicking. styles increasingly common. In he did manage to make fingerpicking new and different pieces took advantage ofthis, offering turn, composers often drawing on for the banjo that were seen as more sophisticated, --- Page 232 --- THE BANJO European traditions. The result was that the comed into parlors of the middle banjo was increasingly welceptable instrument for elite and the upper classes, seen as an acchanges also meant that young men and women to play. These the people began looking for construction of the banjo itself. The something different in distance between size and length ofthe neck, the strings: all these things could affect pick the strings rather than stroke how easy it was to the them. The rise of changing repertoire oft music fingerpicking and of"great technological played on the banjo generated a period 1885. And the experimentation and innovation" " from 1860 to expansion of a wealthier base of the construction ofr more customers encouraged expensive and decorative At the center of this period ofinnovation instruments.2 brothers: the Dobsons. An 1866 was one family of five portrait ofthe a way that parallels Converse's family tells their story in reminiscences, helped to redeem and elevate the insisting that they had ment, the writer banjo through their work. The instruclaimed, was at first just an some nigrous savage in Africa," which "offshoot of the brain of kidnapped slaves." It had was "brought to this country by the long "remained the Southern negro, ? but thanks to peculiar property of and its singular richness in minstrelsy "the peculiarity ofthe banjo man." Among them melody attracted the attention of the white was Henry Dobson, who had minstrel shows at the Ethiopian frequently taken in sion for the banjo which Opera House and there "imbibed a pasLater pervaded his soul like the dream on, working at the Astor Hotel, he of a maniac." cloakroom from his got some banjo lessons in the African-American to the point that the banjo co-workers. He was infatuated, and found it almost gave him insomnia: he "went to bed nights, impossible to sleep, for the mellow were continually ringing" in his notes oft the band ears. "All his were "tinged with rich music" and all "his thoughts and impulses" ownership of the instrument.' 1 energies were bent toward the himselfe "When I finally secured one,' 7 explained, "the first touch ofits Henry ration of a prophet.' But he also had strings thrilled me like the inspiverse, he felt a disdain for the ambitions for the banjo. Like Con- "common the instrument negro jigs" and instead finding a home in "the mystic imagined He dreamed ofa banjo realms of operatic music." plished violinists repertoire "as varied as those of the most and pianists." In time, he accomcalled a "classically educated developed what the writer banjo.' "New chords were developed, and its Henry ration of a prophet.' But he also had strings thrilled me like the inspiverse, he felt a disdain for the ambitions for the banjo. Like Con- "common the instrument negro jigs" and instead finding a home in "the mystic imagined He dreamed ofa banjo realms of operatic music." plished violinists repertoire "as varied as those of the most and pianists." In time, he accomcalled a "classically educated developed what the writer banjo.' "New chords were developed, and --- Page 233 --- Rings Like Silver, Shines Like Gold ? Henry, in this bell tones of the harmonies were increased." the peculiar full Thanks to him, the had brought the banjo to its potential. >22 account, music in the world flows from its recesses." "richest banjo the Dobson family. Henry's brother George The love ofbanjo ran in female students banjo instructor. One of George's became a well-known he a "simplified method": didn't know how to read music, SO developed the that had five lines, one for each string on banjo, a form of notation for different kinds of notes-those and two different kinds of symbols with an open on the left hand, and those played played with a finger version ofwhat is now known string. He used this method, a kind ofe early he the with students for years. In 1874 presented as "tab," informally Method and Thorough School audience in his Simplified method to a broader the earlier books by Rice, Buckley, for the Banjo, which largely replaced claimed, was a "little inand Converse. Learning to play music, George than any other." vestment" that yielded "far more satisfactory returns need never be For, "he or she who can perform up on any instrument The banjo could friend is ever at hand." at a loss for company: a congenial hinted, but it could also itfriends around the performer, George gather selfl become a true, loyal friend.23 history of the instrument George Dobson offered a more nuanced is wrapped like Converse. "The early history ofthe banjo than did figures account was George began, and the "commonly accepted" in obscurity," their mistresses playing on the that "negro slaves, seeing and hearing characteristic of seized that emulative and imitative spirit guitar, were by of their own out of a hollow the race, and proceeded to make a guitar "This story is unstretched across for a head." gourd, with a coon-skin that some believe the name doubtedly true, 99 George went on, adding of guitar." At the from bandora, which he called "a species banjo came that it was necessary to go back fursame time, however, George argued origin of the instrument." ther in time to find the "real, primitive reading about the Drawing on what seems to have been fairly extensive had an inof Africa, he wrote that the "Nubians" musical instruments much like the banjo - while "the negroes strument called "the kissar, very instrument with head of Eastern Africa" had "the nana, a five-stringed instruments: "the and skin." 99 He also mentioned West African ofwood the boulou with ten strings, and in Senegambia omlic with eight strings, to the United the bania, which it is sometimes claimed was imported reading about the Drawing on what seems to have been fairly extensive had an inof Africa, he wrote that the "Nubians" musical instruments much like the banjo - while "the negroes strument called "the kissar, very instrument with head of Eastern Africa" had "the nana, a five-stringed instruments: "the and skin." 99 He also mentioned West African ofwood the boulou with ten strings, and in Senegambia omlic with eight strings, to the United the bania, which it is sometimes claimed was imported --- Page 234 --- THE BANJO and became the banjo.' 4 "Wherever the inspiStates by the negro slaves, came from," George conration for its construction and development from "southern in America the instrument had clearly come cluded, negroes. 24 however, all that was, in a sense, only anecdotal For George Dobson, look different. "From the history. The future of the banjo was to very "the instrument contrivance which they put together, he effused, rude and improvement?" 17 In its more dehas undergone a steady development it is even superior to the veloped form, "in its perfection and elegance, and piano. In his of with the violin guitar" and was capable competing the importance of what he 1874 Simplified Method, George acknowledged which he acknowlmusic made by the stroke," called "the genuine banjo and "much admired by all "characteristic of the instrument" edged was most ofthe songs 77 But, following Converse's example, lovers ofthe banjo." Method were geared more toward a in the second half of the Simplified "the rich music ofthe guitar in picking style, which George described as ofhis silver strains." ' George Dobson and other banjo entrepreneurs soft, between different banjo traditions in a way generation carefully navigated and a narrative of progress, with that ultimately confirmed a hierarchy and the picking styles seen as more complex, stroke style as "traditional," be to those seeking modern, and ultimately something to aspired by more the instrument. This, in turn, others with the way they played to impress ofbanjos, notably in the increasing presence influenced the construction for those learning to play from offrets, which were particularly important instruction books. 25 Henry Dobson spent While his brother George focused on teaching, for banjo developing, and patenting, new techniques much ofhis energy Boucher's innovation of using drum techconstruction. By this time, had become the skin to the body of the instrument nology to attach Dobson brothers, many banjo makers seeking standard. In the era ofthe as modilooked to the guitar as a model they to improve the instrument instrument. They put a lot of energy into fied the neck and pegs of the it "more powerful and changing the tone ofthe banjo, seeking to make maker. With the increasing popularity finer" in the words of one banjo for such as parlors offingerpicking styles as well as new venues playing, Sevsought a tone that was sharper and cleaner. of private homes, many rid ofp brackets, making eral banjo makers found ways to get protruding ilooked to the guitar as a model they to improve the instrument instrument. They put a lot of energy into fied the neck and pegs of the it "more powerful and changing the tone ofthe banjo, seeking to make maker. With the increasing popularity finer" in the words of one banjo for such as parlors offingerpicking styles as well as new venues playing, Sevsought a tone that was sharper and cleaner. of private homes, many rid ofp brackets, making eral banjo makers found ways to get protruding --- Page 235 --- Rings Like Silver, Shines Like Gold streamlined and smoother, in part SO the body of the banjo itself more in the costumes of perthat the banjo was less likely to get caught up dresses women who were increasingly formers as well as the ofVictorian and patented a closed-back taking up the instrument. Henry developed and projecting the with the intention of creating more resonance banjo, the front ofthe instrument. This was, interestingly, sound more through model, since resonators built of gourds a return of sorts to the original Henry Dobson's closedenclosed by their very nature. are essentially models on the market in backed banjo became one oft the most popular the rim that makers continued to work on and improve the 1870s. Banjo and attached it to the body of the instrument. held the drumskin down made of metal, and Originally made of wood, these were increasingly the tone ofthe intheir manufacture seen as a crucial part of defining Mastertone banjo featured a particularly strument. In time the Gibson The instruments were often sophisticated rim that used ball bearings. on the necks. One works of art, with beautiful carvings or pearl inlays carving of a made Henry Dobson featured a beautiful 1873 banjo by nestled up against the metal rim banjo on the neck of the instrument, surrounding the drumhead: a banjo within a banjo. into century, builders poured energy Throughout the late nineteenth construction. There had been one patent applicainnovations for banjo In 1869 four were filed for new banjo contion in 1859, anotherin 1862. the trickle became a flood: structions. Between 1880 and 1900, however, for banjos but also were filed. There were patents 135 patent applications resonators, drumheads, leg rests, for any number ofbanjo parts: tailpieces, and ingenious designs for bells, bridges, and brackets. "Dozens ofbizarre and inbanjo heads were patented," new methods of evenly tightening variation of screw, nut, and boltventors developed "every conceivable since makers brackets." 99 There was a push for more brackets, operated number would help distribute the force more evenly thought that a greater the drumhead tighter. As is SO often around the rim and therefore keep created new problems: after the case, the proliferation of new technology makers bracket had to be tightened one by one. So some banjo all, each "wildly elaborate methods of aimed for newfound simplicity, producing of a single large screw." tightening all the brackets at once by means control over the everDriving all these new inventions was a desire for This could go to drumhead that made the banjo a banjo. shifting, pesky force more evenly thought that a greater the drumhead tighter. As is SO often around the rim and therefore keep created new problems: after the case, the proliferation of new technology makers bracket had to be tightened one by one. So some banjo all, each "wildly elaborate methods of aimed for newfound simplicity, producing of a single large screw." tightening all the brackets at once by means control over the everDriving all these new inventions was a desire for This could go to drumhead that made the banjo a banjo. shifting, pesky --- Page 236 --- THE BANJO were added to many banjos in an atextremes: "Internal electric lights >27 the calfskin head uniformly tight and dry." tempt to keep and the history ofbanjo Some banjo makers were a bit too inventive, that have ended up in the dustheapdesign has many developments desire to make the banjo even probably for the best. The ever-present add bells and buzzers than it might otherwise be led some to more exciting musician to liven up his to the instruments to "enable the enterprising heavier, SO companies The new banjos were significantly performance." instrument stands, as well as finger guards to prooffered armrests and or torn by an inopporthe crucial members from getting gouged tect the instrument. And, having made banjos tunely placed piece of metal on instrument makers almost brighter and brighter and louder and louder, of mutes that could offered countervailing cures: a variety immediately the sound of the strings. Perhaps the most amazing be used to dampen in the nineteenth century was a unique accomplishment in banjo making in the 1850s, It was built on a whaling ship piece, never to be replicated. its drumhead and and neck carved entirely out of whalebone, its body strings made from the skin of a porpoise. altered the changes in banjo construction profoundly All ofthese encroachment sound of the instrument. They represented a significant of wood, that had long been made essentially of metal on an instrument that is almost inevitably associskin, and gourd. The metallic brightness which today was the result of these modifications, ated with the banjo ofthe older instrument transformed the mellow and rounded resonance hear today. In familiar bling and blang that we usually into the more eternal: it is difficult today for time the change would come to seem sounded like for the first to imagine what the banjo actually most people from something fabricated alcenturies of existence, before it changed with metal. from plants to something festooned most entirely banjo maker and with the Dobsons, the most important Along Samuel Swaim Stewart. Stewart carried booster for the instrument was 99 that is, the minstrel what he called a "crusade" against the "ham, out fat mixed with burnt cork to make their performers who used ham who learned to play Stewart derided the "ham" as someone blackface. only the old minstrel songs, igthe banjo by ear and who performed on the instrument. all the other music that could be produced noring about Stewart's criticism of this music, When some wrote to complain the most important Along Samuel Swaim Stewart. Stewart carried booster for the instrument was 99 that is, the minstrel what he called a "crusade" against the "ham, out fat mixed with burnt cork to make their performers who used ham who learned to play Stewart derided the "ham" as someone blackface. only the old minstrel songs, igthe banjo by ear and who performed on the instrument. all the other music that could be produced noring about Stewart's criticism of this music, When some wrote to complain --- Page 237 --- Rings Like Silver, Shines Like Gold that his attack against "hams" was "a purely he responded trenchantly one. "We saw, long ago, that humanitarian act"- -or at least a banjo-itarian the "ham, that ham was done to save the banjo from unless something and the rise ofthe banjo impeded for fever' would become contagious, another generation." three intertwined missions. Stewart successfully brought together became the company that ultimately He built a banjo-manuficturing United States. He performed himmost successful and important in the which he published and self and wrote updated banjo playing manuals, the major voice for himself. And, importantly, he became distributed and what it should mean in the United and interpreter of the banjo and which Stewart's Guitar BanjoJournal, States. Through his newspaper two books-The from 1884 to 1899, as well as through he published 1886 and The Banjo! A Dissertation from 1888Banjo Philosophically from had found its true fulfillment in he codified the idea that the instrument He claimed in The and musicians. the hands of white manufacturers origin, but instead Philosophically that the banjo was "not of negro Banjo and took its name from the lute-like came from Spanish instruments he had accepted the possibility bandore. Two years later, in The Banjo!, was indeed the of the banjo, but added that ifit ofan African origin the instrument that was, just evicase that Africans had first developed into the world through dence of the fact that "truth has often come lowly channels. >30 and vision ofthe instrument was proStewart's influence on the place embraced century, the banjo was broadly found. By the late nineteenth that it had also become thoroughly instrument"- -meaning as "America's instrument. In 1883 the Georgia-born jourappropriated as a "white" Harris wrote an article denying that nalist and folklorist Joel Chandler in the South, that much by African-Americansi the banjo was even played the was a thethat the whole idea ofits origin on plantations suggesting he noted, "an entire scene atrical fantasy. In any minstrel performance, with his banjo. 77 The stage is is devoted to the happy-go-lucky darkey cork, is black, and sleek, and cleared, the banjo player "disguised in burnt his shoulder." 3 The instrument, he added, saucy" and "carries his banjo on dollars. As Harris noted saris "inlaid with silver" and cost seventy-five "various allusions that savor donically, the banjo player would then make of New York through which the back alleys strongly of the plantations rel performance, with his banjo. 77 The stage is is devoted to the happy-go-lucky darkey cork, is black, and sleek, and cleared, the banjo player "disguised in burnt his shoulder." 3 The instrument, he added, saucy" and "carries his banjo on dollars. As Harris noted saris "inlaid with silver" and cost seventy-five "various allusions that savor donically, the banjo player would then make of New York through which the back alleys strongly of the plantations --- Page 238 --- THE BANJO were played on the plantations that City run" and play songs "just as they the United States, "this exist on the stage." 99 For audiences throughout with their idea of the because it falls in scene is real and representative, had written to a >9 One woman from Massachusetts plantation negro. "shocked to learn that the negroes of the newspaper that she would be Somehow it has been a great comfort South know nothing of the banjo. The only problem, Harris them with that instrument. to me to associate it. Through all his years growing up in wrote, was that they didn't play played by "plantaGeorgia, he wrote, he had seen plenty ofinstruments "But I have never seen a 99 fiddles, flutes, pipes, trumpets. tion negroes, of bones in the hands of a plantation banjo, or a tambourine, or a pair by writers who assured 17 Harris's essay incited various responses negro." playing the banjo. him that they had seen southern Affican-Americans minstrelsy had inhighlighted the ways in which The debate, though, of the mind in which deed become its own world, a kind of plantation it in 1884, role. As another commentator put the banjo played a central law unto itself, and ceasing to be "the negro minstrel is getting to be a ofthe exact facts of plantation lifer"o1 an imitator the banjo and the plantation, to depict Such attempts to disaggregate phantasm, also prothe minstrel stage as nothing more than an outworn the instrufor a new way of configuring and imagining vided an opening think that the whole plantation origin ment. It was freeing, in a way, to the banjo could be for the banjo was made up. If that was true, story You didn'tneed to blacken your face to play anything, in anyone'sl hands. all the universiclubs" at Ivy League it. By the 1890s there were "banjo Women began playing the ties and many other colleges and universities. known as "Little numbers on stage: Lotta Crabtree, banjo in increasing banjo in CaliLotta" or "*Miss Lotta," got her beginnings performing career as a before embarking on a successful fornia gold-mining camps opened the way for many other performer on the East Coast. Her example and in bands. Many women who played both solo female banjo players orchestras oft their own: one also took up the banjo as amateurs, forming of ten inincluded seven banjos out stringed of these, from the 1890s, called The Banjo Lesson, struments. In 1894 Mary Cassatt produced a pastel the banjo. A 1910 to a girl how to play showing a woman demonstrating described the sad fate called "Banjo Nell," by James Hopper, short story husband forbade her to play her of a woman who, after her missionary female banjo players orchestras oft their own: one also took up the banjo as amateurs, forming of ten inincluded seven banjos out stringed of these, from the 1890s, called The Banjo Lesson, struments. In 1894 Mary Cassatt produced a pastel the banjo. A 1910 to a girl how to play showing a woman demonstrating described the sad fate called "Banjo Nell," by James Hopper, short story husband forbade her to play her of a woman who, after her missionary --- Page 239 --- Rings Like Silver, Shines Like Gold "starved" of the "tinklings and sounds of beloved banjo, died of being mirth ? of the instrument. 32 called "The Song of the In 1894 Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem home in the hands of Banjo," in which the instrument has found its true itself, which British Empire. The poem's narrator is a banjo a soldier ofthe ofinstruments. "You must leave a fiddle in presents itself as the toughest "couldn'traft an organ up the Nile, the damp." the banjo crows, and you marches everywhere: / And play it in an equatorial swamp. ? But the banjo and the and pails," 97 between the "coffee "I travel with the cooking-pots the to a walk!" Kipling pork," offering a sound that can "spur rearguard the "pilly-winkythe sound in his poem, offering up tried to make banjo the "tumps-tumpa-humpa sweinky-winky-popp." and the "smmpiy-hmpy"ande lineage: "The ofthe instrument. He recognized its complex tumpa-tump!" the the banjo reminds us, allowing grandam of my grandam was Lyre," centuries" even as it sings "the the instrument to the "wisdom ofthe and Torment," the Wonder-song of Youth!" "I am Memory everlasting vividly evokes the instrument as an inbanjo claims. But Kipling most "in the silence ofthe camp before spiration for imperial conquest. It plays : "I'm / When it's good to make your will and say your prayer. the fight Absurd, / Of the Patently Impossible and the prophet of the Utterly con1 that what seem Vain." The banjo teaches might unimaginable-the within reach. "There nation-was in fact quest of the globe by a small chorus, / I-the war drum never voice before us tillIled our lonely was the world!" And ultimately its vocation, in of the White Man round a global one: "I draw the Kipling's imagination, is-like that ofempireto the way in link by link.' 17 Kipling's poem is testament world together the banjo had become a powhich, by the turn oft the twentieth century, no It could be many things to many people: tent and malleable symbol. in the right hands it could-in longer a clear symbol ofthe plantation, to the serve as the sonic accompaniment the ultimate irony--actually imperial conquest of Africa. and changing the image of the By both building and selling banjos Stewart turned the banjo into instrument, figures like Henry Dobson and ofthe culture and instrument, sending it into all corners al mass-produced and beyond. By the end of the nineteenth landscape of North America Park Avenue mansions and Miscentury, "the five-string banjo adorned in the hands of minstrels shotgun shacks." 99 But while it sounded sissippi --- Page 240 --- THE BANJO I 230 many Cacatt Mary Cassatt. The Banjo Lesson, 1893. Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Mary T. Cockcroft, Elizabeth Varian Cockcroft, and Elizabeth Cockcroft Schettler. on stage and amateurs in Victorian parlors, the banjo also remained a deeply vernacular instrument, embedded in the music of varied rural communities. The banjo was, increasingly, everywhere: it was relatively easy to acquire, a familiar sound. It could accompany old songs and new songs, voices singing in whatever intonation, providing melody and BANJO I 230 many Cacatt Mary Cassatt. The Banjo Lesson, 1893. Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Mary T. Cockcroft, Elizabeth Varian Cockcroft, and Elizabeth Cockcroft Schettler. on stage and amateurs in Victorian parlors, the banjo also remained a deeply vernacular instrument, embedded in the music of varied rural communities. The banjo was, increasingly, everywhere: it was relatively easy to acquire, a familiar sound. It could accompany old songs and new songs, voices singing in whatever intonation, providing melody and --- Page 241 --- Rings Like Silver, Shines Like Gold ofits life, it kept doing what it had originally rhythm. In this new phase Caribbean and North America: been built to do on the plantations ofthe A brand amidst landscapes of dispersal and movement. create solidarity still could manage to sound shipped from Stewart's factory, new banjo, Despite all the atold. It could still create the sound of a community. the center of the the instrument's history, its origins at tempts to erase vital and alive. For it was that origin, its experience of slavery remained and diverse cultures foundational ability to bring together the disparate that made it cain the midst ofthe pressures of the plantation, of Africa it went and creating a sense of pable of finding new homes everywhere home along the way.34 * Swannanoa Tunnel / That's my home, baby, that's "I'm going back to the in the 1930s by home." 79 The song "Swannanoa Tunnel"-recorded my the story of an impresBascom Lamar Lunsford-tells the banjo player that connected the east of sive, but deadly, feat of railroad engineering hundred feet mountain communities. Eighteen North Carolina to its between Old Fort and Ashelong, the tunnel was the longest on a stretch laborers, many of built by five hundred convict ville, North Carolina, 1887 and 1889. A hundred and twentybetween them Affican-American, and blasted out the rock in the five of them died as they hammered sawdust, concocted out ofnitroglycerine, tunnel with an explosive paste earlier, in 1871, a convict named, John and cornmeal. Almost two decades Mountains; and Henry had raced a steam drill in Virginia's Appalachian captured in and enduring myth, in time that story became a powerful Swannanoa Tunnel, conBy the time of the construction of the song. and singing his story. In turn, they victs themselves were likely recalling Tunnel" recalled the left traces of their experience in song. "Swannanoa the the tunnel got that killed many workers over years: kind ofaccident The words served as memory and "all caved in, baby, all caved in." dying, hear that hoot owl squalling / Somebody memorial: When you baby, someone's dying. >35 and the infinitely archive, but one made of fragments Songs are an and alteration. As Greil Marcus layered practice of absorption, repetition, 97 that are "drawn frequently bring together "verbal fragments" writes, they of disconnected verses, couplets," and from a floating pool of thousands that killed many workers over years: kind ofaccident The words served as memory and "all caved in, baby, all caved in." dying, hear that hoot owl squalling / Somebody memorial: When you baby, someone's dying. >35 and the infinitely archive, but one made of fragments Songs are an and alteration. As Greil Marcus layered practice of absorption, repetition, 97 that are "drawn frequently bring together "verbal fragments" writes, they of disconnected verses, couplets," and from a floating pool of thousands --- Page 242 --- THE BANJO with enough songs "one-liners." > By the end of the nineteenth century, but also performance, in circulation through various media-vernacular) were minstrel shows, circuses, and other venues-"there the circulating in the land to reach a kind of critical mass," enough fragments abroad between blacks and whites as common back and forth bits ofsong "passing within the matrix of a more fragments, to sustained coin, to generate infinite of performances. single musical language an almost repertory powerful ofsong and memory was particularly This kind of Faccumulation control, where as Scott Reynolds in contexts of social oppression and of was often used to speak experiences Nelson notes "coded language" openly. that were too dangerous to articulate of violence and suffering and transformed, circulated, it became "mangled As such language Experiences, secreted and richly metaphorical." while growing stronger from mouth to ear again, for many away into the code of song "moved musical notes. People sang in who sang could read neither lyrics nor and to recycle old repeating lines for emphasis, to aid memory, form of regroups, And songs were everywhere, a stories for new purposes." of the social world. People sang in membrance but also of analysis and tobacco factories." churches but also "at work, in cotton fields and tell them to mules, cOWS and pigs to get their attention "They sang crowded roadhouses between sips of what to do. They sang at night, in children to sleep. Children applejack brandy, and they sang to put their their walked, in high and warbling tones, to make presence sang as they "Field hollers" rang out to call people known to parents and neighbors. into regular talk and stretched home at the end ofthe day. *Song blended >36 into praise. It was omnipresent. such as "John Henry" and The songs of the nineteenth century, twentieth century, often Tunnel," weren't recorded until the "Swannanoa to circulate. But in them we have a decades after they first began many experiences of the poor, the miregistry-often the only one-ofthe of railconvict who sowed fields and built the new landscape grant, the also have an archive of their encounter with roads and towns. And we Tunnel"- -sung by - Roscoe music itself. In later versions of"Swannanoa cel- "Swanno Mountain," : there are lyrics Holcomb under the name the song. "Got the instrument that had long accompanied ebrating 99 Holcomb rejoices in an inimitable sixteen brackets / on my banjo!, almost like a banjo. The song, a high, piercing voice- --one that sounds sowed fields and built the new landscape grant, the also have an archive of their encounter with roads and towns. And we Tunnel"- -sung by - Roscoe music itself. In later versions of"Swannanoa cel- "Swanno Mountain," : there are lyrics Holcomb under the name the song. "Got the instrument that had long accompanied ebrating 99 Holcomb rejoices in an inimitable sixteen brackets / on my banjo!, almost like a banjo. The song, a high, piercing voice- --one that sounds --- Page 243 --- Rings Like Silver, Shines Like Gold here also becomes an ode to the new celebration ofs survival and return, and skin spread out more technologies that made the sound of string the sound than ever. Holcomb luminously captures loudly and powerfully it "rings like silver, shines like gold!97 ofthe banjo: nineteenth century, the banjo found a During the second halfofthe resonated Mountains. Its sound probably new home in the Appalachian the region to more industry and in some of the tunnels that opened up and holand in time the banjo sounded in the mountaintops migration; and towns, the prisons, and evenlows, the streets and taverns ofjunctions the It became the radio that carried sound from and to region. tually on came to think that the banjo SO at home in these regions that many people the instrument of from the mountains, that it was quintessentially came This was at once a curious erasure oft the whites from the Appalachians. ofthe power with which instrument's history and a curious confirmation World had endowed makers on the plantations of the New its original borders, harboring a seemingly infinite it to be an instrument without sound. the mountains? There were probably some How did the banjo get to going back to the played by slaves in different parts ofthe region banjos widely in the region only eighteenth century. But it seems to have spread when many late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, in the African-American migrants people were on the move there, including in labor and lumber camps and laborers. The banjo was probably heard But it also circurural towns and larger cities in the region. as well as in minstrelsy, as troupes traveled through lated through the region through As it sounded out in these and the instrument. these regions popularized in the region. All these processes, of various contexts, it put down roots another in the playing of rooted one way or course, were ultimately through railroad laborers African-Americans, whether that came directly itself: the mountain the detour of minstrel playing and migrants or through embraced and taken in by white musicians. banjo is a black instrument, anchored in many mounBy the early twentieth century it was firmly part of into musical life, and a cherished tain communities, integrated it in 1947, the banjo "found and dances. As Alan Lomax put gatherings else had grown tired ofit, in the loneits final home, after everyone 99 Mountain musicians "sat hollers of the Southern mountains." some and worked on it until they had produced a down with the contraption rel playing and migrants or through embraced and taken in by white musicians. banjo is a black instrument, anchored in many mounBy the early twentieth century it was firmly part of into musical life, and a cherished tain communities, integrated it in 1947, the banjo "found and dances. As Alan Lomax put gatherings else had grown tired ofit, in the loneits final home, after everyone 99 Mountain musicians "sat hollers of the Southern mountains." some and worked on it until they had produced a down with the contraption --- Page 244 --- THE BANJO 234 kind of music that was neither nor a transcription of their old African-American, nor minstrel style, of all oft these.' >38 tunes, but a peculiar cand wonderful mix Though much ofthe spread off the banjo into the sible because of the industrial mountains was posproduction of mountain players still made their inexpensive banjos, many to make fretless necks, own instruments. This allowed them bought preferred by most musicians there. When banjos were used, they were often modified storefrets or else by putting tin or Formica by shaving offthe banjo is home-made," to make the necks smooth. "The Louise Rand Bascom explained in cleverly fashioned too, with its drum head 1909, "and very ofhickory ofcat's hide, its wooden (there are no frets)." In 1962 parts that his first banjoist Edgar A. Ashley recalled banjo was a "homemade banja. Killed a made the head, and he carved cat, tanned its hide, maker out the rest ofit." The Frank Proffitt recalled how he'd musician and banjofrom his father, learn to make the instrument going into "the woods making." 99 He would select to get the timber for banjothe right tree "by its and sounding," by "hitting a tree with a hammer appearance by the sound or axe broadsided to ifit's straight grained.' 3 The tell by wood for a banjo" and boy watched him "shaping the came to "love the smell of the they gathered on the floor of our cabin." fresh shavings as and the pegs turned and the musical "When the strings was put on upon my father notes began to fill the cabin, I as the greatest man on earth for looked derful thing out ofa piece of wood, creating such a wonThe "mountain a greasy skin, and some strings." 939 clawhammer style" ofbanjo playing often used the technique, striking the strings with the frailing or and popping the high string with the back oft the fingers styles of picking, thumb. But there were also various including dropping the thumb to hit fingered and three-fingered strings, and twobasis for bluegrass picking, which would ultimately become the banjo styles. Many musicians left hands, played notes with their hammering or pulling off the strings as picked with the right, they strummed or styles coexisted, creating a rhythmic cascade of sound. All and there were many these on the individuality ofeach variations, with a premium placed particular player. "Can one joke common you read music?" asks among mountain my playing,' 9* Banjo banjo players. "Not enough to hurt and playing was learned by ear and eye, and unique styles cultivated and appreciated. As particular a result there was a pro- their hammering or pulling off the strings as picked with the right, they strummed or styles coexisted, creating a rhythmic cascade of sound. All and there were many these on the individuality ofeach variations, with a premium placed particular player. "Can one joke common you read music?" asks among mountain my playing,' 9* Banjo banjo players. "Not enough to hurt and playing was learned by ear and eye, and unique styles cultivated and appreciated. As particular a result there was a pro- --- Page 245 --- Rings Like Silver, Shines Like Gold fusion of different kinds of tuning, often musician to play a chord by "open" forms that allowed the music striking all the strings at once. uses pentatonic scales that Much of this tradition, were part of the a creating sound that is often Anglo-American ballad those who haven'th heard this "haunting and unfamiliar" to style before. The remarkable styles has made the archive ofr mountain range ofp playing own, a place to which banjo music a vast country ofits mysterious tunes and contemporary banjo players return to find many tunings, and a well sound.40 ofever-unfmiliar. and sustaining Like song lyrics, the melodies, lines, tions that constitute banjo music developments, and configuraof fragments that are themselves part of a can be called up, evoked, and circulating set ingly infinite ways. We get a sense ofthis reconfigured in seemby Clarence Ashley of the tradition in a 1929 recording 1895 in Tennessee, song "The Coo Coo Bird." Ashley, born in played with minstrel and When he recorded the troupes medicine shows. thirties; he sounded song, writes Greil Marcus, he was "in his midseventeen, or died seventeen or sechundedandsoontcem: as ifhe ew-hudhrabantacontomy years mance of the song "made one before." His perforhe thing clear: however old wasn't as old as the song." Ashley's the singer was, wavers, playing offt the singing "rises and falls, dips and rhythm his banjo makes like a bank again and again." 9 The sound a tide eddying up to is clear, a clarion, ofthe banjo in "The Coo Coo Bird" beckoning but also inscrutable. from another song or another world. "The banjo could be in the middle of The music seems to have been found some greater song; it is inexorable. The closing flourishes ofthe opening and make banjo seem false, because the no progress, go from no one figures in the music before the singer started place to any other; the sound was here and it will be here when he's somehow the perfect gone." And it is coalesce around accompaniment to a set off a theme: fragmentary lyrics that "displacement, restlessness, "cadence of Clarence Ashley's homelessness." The banjo," writes point and Marcus, "is both contradiction to any law. 941 counterMany other banjo players have different lyrics and a different interpreted this same song, often with sound. The ture of the song stretch and refract cadence, intonation, and strucin different ferent musicians. What, ways in the hands of difultimately, makes it the same Through an analysis of a series banjo song at all? ofrecordings of the song, David Garner lessness, "cadence of Clarence Ashley's homelessness." The banjo," writes point and Marcus, "is both contradiction to any law. 941 counterMany other banjo players have different lyrics and a different interpreted this same song, often with sound. The ture of the song stretch and refract cadence, intonation, and strucin different ferent musicians. What, ways in the hands of difultimately, makes it the same Through an analysis of a series banjo song at all? ofrecordings of the song, David Garner --- Page 246 --- THE BANJO and a few aspects of consistency, parts that found both wide variation Coo Coo Bird" as song, a parmight constitute the definition of"The not the song. And yet without which the song was ticular phrase or two stretched and delicate, a song this kinship is tentative, a community another one, with the same always on the verge of spinning out into familiar but different name, constituted out of fragments name or a also estranged." 42 left rural areas for cities ofthe South As residents from the mountains itself--traveled along new other this music-and the banjo and regions, it was recorded and marketed as routes. In the early twentieth century One ofthe most important ve- "mountain music" or "hillbilly music." main stars Dave Macon, who became one ofthe hicles for this was Uncle Born in 1870 in Warren County, at the Grand Old Opry in Nashville. run by his parents, Tennessee, Macon had grown up in a boardinghouse started playing musicians and performers frequently stayed. Macon where medicine shows as a teenager and absorbed in vaudeville acts and traveling the time he started playing at the a wide range of songs and styles. By not range of folk material" gathered Opry, he carried "an encyclopedic miners, and riverboatmen but from railroaders, just from "entertainers too, a panoply of banjo styles both black and white." "He brought, 77 Macon folk banjoists are still struggling to absorb." which contemporary waistcoat" and a "black felt hat," and always wore a "double-breasted satire, anecdote, laughter, offered an "uninterrupted patter ofsong, story, 9 along seasoned with wry social and political commentary," and joke, playing. In a 1924 song called "All with his fast, percussive, bright banjo "I am a billy and I I've Got is Gone / Hill Billie Blues," Macon sang: title. hills." ? It was the first use ofthe term "hillbilly" in a song live in the presented Appalachia as At the time, writers and folklorists increasingly that their traditions proofisolated white communities, arguing a place centuries ofl European migrants to the Amervided a link back to earlier and marketed as, the ultimate music was conceived of, icas. Appalachian and American roots, with the Africanexpression ofthese deep European This code the banjo as ofthe story largely elided. helped American part the music of figures like Macon was deeply *white, ?? despite the fact that the blues musician John tradition. When rooted in African-American about Uncle Dave Macon, JacksonJackson was interviewed and asked he was black. 43 having heard but never seen the musician-assumed l European migrants to the Amervided a link back to earlier and marketed as, the ultimate music was conceived of, icas. Appalachian and American roots, with the Africanexpression ofthese deep European This code the banjo as ofthe story largely elided. helped American part the music of figures like Macon was deeply *white, ?? despite the fact that the blues musician John tradition. When rooted in African-American about Uncle Dave Macon, JacksonJackson was interviewed and asked he was black. 43 having heard but never seen the musician-assumed --- Page 247 --- Rings Like Silver, Shines Like Gold What is striking about all this history, though, is the way that the sound oft the instrument ultimately carries through and beyond such categories. The banjo has called to audiences and musicians, over and over again, called them to play and keep playing, to find a way to make the instrument sound out what they needed and wanted to hear. Musicians have brought all kinds of traditions to it but also their affinity for individual styles, tunings, and musical motion. In a recent recording ofthe song "Swannanoa Tunnel"byJoe Newberry, that ongoing rootedness is celebrated. In its last lines, the recording combines earlier verses by Lunsford and Holcomb to issue a warning to any ofthose- -numerous as they are, notably among friends and family ofbanjo players-who think they can somehow get rid of the banjo, drown it out: This old banjo, rings like silver, shines like gold. Take this banjo, throw it in the river! It rings right on baby shines right on. 44 A similar sense ofthe indestructability and ongoing resonance ofthe banjo comes to us in the form of a short African-American song called "The Other Side ofJordan,' recorded in 1927 by Uncle Dave Macon: Rain forty days and rain forty nights, Rain forty days and rain forty nights, Rain forty days and rain forty nights, Johnny kept a-pickin' on the banjo. 45 banjo, drown it out: This old banjo, rings like silver, shines like gold. Take this banjo, throw it in the river! It rings right on baby shines right on. 44 A similar sense ofthe indestructability and ongoing resonance ofthe banjo comes to us in the form of a short African-American song called "The Other Side ofJordan,' recorded in 1927 by Uncle Dave Macon: Rain forty days and rain forty nights, Rain forty days and rain forty nights, Rain forty days and rain forty nights, Johnny kept a-pickin' on the banjo. 45 --- Page 248 --- --- Page 249 --- Black Banjo In AN 1889 DRAWING the banjo is leading the way. African-Americans are leaving behind slavery and the plantation in what the newspaper The Freeman called "The Great Southern Exodus. 99 The image depicts what is driving them away: a white man whipping a black woman, a scene of a lynching, and a dog chasing an escaped convict. In the corner, with a caption entitled "In Dixie's Land," a black banjo player sits on a barrel playing for a group of dancing whites. Now the banjo is heading north. At the front ofthe giant but orderly crowd ofblack migrants making up the exodus is a man with a banjo, guiding them with song.' Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the banjo remained central to the musical life of African-American communities. Ex-slave Fanny Randolph remembered occasions when people got together in one of the log cabins, warmed by a "big log fire,' and danced to the music of fiddle, banjo, and bones. When a man called the sets, "feets would fly!" And she remembered dances that took place when people gathered to help a fellow farmer shuck a harvest of corn. "When there was a big barn full of corn to be shucked," Henry Rodgers similarly remembered, "the neighbors gladly gathered in, shucked the corn for the owner, who had a fiddler and maybe someone to play the banjo. --- Page 250 --- THE BANJO 41 WHY THEYARE LEAVING THE SOUTHO a THE PIEGRO. IN KANSAS S ihe ASyPert sohthern EEx O5ls. "The Great Southern Exodus," ?? The Freeman, November 5, 1892. The corn was shucked to gay old tunes and When the work was done, the piled high in another barn." farmer provided supper for sometimes a dance was held in the cleared barn. everyone, and labor and accompanied the Music helped with the ment was also played in celebration when it was done. The instrunorthern 1889 the instrument sounded African-American communities. In in a celebration of took place in Jamaica, New York: "A band Emancipation Day that banjos sang through the of vocalists with guitars and all who heard village in the afternoon, to the great them. Their voices delight of excellent.' : The instrument's harmonized finely and the effect was tion: it was not far from there presence was a continuation of a long tradithat, in 1736, a Pinkster celebration, banjos were played as part of of the instrument generating what was the first recorded in North America.2 appearance took place in Jamaica, New York: "A band Emancipation Day that banjos sang through the of vocalists with guitars and all who heard village in the afternoon, to the great them. Their voices delight of excellent.' : The instrument's harmonized finely and the effect was tion: it was not far from there presence was a continuation of a long tradithat, in 1736, a Pinkster celebration, banjos were played as part of of the instrument generating what was the first recorded in North America.2 appearance --- Page 251 --- Black Banjo Late nineteenth-century engravings and paintings registered the ongoing presence of the banjo in African-American communities. An 1878 engraving called Scene on the Mississippi shows a group of AfricanAmerican roustabouts resting among merchandise, while one plays the banjo and another dances. In the 1881 work A Pastoral Visit, by Richard Norris Brooke, a rural family listens to a visiting preacher, gathering around the table. Laid out next to the father, as ifit had just been set down from playing when the visitor appeared, is a well-built but also clearly well-played banjo. A decade later the African-American painter Henry Ossawa Tanner produced one ofthe most powerful and enduring images of the banjo, and of generational connection and transmission, in his work the Banjo Lesson. Here the banjo is a clear reference point, a source of gathering and memory. Banjos also sounded out in African-American churches. In 1887 a letter from the town of Grenada, Mississippi, published in the New Orleans Daily Picayune described the ministry of a female AfricanAmerican preacher known as Scinda, whose church of"High PriestWorship" included "Singing, Dancing and Banjo Music.' : The church, on the outskirts of town, had a massive following of about eight hundred participants and included some local whites, though in a reversal ofusual Jim Crow practice they were required to sit in the back of the church. Her services began at eight in the morning on Sundays and lasted all day. The writer of the letter described the interwoven music and preaching that drew such large crowds in this way: Long before we reached the church we could hear the picking of the banjo and the shuffling of feet. Alighting, SCINDA, arrayed in gorgeous red and yellow, came to the door to greet us and welcome us in. The church is a small structure made of pine logs. Around the walls hang her paraphernalia used in her marches through the country. In the center of the room stood a little table covered with a red cloth of grotesque figures of white sewed on it. This is where the members speak. that drew such large crowds in this way: Long before we reached the church we could hear the picking of the banjo and the shuffling of feet. Alighting, SCINDA, arrayed in gorgeous red and yellow, came to the door to greet us and welcome us in. The church is a small structure made of pine logs. Around the walls hang her paraphernalia used in her marches through the country. In the center of the room stood a little table covered with a red cloth of grotesque figures of white sewed on it. This is where the members speak. --- Page 252 --- THE BANJO his inspirations of the When we arrived a "soldier" was telling danced and about ten minutes, then they day. He consumed shouted. When dancing begins sung and played the banjo and hands until a circle is they all stand up and as many as can, join their own march around and around, singing formed. They a stopping and each one goes through chants, occasionally lasts about "shuffle" to the music of a banjo. This performance another preaches, then a dance and SO on ten minutes, then break up for the day. Then until a few minutes before they the house. voice is hushed and a stillness pervades every from her seat Scinda, the Rising slowly and deliberately religion, proceeds to priestess oft this new, original and strange stand. Every one watches her with wide-eyed the appointed syllable of her utterances. wonder and is eager to catch every cleanliness, the Scinda's sermons touched on many topics-virtue, with "considerof debts-and they ended as they began, prompt paying single file, each one that was "marked by a procession, able ceremony" moving under the music of the carrying a symbol marked by design, assemble in solemn awe fiddle and banjo. After rounds ofr marchings they Scinda." 7 This particular church was part oflarger around their priestess South, movements in the late nincteenth-century matrix of evangelical of the spiritual arsenal of which likely also used the banjo as part many and holy sound.* continued to play in southern comAfrican-American banjo players A postcard from 1905 the early twentieth century. munities throughout the fiddle and one on the banjo. A capshowed two musicians, one on Smith-former: slave, had a whip tion described the banjo player as "Billy Russell, and the his back.' ?) The fiddle player was named Billy >9 scar on 1900s" and were "Great old men." for dances in the early two "played in animating dances and Such musicians had a crucial role not just stunning also in cultivating memory. One of the more gatherings but by a banjo player of how they did this is a song performed examples named Sid Hemphill. He was interviewed by from northern Mississippi the songs he played was one called Alan Lomax in 1942, and among that had happened Mob.' ?? It told the story of a lynching "The Strayhorn on 1900s" and were "Great old men." for dances in the early two "played in animating dances and Such musicians had a crucial role not just stunning also in cultivating memory. One of the more gatherings but by a banjo player of how they did this is a song performed examples named Sid Hemphill. He was interviewed by from northern Mississippi the songs he played was one called Alan Lomax in 1942, and among that had happened Mob.' ?? It told the story of a lynching "The Strayhorn --- Page 253 --- Black Banjo had demanded decades before. A lynch mob from the town ofStrayhorn in the town of prisoner be released from a jail that an Affican-American killed him, broke into the Senatobia; and when the jailer refused, they him. As the the back to their town and hung prison, and took prisoner trial. Hemphill's song everyone was acquitted at a subsequent song notes, listing many members ofthe mob by described every detail ofthe event, involved in the lynching who name. It was, in fact, one ofthe white men Yet Hemphill's song asked Hemphill to write the song. had originally It served as "testimony and an was more than an ode to its perpetrator. For narrative" for African-Americans. accusation masked as a simple 99 Hemphill himself them, it "kept alive the memory of white terrorism." musical in the form of his practice. kept and cultivated deep memory Henry" but also put down When Lomax met him, he sang the song "John Dream" on a a remarkable version of"Devil's his banjo and performed by a drum, channeling a type of flute known as the quills, accompanied with roots music kept alive in Mississippi, deep tradition offife-and-drum that likely stretch back to Central Africa.5 North Carostring band music of Virginia, The Affican-American has often been overlooked because very lina, and other parts ofthe South who recorded and released little ofi it was recorded commercially. Those twentieth century premusic in the early string band music as "hillbilly" and for the most part sented it as the music of white rural communities recording string bands. At the same time, didn'trecord African-American music, often under the term "race labels that presented African-American instead on newer styles they music," 17 also excluded this music, focusing "This left black string bands considered more attractive to black audiences. bebanned from the hillbilly catalogues in a double bind: They were because they played were black, and from the race catalogues cause they Sheiks, found a commusic." 5 Some groups, like the Mississippi hillbilly while continuing to play string band promise by recording blues songs embraced this style of music music for black audiences, many of whom they considered very much part oft their roots." band music had choices that excluded black string The commercial both the place of the banjo enduring consequences, helping to obscure in shaping music and the place ofblack performance in African-American styles. But Bill Monroe, who white "hillbilly" and later "bluegrass" in a small rural born in 1911 and grew up in Rosine, Kentucky, was Mississippi hillbilly while continuing to play string band promise by recording blues songs embraced this style of music music for black audiences, many of whom they considered very much part oft their roots." band music had choices that excluded black string The commercial both the place of the banjo enduring consequences, helping to obscure in shaping music and the place ofblack performance in African-American styles. But Bill Monroe, who white "hillbilly" and later "bluegrass" in a small rural born in 1911 and grew up in Rosine, Kentucky, was --- Page 254 --- THE BANJO blues muwas influenced early on by an African-American community, whom he first heard play for a dance as sician named Arnold Schultz, and fiddle. Though he admitted part of a string band with guitar, banjo, he "tried to keep in mind a little he could never quite play like Schultz, I could salvage to use in my music." And Affican-American ofit-what offer music for dances throughout the South, banjo players continued to Roberts, Lucius Smith, and Sid and several of them-including Dink preserved recorded by folklorists, their banjo playing Hemphill-were In the 1960s and 1970s they offered a crucial in the Library of Congress. musicians like musical styles, inspiring contemporary link back to early in the 1970s the folkMahal in his embrace of the banjo. Starting Taj interviewed many ofthese players and documented lorist Cecelia Conwayi Records. The their music on Folkways their history, as well as releasing revived when fiddle player sustained and tradition was ultimately Carolina Chocolate Drops, who Joe Thompson helped to mentor the band music to rapt and eager in recent years have brought black string audiences? music in another way, The banjo left its traces on African-American that link most blues music. We can see through its influence on early 1883 in the Mississippi Delta, clearly in the story ofGus Cannon. Born in and piano slaves, Cannon learned to play fiddle, guitar, the son offormer he built his own banjo with a guitar boy. When he was twelve, as a young and for two years with a neck and a bread sifter as a body apprenticed the banks of the Old Sum Russel, a hunter who lived on man named Cannon then found Sunflower River and was an excellent banjo player. These shows medicine shows in the region. work performing in touring and hucksters to sell their wares for various doctors were an opportunity featured music and comic acts as a way to to rural people and frequently site of for itinerant drum business. They were a crucial employment up role in maintaining various performance musicians, playing an important throughout the late including minstrel music and vaudeville, traditions, the of a doctor from Mississippi, nineteenth century. Under employ white, and recalled that Cannon had to blacken his face and paint his lips a in those conditions was to drink the only way he managed to perform himselfinto playing the banjo, beforehand. Drunk, he threw lot of alcohol and tonic to the crowd. wandering around and selling soap business. They were a crucial employment up role in maintaining various performance musicians, playing an important throughout the late including minstrel music and vaudeville, traditions, the of a doctor from Mississippi, nineteenth century. Under employ white, and recalled that Cannon had to blacken his face and paint his lips a in those conditions was to drink the only way he managed to perform himselfinto playing the banjo, beforehand. Drunk, he threw lot of alcohol and tonic to the crowd. wandering around and selling soap --- Page 255 --- Black Banjo medicine show circuit, Gus Cannon teamed up After years on the a few songs. He called himwith the blues guitarist Blind Blake to record called the Cannon'sJug Joe," and soon formed his own band self"Banjo their name from the bass Stompers. The "jug bands" of this period got sounded a bit like which blowing into a half-fulljug, sound provided by from the medicine shows, tuba. Cannon recruited an old companion a and guitar, and the group recorded a seElijah Avery, who played banjo with several banjos. On some songs, ries of songs in the late 1920s, often Cannon used a bottle to "Poor Boy, Long Ways from Home," including To make the slide work, he placed dimes slide up and down the banjo. sustain. Though Cannon under the strings in order to give it the proper the last blues numbers, he was among was able to use the banjo to record in this style musicians playing musicians to do SO. Affican-American better suited the vocal styles turned instead to the guitar, whose sound than the banjo, The guitar has longer sustain they were developing. the sound lasts longer, SO it meaning that when its strings are strummed lower slower singing. It also had a mellower, could better accompany banjo was in some ways less sound. The fact that the rwentieth-century of the curious and well-suited for new vocal styles, however, was one in the of the way the banjo had been transformed ironic consequences more metallic-sounding The higher-pitched, late nineteenth century. The older styles of instrument made it less useful as an accompaniment. would have offered a different tonality banjos, notably those with gourds, the blues. But by the twentieth that may have in fact suited it better for in the space beultimately did better work, filling century, the guitar that can almost beat like a drum. tween blues lyrics, offering bass notes instrument was traded The influence of the banjo lived on even as the and open however, in the kinds of right-hand playing for the guitar, used. The use of the back ofthe fintuning that many blues musicians banjo style on a is a way to play clawhammer gers in a rhythmic pattern guitar." 9 playing and found work After 1930 Cannon for the most part stopped collector. Then, in 1963, the Roof Top Singers in Memphis as a garbage songs, the 1929 and most exuberant did a version of one ofhis greatest musicians released versions "Walk Right In." It became a hit, and other retirement, the world in the next years. Cannon came out ofr throughout uning that many blues musicians banjo style on a is a way to play clawhammer gers in a rhythmic pattern guitar." 9 playing and found work After 1930 Cannon for the most part stopped collector. Then, in 1963, the Roof Top Singers in Memphis as a garbage songs, the 1929 and most exuberant did a version of one ofhis greatest musicians released versions "Walk Right In." It became a hit, and other retirement, the world in the next years. Cannon came out ofr throughout --- Page 256 --- THE BANJO band music with the legendary Stax Records did an album of jug again until his death in 1979. company in Memphis, and played banjo listeners heard Cannon's Meanwhile, through the remakes of his song, itselfcelebration of what music- and the banjo invitation, the ultimate sit right down," and "let your mind were meant to do: to "walk right in, roll on." >10 * in American theatre," the African- "The real beginnings of the Negro in his 1930 Black James Weldon Johnson wrote American composer minstrel >* In the wake ofthe Civil Manhattan, "were made on the stage." for getting musicians and actors found they had one option War, black and performing as minstrels. As access to the stage: putting on blackface the performance pattern as Johnson noted, they "accepted almost wholly white minstrels during the it had been worked out and laid down by the 1 Still, once they were on stage, they preceding twenty-five years. fresh and original to the stage." If "could not help bringing something enough to become a founblackface minstrelsy was ultimately capacious Johnson Affican-American performance, dation for rwentieth-century black musicians were actually, through argued, it was because in a sense minstrelsy, with their roots. "Negro a curious detour, reconnecting the slaves ofthe old south. ought to know, had its origin among and everyone had its talented band that could crack negro jokes, Every plantation ofthe banjo and bones. When sing and dance to the accompaniment his he needed owner wished to amuse guests, the wealthy plantation minstrels.' There was,. Johnson wrote, only to call for his troupe ofblack became and "a record of at least one oft these bands that semi-professional around from plantation to plantation giving performances." travelled the filiation with these "original plantation artists," Johnson emphasized continuity from plantation persecking to present a kind ofinterrupted music and dance. Of Affican-American formance to ninetenth-century than that: it left black the interruption of minstrelsy was more course, and enduring, situation. The plantation permusicians in a very strange, ofthe "expedient" ofblacking formers,J Johnson notes, had never thought their music for the stage would. their faces, as the whites who appropriated to the stage in the wake musicians who came But the Affican-American these "original plantation artists," Johnson emphasized continuity from plantation persecking to present a kind ofinterrupted music and dance. Of Affican-American formance to ninetenth-century than that: it left black the interruption of minstrelsy was more course, and enduring, situation. The plantation permusicians in a very strange, ofthe "expedient" ofblacking formers,J Johnson notes, had never thought their music for the stage would. their faces, as the whites who appropriated to the stage in the wake musicians who came But the Affican-American --- Page 257 --- Black Banjo inherited this new layer of practice. Working through ofwhite minstrelsy recent scholars note, these musicians excruciating contradictions," as two the rights to their own creative "began the long process of reestablishing identity" Yuval Taylor and Jake Austen have recently The story of what and difficult one. It forces us to dubbed "black minstrelsy" is a complex in the United confront a curious fact: the history ofblack performance tied to the history of blackface performance. States is fundamentally have alternately embraced, ex- "Since emancipation, black performers often besubverted, and turned stereotypes inside out, quite ploited, successful with both black and white audiences coming tremendously for the 9 This tradition created a foundation performance in the process." centuries. "The black of the twentieth, and even twenty-first, practices umbilical cord that feeds contemporary performers minstrel tradition is an ancestors." As Taylor and Austen both the genius and frustrations of their William Henry Lane, known note, already in the 1840s the famed dancer and was a "black "Master] 19 had toured with white minstrel troupes as Juba, as a black man." In a sense, man performing as a white man performing chose to do in the late that is what many African-American performers on the music nineteenth century: they were blacks in blackface, drawing channeling ofwhites in blackface, who themselves were and performance cultures of masking and imitation. much older theatrical and vernacular sedimentation of Black minstrelsy was one more stage in the vertiginous cultures. 12 Atlantic performance of this process were particularly high The stakes and possibilities of minstrelsy: the banjo. when it came to the instrument at the center that had been deployed as Blackface, after all, was a European tradition creation of minstrelsy. But the banjo was an African-American part ofthe into theatrical culture, and physinstrument, now thoroughly integrated manufacturers of the transformed through the work of the banjo ically in the wake ofthis, to be an African-American North. What did it mean, banjo player? banjo players performed on stage in Many, many African-American in all kinds the second half of the nineteenth century. They performed ofall-black troupes, ofvenues and in all kinds offormats. Some were part One into larger minstrel groups or circus performances. others integrated career stretched through most oft these banjo players, Ike Simond-whose , and physinstrument, now thoroughly integrated manufacturers of the transformed through the work of the banjo ically in the wake ofthis, to be an African-American North. What did it mean, banjo player? banjo players performed on stage in Many, many African-American in all kinds the second half of the nineteenth century. They performed ofall-black troupes, ofvenues and in all kinds offormats. Some were part One into larger minstrel groups or circus performances. others integrated career stretched through most oft these banjo players, Ike Simond-whose --- Page 258 --- THE BANJO book recounting his ofthe late nineteenth century-wrote: a remarkable ofhis several hundred other black banjo players experiences and naming banjo performance is era. And yet this history of African-American of the history oft the strangely lacking from the common understanding the banjo has allowed instrument. The gap in our sense of who played represented a kind ofbreak for the received idea that blackface minstrelsy from black to white that in the history of the instrument, a transition Thomas, is that never been reversed. The idea, writes Tony has essentially created by European American "negative images of black banjo playing Americans to abandon the minstrelsy and racist propaganda led African who gave 79 But, as he notes, "no one can point to a single banjoist did banjo.' Affican-American musicians up the banjo for this reason." Though the in the mid-twentieth embrace the guitar rather than banjo increasingly disappeared from these comcentury, the instrument never completely broken.3 and the transmission and lineage was never really munities, before the Civil War, There were a few black minstrel performers who in called the Alabama Slave Minstrels performed including a group short-lived experiments. In 1865, howBrooklyn in 1857, but these were including the very sucfive black minstrel troupes were founded, ever, They advertised themselves by playing cessful Georgia Minstrel Troupe. and "natural" black men. Theater up the fact that they were all ex-slaves themselves, realized there owners and managers, as well as black musicians who many now conin showcasing black musicians was an opportunity whites in blackface. In 1870 an Africansidered more "authentic" than Charles Hicks, took a company American former slave from Baltimore, and Ireland. of black musicians on tour in Germany made up entirely musician, James Bohee, ended up staying in Another Affican-American instructor for the Prince of England and becoming the personal banjo would and profit Wales. There were always conflicts over who manage under the with many black performers ending up from these troupes, over of white managers. There was, too, a constant tug-of-war control life and black music was to be put on stage. It was what vision ofblack discussion, subject to currents and then, as it is now, a never-ending and regimentacrosscurrents of artistic and aesthetic experimentation tion, market forces, and desire." 14 ex-slaves Fisk Jubilee Singers, In 1871 the first tour ofthe legendary Affican-American to raise money for Fisk University, brought on a mission performers ending up from these troupes, over of white managers. There was, too, a constant tug-of-war control life and black music was to be put on stage. It was what vision ofblack discussion, subject to currents and then, as it is now, a never-ending and regimentacrosscurrents of artistic and aesthetic experimentation tion, market forces, and desire." 14 ex-slaves Fisk Jubilee Singers, In 1871 the first tour ofthe legendary Affican-American to raise money for Fisk University, brought on a mission --- Page 259 --- 249 Black Banjo religious music to the stage for the first time. Their the United States, in Europe, and later massive success in toured in the in South Africa-where they 1890s-helped to reshape the contours and musical performance. Many horizons ofblack African-American minstrel quently incorporated spirituals into their troupes subsefered a different way oft repertoire, and these songs of transmitting and the enslaved and of condensing the experience of post-emancipation States. They brought elements of Affican-Americans in the United stories about animal characters African-American folklore, including they such as Brer Rabbit, into the shows. performed classic plantation When their meaning, evoking songs, they sometimes sought to shift who had bygone days ofchildhood and family and passed on, and avoiding the sentimental friends mistresses that were often featured songs about masters and changes in earlier minstrelsy. Whether registered with most audiences is, of these but it signaled an course, difficult to attempt on the part know, performance and connect with ofperformers to shift the terrain of different way. In the long African-American musical traditions in a term, the rise able a small number of ofblack minstrelsy helped enmusicians to rise to lay the foundation for the prominence and fame and to musical and theatrical continuing and expanding black presence in Some performance in the early twentieth century.' 15 and successful African-American musicians were able to craft musical careers during this era. One wide-ranging lock, who told his life ofthem was). R. Matland. He story in 1877 while he was on tour in New Zeaexplained that he had been born in 1839, a cotton plantation in Tennessee. one of 350 slaves on block but also the music. He recalled the whippings and auction On Saturday evenings there cert, ifthe overseer don't interfère." was "a weekly conMusicians as well as tin cans, clappers, played fiddles and banjos, forming 'jubilee andjawbones made of a mule's jaw, songs and plantation ') perwith strings "made of horse-hair," walk-rounds." Banjos were built boxes." " and a frame made out During the Civil War, Matlock traveled of"cheese nessed the battle of Shiloh. He with his master and witUnion soldiers from Illinois escaped and defected to a regiment of he found and in 1864 found his way to work as a waiter in a hotel. There, Chicago, where drummer" from Missouri, he formed along with a "young of blacks who what he called a "zouave played military music for company" Charles Hicks arrived in Chicago audiences. In 1864 Chicago "in search of black talent to form a Civil War, Matlock traveled of"cheese nessed the battle of Shiloh. He with his master and witUnion soldiers from Illinois escaped and defected to a regiment of he found and in 1864 found his way to work as a waiter in a hotel. There, Chicago, where drummer" from Missouri, he formed along with a "young of blacks who what he called a "zouave played military music for company" Charles Hicks arrived in Chicago audiences. In 1864 Chicago "in search of black talent to form a --- Page 260 --- THE BANJO 250 beginning a decades3 and Matlock decided to join him, minstrel troupe, the United States and who traveled throughout long career as a musician of that went into the world. Matlock' 's story suggests the layers experience of the late ninethe musical careers ofthe African-American musicians of fiddles and banjos He had grown up hearing the music teenth century. the war before arriving in Chicago, on the plantation and experienced influences. The creative process where he drew on new urban musical ofheritage and exone, for sure, at the crossroads here was a complex It brought together the world of pectation, of tradition and invention. not a simple vernacular music with that of existing theater, representing forms that had in the circulation of evolution but rather one more cycle minstrelsy in the first place. 16 ninegenerated African-American banjo player of the late The most celebrated who in Ike Simond's words "made teenth century was Horace Weston, Weston was the son ofa Conbanjo player in the land lay chilly." a every musician namedJube Weston and played necticut dancing teacher and with the accordion, then moved wide variety ofinstruments. He began but finally settled on the along with trombone and guitar, on to violin, He made his first banjo himselfand began banjo as his major instrument. In 1861 Weston tried to join the in the streets. earning a living playing black volunteers were accepted Union Army and was turned away-no He carried his banjo with the time; but he was able to join the Navy. at month from each sailor of him onto the ship, receiving "fifty cents per able to ? He eventually was join the crew for playing for their amusement." Volunteers. He oft the famed Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth the army as part in 1863 and began playing several times and was discharged was wounded Minstrels and then the Georgia Colin minstrel troupes, first Buckley's in a production ored Minstrels in the 1860s. In 1878 Weston performed attraction: a Cabin, where his banjo playing was a major of Unde Tom's were devoted to his solo banjo perfull thirty minutes ofthe production and sometimes His wife, Alice Weston, was also a banjo player formance. 1884 Horace had become well-known performed with him on stage. By novel called The Black that Samuel Swaim Stewart published a Weston enough Banjo Playerk based on Weston'slife. Hercules; of, The Adventures ofa in Europe. When boasted fourteen medals won in banjo competitions effects of a wound sufhe died in 1890-in part because of the lingering him "the New York newspaper declared perhaps fered during the war-a and sometimes His wife, Alice Weston, was also a banjo player formance. 1884 Horace had become well-known performed with him on stage. By novel called The Black that Samuel Swaim Stewart published a Weston enough Banjo Playerk based on Weston'slife. Hercules; of, The Adventures ofa in Europe. When boasted fourteen medals won in banjo competitions effects of a wound sufhe died in 1890-in part because of the lingering him "the New York newspaper declared perhaps fered during the war-a --- Page 261 --- Black Banjo world has ever heard." He went into the ground in greatest banjoist the with wreaths of flowers," and followeda "black walnut casket, decked the he had carried to new imagine -by the sound of banjo we might heights through his life of playing" Weston, black minstrel Thanks to the brilliance of musicians like the Genuine Coltremendous popularity. One ofthem, troupes gained for six weeks in New York and drew 60,000 ored Minstrels, performed the next year for a longer stretch and people to their shows, continuing In the 1880s, a "Colossal tour" of England. then going on a "triumphant hundred performers traveled the Colored Carnival" with more than a in 1883 with two There was a "minstrel festival" in Cincinnati country. banjo players, twenty song and dance men, hundred performers: "twenty writes Robert Toll, "travand sixteen vocalists." The black minstrels, hundred in and in companies of over one eled in small rag-tag groups frontier settlements, in the their own railroad cars. They played in small backthe theaters. They entertained poor, largest cities, and in greatest command performances for farmers, black and white, and gave for country and managers were always on the lookout English royalty." Troupes in New York asked for "Colgood banjo players: an 1891 advertisement desire for "Banjo Players who Performers," and specified a ored (Black) toured far and wide for decades in the are Good Singers." Musicians southern states. Several troupes also United States, including in many New Zealand, and Southtraveled abroad, to Europe but also in Australia, in By 1890, Charles Hicks died in 1902 while on tour Java. east Asia: there were 1490 "Negro actors and according to the federal census, These numbers were probably showmen." In 1910 there were 3088. had other, jobs. In to include those who worked part-time or low, failing an advertisement saying he 1894 a promoter in New York published contenders appeared at needed forty black minstrels. More than 2,000 his office.s their winters in New Orleans, playing Many black minstrels spent was a "musical center," in the numerous concert halls. Memphis, too, And the Mislocals on to fame elsewhere in the country. sending many both a route between different places sissippi and Ohio rivers provided for musicians. "All a regular source ofemployment and, on its steamboats, board," wrote Simond, and "in the large boats had a concert party on and New Orleans gave fact all the principal boats between St. Louis minstrels. More than 2,000 his office.s their winters in New Orleans, playing Many black minstrels spent was a "musical center," in the numerous concert halls. Memphis, too, And the Mislocals on to fame elsewhere in the country. sending many both a route between different places sissippi and Ohio rivers provided for musicians. "All a regular source ofemployment and, on its steamboats, board," wrote Simond, and "in the large boats had a concert party on and New Orleans gave fact all the principal boats between St. Louis --- Page 262 --- THE BANJO 29 Another crossroads for musicians was Chicago, nightly entertainments." minstrel show playing at the Grand which in the 1880s had a massive minstrel men in town at House. There were "over three hundred there Opera at another concert hall where the same time," often congregating banjo playing" scene ofr revelry; it was singing, dancing, was a "nightly 77 Many Affican-American until "until late at night. from the morning there," performers took their first banjo lessons its following in part beEarly minstrelsy got its energy and gained themand novelty of white men transforming cause ofthe transgression they had inherited for a while, into black men. Though selves, at least in black face, in time some Africanthe roles developed by white men constraints oft this form. One American performers sought to escape the blackface, and "quit the player, Sam Lucas, grew tired of wearing banjo ' Ike Simond wrote, "that he would never minstrel stage. "He told me, him in nearly every city of the black his face again, and as I have met has." ? Lucas went on States since that time I don't think he ever United both the and in film. In time, the role ofUncle Tom on stage to perform musicians would search for a way out more and more African-American seeking to use the stage to of the traditions of blackface performance, aesthetic. In the early 1890s the offer a different vision and a different "refined and elevated" William Foote sought to offer a more manager setting aside "plantation melodies performance by Afican-Americans, historical approach dialect" and instead focusing on a more and peculiar He created a troupe to go on a tour in Europe, to the black experience. Talent." >> He added applicants advertising that he needed "Genuine Negro want Descent," ?? and that he didn't any "Must Be Unmistakable African 7 Instead, he was seeking who played the role of"Freak" or "Monstrosity. Class.' >20 performers who were "High Affican-American muStill, throughout the 1880s and 1890s many offered the stock locked into performances that sicians found themselves contrasted "the happy, contented stereotypes of minstrelsy, which often 97 The Northern Negro." ofthe South with the "unruly, inept "darky"" the era of the Great Migration of contrast was a meaningful one in and minstrelsy provided Affican-Americans from the South to the North, had and anxieties this migration a theater through which the experiences of black men on the created were laid out and performed. The presence could often rather than undermining racial stereotypes, minstrel stage, that sicians found themselves contrasted "the happy, contented stereotypes of minstrelsy, which often 97 The Northern Negro." ofthe South with the "unruly, inept "darky"" the era of the Great Migration of contrast was a meaningful one in and minstrelsy provided Affican-Americans from the South to the North, had and anxieties this migration a theater through which the experiences of black men on the created were laid out and performed. The presence could often rather than undermining racial stereotypes, minstrel stage, --- Page 263 --- 253 Black Banjo be used to confirm them. And integrated minstrel alhough there were a number of troupes, black and white performers racially separately on stage. The black musicians usually performed older minstrel numbers and "dressed were often confined to playing to one account. And black in the old-time style," according swirl minstrels found themselves part of a ofexoticism: one troupe in Cleveland offered a larger white minstrel stars, 15 male and show made up of"35 minstrels," >3 and for good female Japanese, 35 genuine colored the minstrel measure "13Moorah-Bedouin Arabs." 77 performances in the city was one called "The Among Voudoos." Some of the flavor ofthese Feast of the note from a New York performances is captured in a short newspaper from 1890: "Tom captivating work with his banjo. The Williams is doing By the mid-1890s several Egyptian jugglers are doing well." 21 fication, ) and also large productions offered a kind perhaps an apotheosis, of black of"puri- "theatrical extravaganza" called Black minstrelsy. A massive a Brooklyn park, advertised America was performed in 1895 in as "a Panorama ofthe gles of Africa to the Civilization of Negro, from the Junfree-born African-American America."' It was the brainchild of a minstrel named nanced by the promoter of Buffalo Bill's Billy McClain and was fitogether five hundred Wild West show. He gathered and members ofthe famed performers, including sixty-three vocal ensembles, African-American: "Buffalo Soldiers." 77 One advertisement cavalry unit known as the ence the best entertainment claimed audiences would be on offer since ancient times: experi- "More Fun, Jollity, Humor and in the park would Massive Lyric Magnitude forthe Character presented in Marvellously Audiences could stroll Millionsthans sincethe days ofCleopatra." through a reconstructed southern plete with transported cotton plantation, comto depict slave plants with blooming buds and log cabins offered quarters. The performers didn't wear a varied repertoire of blackface, and they "folklore" spirituals and showcased the "home life" of"Southern Colored People." 3 On one level and sought to fulfill minstrel the show clearly tions ofwhite audiences stereotypes, which deeply shaped the and critics. But it also insisted that expectaterpreters of minstrel music were the best inin blackface, they were "southerners Aftican-Americans: for unlike whites advertisements assured visitors whose act was no act at all." The that they would see Southern Plantation," 9> and not "Real Blacks from the "Northern other African-American negroes." In the next years performers would mount other large-scale and sought to fulfill minstrel the show clearly tions ofwhite audiences stereotypes, which deeply shaped the and critics. But it also insisted that expectaterpreters of minstrel music were the best inin blackface, they were "southerners Aftican-Americans: for unlike whites advertisements assured visitors whose act was no act at all." The that they would see Southern Plantation," 9> and not "Real Blacks from the "Northern other African-American negroes." In the next years performers would mount other large-scale --- Page 264 --- THE BANJO simultaneously to play to minstrel stereotypes productions that sought In 1898 A Trip to Coontown, and to carve new spaces of performance. in New York. It was black musical comedy, opened the first full-length Bob Cole, who was the son of written by the Georgia-born musician the role ofa white man named former slaves. In the play Cole performed wore the tradition of blackface on its head, Willie Wayside and, turning white critics, the play was a Though attacked by some white makeup. and other cities. Other similar musicals comhit and toured to Chicago followed, including the posed and performed by African-Americans of African-Americans which told the story of a group 1902 In Dahomey, the rulers of the Kingdom of Dawho return to Africa and become to the United homey. It had a successful run in New York before touring 22 the United States for several years. Kingdom and throughout dynamics at work in this process in We can see the complex cultural named W. P. Dabney. Born near the life ofthe musician and composer By the late 1880s he Richmond in 1865, he studied at Oberlin College. Rhode the banjo during a sojourn in Newport, began learning to play Banjo and Guitar Club, Island. Back home, he formed the Richmond Unde Tom's Cabin. It was local ofa play called which put on a production by "colored people in the "first drama" produced advertised as being delineation of the most and a "faithful portrayal and accurate Virginia" *7 In its form, the production offered important epoch of Negro History" music, music from plantation songs to religious the spectrum of common But for Dabney, this was clearly an along with string band dance songs. dwelling on to produce art by and for African-Americans, ofhis opportunity a of one The event included presentation their history collectively. Richmond Banjo and Guitar Club, played by the own compositions, >23 called "Phantasmagoria Waltz. composers and inDabney was inspired, as other Affican-American in 1893 by about American music published tellectuals were, by an essay who came to the United States in Antonin Dvorak, the Czech composer ofMusic in New York. Dvorak 1892 to head the National Conservatory to incorporate had long insisted on the need for European composers "future music" of and folk traditions into their music. The vernacular be "founded upon what are called the Negro America, he argued, had to of America, and your composers melodies." >9 These are the folk songs that was needed " he announced. They had everything must turn to them," were, by an essay who came to the United States in Antonin Dvorak, the Czech composer ofMusic in New York. Dvorak 1892 to head the National Conservatory to incorporate had long insisted on the need for European composers "future music" of and folk traditions into their music. The vernacular be "founded upon what are called the Negro America, he argued, had to of America, and your composers melodies." >9 These are the folk songs that was needed " he announced. They had everything must turn to them," --- Page 265 --- Black Banjo noble school of music.". At the conservatory Dvorak to create a "great and whose "compositions are based student trained an African-American the other students thought this was upon Negro melodies," and though invited to do a concert 7) Dvorâk disagreed. In 1894, "not in good taste," showcase "Negro music," with Madison Square Garden, he chose to at African-American musicians. In all but one of his solo singers young and at first tried to impress 1895 W. P. Dabney came to meet Dvorak Then he began playing by other musicians. him by playing compositions known as 'Uncle "little plantation melody of my own composition, a the Czech composer lit up Remus," written in E minor." Immediately He invited to to his piano and begin composing, and was inspired go the musician went "carrying Dabney to his house that night; and Virginia and his family the with the Czech composer my banjo" and spent evening airs for which the banjo is the in- "playing the many melodious minor adapted." 924 strument most conveniently with the question of music African-American writers who grappled In 1878 James culture tended to judge the minstrel tradition harshly. and Music and Some Highly Musical People, which Monroe Trotter published musicians, particularly those chronicled the history of African-American de Gregoire a century earclassical music. Like the Abbé who performed in order to critique the racial order lier, Trotter used their achievements criticized minstrel music and and the cultural stereotypes it produced. He from his genealogy. In excluded the black musicians who performed it the his famous thoughts on centrality 1903, W. E. B. Du Bois published Unlike Dvorak, who music to American music. of African-American minstrel music and its "plantation seemed relatively comfortable seeing folk culture, Du Bois of African-American melodies" as an expression celebrated the contributions of suspicious of this genre. He was deeply And, like Dvorak, he the Fisk Jubilee Singers as a contrast to minstrelsy. of Africanthe need for the cultivation and transmission emphasized the true American music.25 American music, which he also saw as only AfricanThese debates shaped the work of early twentieth-century that drew on who sought a way to create music American composers, at the center of American musical folk roots but also could find a space in this regard was James culture. One ofthe most important innovators Alabama, in 1881 to a father Reese Europe, who was born in Mobile, Church and a mother who who was a former slave active in the Baptist relsy. of Africanthe need for the cultivation and transmission emphasized the true American music.25 American music, which he also saw as only AfricanThese debates shaped the work of early twentieth-century that drew on who sought a way to create music American composers, at the center of American musical folk roots but also could find a space in this regard was James culture. One ofthe most important innovators Alabama, in 1881 to a father Reese Europe, who was born in Mobile, Church and a mother who who was a former slave active in the Baptist --- Page 266 --- THE BANJO Church. Music was integral was the daughter of a leader ofthe Episcopal When Eulives, and he learned to play piano as a child. to their religious DC, where he was still a boy, the family migrated to Washington, then rope brass-band leader John Philip Sousa. He studied with the famous himself as a musician made his way to New York, where he established of the Clef Club, an In 1910 Europe led the formation and composer. musicians whose goal was to lobby organization for African-American for better wages and treatment as on behalf of black musicians, pushing and also to showmore access to venues. In order to raise money, well as them, the group organized a large case the range of talent among black musicians." 26 symphony-sized concert made up entirely ofl orchestra that Europe's dream was to create an African-American the United States, as a could perform on the most prestigious stages of and most lucrative from the highest way of gaining access to and respect want to do SO playing traofthe cultural sphere. But he did not by levels music. Instead, he sought to develop an ditional European classical believed that the popularity African-American orchestral sound. Europe as "a fun name given to Negro of ragtime- - which he described just proved Caucasian brother musicians many years agorhythm by our music at the highest levels ofculthere was a space for African-American ofa a called the "Memtural life. In New York in 1905, he was part group student and none -although "none ofits members was a phis Students" orchestra consisting of from twenty-one-member hailed Memphis"--a several banjos, that created a "tightly strummed instruments, including rhythmic and syncopated.7 coordinated aggregate" that was powerfully of of music was, in Europe's mind, a true expression This kind colored have our own African-American culture. "You see, we people of in 1914. "It's us; it's the product music that is part of us," he explained and miseries of our race. 7) our souls; it's been created by the sufferings musicians and Rather than turning their backs on this, Affican-American conmake their mission to adapt this music to a new composers should to crOSs racial lines in musical asserted that it was a mistake text. Europe orchestra never tries to play white folk's performance. "Our symphony such a thing. We are no more music. We should be foolish to attempt music." 28 orchestra is fitted to play our fitted for that than a white orchestra sound like? For deBut what should an Affican-American understood black music to had defined what audiences cades minstrelsy conmake their mission to adapt this music to a new composers should to crOSs racial lines in musical asserted that it was a mistake text. Europe orchestra never tries to play white folk's performance. "Our symphony such a thing. We are no more music. We should be foolish to attempt music." 28 orchestra is fitted to play our fitted for that than a white orchestra sound like? For deBut what should an Affican-American understood black music to had defined what audiences cades minstrelsy --- Page 267 --- Black Banjo was to both draw on and escape this legacy, be. The challenge for Europe that had been with it. He did SO by taking on the instrument to conjure banjo-and deploying it in a new way. central to the minstrel sound-the given the structure of a virtue out of necessity: This was partly making still dominated, there were the music industry, in which black minstrelsy than playing banjo and guitar playing many more African-Americans the rhythm ofthe banjo, alongside oboe or French horn. But for Europe mandolins, created a more instruments like guitars and other strummed in 1914, "although we have African-American sound. As he explained the mandolins and violins, the place ofthe second violins is taken by >7 first stead strumming accompaniment banjos."' ? The result was "that peculiar on and, in a also took the bold move of putting ten pianos stage Europe used not the grand pianos audiences subtly provocative cultural move, black musicians tended to play accustomed to but the uprights that were of chords which are esin hotels and bars. The result was "a background sentially typical of negro harmony."2 he was asked to perform In 1912 Europe got a golden opportunity: The event was a benefit Hall with his symphony orchestra. at Carnegie the Music School Settlement for Colored concert for a project called free music school in Harlem. EuPeople, whose goal was to establish a "plantation wide-ranging program that included rope put together a ensemble known under the songs," religious music, a banjo and guitar and larger orchesname of the Versatile Entertainers Quintet, sound. pleasing rhythmic tral numbers showcasing his signature hard-strumming of the tickets had been before the performance only a third By the day Then an editorial appeared in the Evesold, mostly to Afican-Americans and declaring: "The Negroes calling attention to the concert ningJournal music of our own that is American-national, have given us the only became a not-to-be-missed original and real." Suddenly the performance ofthe concert. It and Carnegie Hall was packed the night cultural event, the first time, the crowd was watershed: for probably was also a social and the audience was mixed together. about half black and half white, dress in seats next to leading white citizens sat in evening "Some ofthe colored citizens, who were also in evesome of our highly respectable There was, he went on, "no calamity," ning clothes," one reviewer noted. both the whites and blacks though he added that this was probably because >30 the best elements of their race. in attendance "represented . It and Carnegie Hall was packed the night cultural event, the first time, the crowd was watershed: for probably was also a social and the audience was mixed together. about half black and half white, dress in seats next to leading white citizens sat in evening "Some ofthe colored citizens, who were also in evesome of our highly respectable There was, he went on, "no calamity," ning clothes," one reviewer noted. both the whites and blacks though he added that this was probably because >30 the best elements of their race. in attendance "represented --- Page 268 --- THE BANJO 258 CLE Orchestra, Ca. 1911. Photograph. and his ClefClub James Reese Europe of the Maryland Historical Society. Eubie Blake Collection. Courtesy to conduct his coming out on stage the The night began with Europe which launched into their anthem, ClefClub Orchestra, had "sections of banjos, 125-person "Clef Club March." The orchestra filled the stage, syncopated strings, and percussion that entirely sound, a 'tang' mandolins, guitars, "an absolutely distinctive described wrote one reviewer, creating amid other fruits." Another reviewer and like the flavor of pineapple imposing and seductively rhythmic," the orchestra's sound as "very soft sound ofthis strange conglom- its at "the beautiful, with noted his "surprise" The "Clef Club March," eration of unassorted instruments." ?? ended with the orchestra bursting attack and infectious rhythm," its feet, and at the end of the "biting This brought the audience to of the first piece of into song. became a tumult." 17 By the end piece the "applause --- Page 269 --- 259 Black Banjo - FOCUB music, those in attendance, the fact that their city had according to one observer, had awoken The success ofthe just gained "something new in music. >31 to career. He played again Carnegie there Hall concert helped to widely. The in the propel Europe's year 1913 was the fiftieth following years and began to tour slavery, and anniversary of the to celebrate. Affican-American promoters organized abolition of also featured Europesorchestra; played in one major cultural events a pageant on the ofthese in New Du Bois. They history ofblack York, which toured to other East people written by W. pation celebrations, Coast cities as part ofthese E. B. offering concerts that garnering large audiences emancioccasional included the large everywhere they went, tion banjo solo. In the orchestra pieces as well as an with two white dancers, ensuing years, notably through became one ofthe hottest Vernon and Irene Castle, collaboraacts ofthe time. When Europe's orchestra they traveled, he asked these in New Du Bois. They history ofblack York, which toured to other East people written by W. pation celebrations, Coast cities as part ofthese E. B. offering concerts that garnering large audiences emancioccasional included the large everywhere they went, tion banjo solo. In the orchestra pieces as well as an with two white dancers, ensuing years, notably through became one ofthe hottest Vernon and Irene Castle, collaboraacts ofthe time. When Europe's orchestra they traveled, he asked --- Page 270 --- THE BANJO be racially integrated-a request granted that seating at their concerts the example of the except Richmond, Virginia- carrying everywhere other venues. To the driving sound ofthe banjo, Carnegie Hall concert to cultivated; and Europe's project a new kind of theatrical life was being thrived-for a time. 32 orchestra of creating an African-American became the leader ofa celWith the arrival of World War I, Europe his band. He died in 1919, but his example-notably ebrated military instrument-had an impact strategic use of the banjo as a core rhythm Orleans in what would ofthe new bands that emerged in New on some of jazz. Many street bands in the citycome to be seen as the birth early, instruments, called "spasm bands" ' used homemade stringed sometimes with thread and fishing-line strings," as part including "tin-bucket banjos by Louis Armstrong, The first instrument played of their instrumentation. made from a cigar box with similar: a "gitbox" in fact, was something established bands also included four copper wires for strings. Some more which featured Charles C. banjo players, such as the Big Four String Band, "won who according to an 1908 newspaper had already great 33 Henderson, before he joined the band. fame with his banjo' 2 playing in New Orleans recalled, when he was Lawrence Marrero But as the jazz banjoist 1910, most ofthe bands used guitars growing up in New Orleans around possible thanks instrument. Then, around 1915-with as their rhythm few musicians began switching to the to the influence of Europe-a Both Lawrence and his brother banjo, including his brother, John Marrero. more fansbetter: once they started playing it, they got liked the banjo too." 97 "When you playing jazz you make "white and colored, and girls he In that same year anything as long as you make it right," explained. the "Jelly Roll Morton's first compositions, the sheet music for one ofJelly player on the cover. The Roll Blues," featured a tuxedo-wearing banjo of banjo playing that brothers would help develop a style two Marrero created the rhythmic core of early, jazz. from New Orleans The most celebrated jazz banjo player to emerge whose story also ilmusician Johnny St. Cyr, was the African-American became SO central to the music. St. Cyr lustrates how and why the banjo him to play flute and born in 1890, his father a musician who taught was and started working at the guitar. As a boy he apprenticed as a plasterer he worked construcof fifteen; and for much ofhis musical career, in small age and then played music at night. He played tion during the day jazz. from New Orleans The most celebrated jazz banjo player to emerge whose story also ilmusician Johnny St. Cyr, was the African-American became SO central to the music. St. Cyr lustrates how and why the banjo him to play flute and born in 1890, his father a musician who taught was and started working at the guitar. As a boy he apprenticed as a plasterer he worked construcof fifteen; and for much ofhis musical career, in small age and then played music at night. He played tion during the day --- Page 271 --- 261 I Black Banjo bands throughout his teen years and at nineteen of New Orleans's best was to play guitar in one ofPiron's groups, led by A.J. Piron. St. hit songs, Mama's Baby Boy, Around Cyr co-wrote one banjos are getting 1917 Piron told him: "John, popular now. You're suppose you get a regular banjo and make pretty good at woodworkuse the same a guitar neck for yourself. You'd fingering you use on the guitar neck." St. purchased a tenor banjo with four Cyr could have market, but that would have strings, which was easy to find on the required learning his anew. Instead, on Piron's chords and techniques created his suggestion and using his skills at he very own "banjo guitar." 9> St. carpentry, banjo-"one of the best Cyrbought a Stewart five-string banjos made," he banjo neck and replaced it with recalled-then removed the first one he handmade out ofoak. "I banjo player in New Orleans," 79 St. Cyr was the ofPicayune Butler and many other claimed-stirring up the ghost meant he was the "first banjo forebears-but then specified that he Orleans. 35 player to play in a dance orchestra in New In 1918 St. Cyr was hired by a bandleader begin playing on a riverboat named Fate Marable to boats offered alongside a young Louis These patrons the chance to spend an Armstrong. sissippi, dining, and dancing. evening cruising up the Misthe Banjo player Danny Barker claimed inspiration for having bands on riverboats had that the roustabouts, the descendants of those initially come from Hearn. described in 1871 by Passengers on the upper decks sometimes Lafcadio singing and playing below and heard the roustabouts That "they would come gave one boat owner the idea of downstairs" to listen. passengers. The boats served hiring musicians to play for as a giant, floating everyone came alone, but left with "hook-up scene"; "Most recalled. The dance floors someone on their arm,' 9 one observer come up to three thousand were enormous-on one ship they could welthey people at a time-and were much were wide. Playing for such a crowd, the band longer than ating a "coordinated attack that could had to be loud, creWithout reach as many dancers as amplification, a guitar simply couldn't hold possible." instrument in this context. A banjo, up as a rhythm powerfully. To increase the sound however, could cut through more ofhis banjo, St. picks out oftoothbrushes or combs, Cyr crafted his own on manufactured which gave him a "better grip" than picks. He and other banjo described as "chord men,' 2 whose hard players were what he strumming drove the music and had to be loud, creWithout reach as many dancers as amplification, a guitar simply couldn't hold possible." instrument in this context. A banjo, up as a rhythm powerfully. To increase the sound however, could cut through more ofhis banjo, St. picks out oftoothbrushes or combs, Cyr crafted his own on manufactured which gave him a "better grip" than picks. He and other banjo described as "chord men,' 2 whose hard players were what he strumming drove the music and --- Page 272 --- THE BANJO the bass and bass drum players held the band together. On most songs and piano players, solid two-beat rhythm," while the banjo played "a four-beat. For the last, "hot" along with the snare drummer, played rhythm. The music was chorus, everyone got together to play a four-beat riverboats dancing and setting the massive crowds on the electrifying, business. Most nights on the riverbringing in a steady and profitable but some boat owners boats, the bands played to all white audiences, On these nights night cruises for black customers. offered special Monday themselves that "there was now, because the passengers could remind And the music ofthe riverthere had always been, a black Mississippi." like St. Louis and onshore and shaped musical life in towns boats moved foundations for later generations of musical Memphis, helping to lay the innovation and invention. 36 and throughout the riverboats consolidated St. Cyr'sstyle; The time on of the best bands in New Orleans, inthe 1920s he played with many Roll Morton. His playing those of Louis Armstrong and Jelly cluding recordings. At the time recording techalso drove a series ofkey early, jazz recorded all together by one debasic, with bands nology was relatively in this context: drum sets instruments were difficult to record vice. Some other instruments, and guitars were too the were too loud, overpowering stringed instrument for a soft. The banjo turned out to be the perfect band, and it studio. It could hold its own as part of a larger recording in the absence of the drum sets used in also provided a strong rhythm were made with St. Cyr's most famous recordings live performances. and Hot Seven recordings in Chicago in Louis Armstrong's Hot Five "Oriental these songs was one of his own compositions, 1925. Among a new idiom for jazz" and in time Strut." 1 These recordings "crystallized in the history of the music. founding documents became legendary, "soaring solo style," for Armstrong's' Though they are most remembered As one French ofSt. Cyri is central to these recordings. the banjo playing entire rhythm section" that drove critic has noted, he made up "an jazz the music. 37 instrument in most of The banjo played a pivotal role as a rhythm twenties, Orleans jazz bands of the late teens and early the major New bands and the Original Tuxedo, Jazz Band. including Edward "Kid" Ory's who could serve as its ensembles needed "a musician in the group These chord for the collective improvisations the changes nerve center, cueing these recordings. the banjo playing entire rhythm section" that drove critic has noted, he made up "an jazz the music. 37 instrument in most of The banjo played a pivotal role as a rhythm twenties, Orleans jazz bands of the late teens and early the major New bands and the Original Tuxedo, Jazz Band. including Edward "Kid" Ory's who could serve as its ensembles needed "a musician in the group These chord for the collective improvisations the changes nerve center, cueing --- Page 273 --- Black Banjo and serving as a base for the close haramong the front line instruments 77 The piano could serve this role, monies that make the great jazz band.' its portabands. But the banjo had a major advantage: and did in some Johnny St. Cyr, the bandleader bility. Recalling the work ofbanjo player oft the piano in the real noted: "His banjo used to take the place Kid Ory essentially an "outdoor piano' during old days." It was, writes Al Rose, mainly for picnics, parades, jazz's early days, when the music "was played nineteenth century, resiin the late funerals and lawn parties." Starting on the banks ofLake dents of New Orleans gathered for Sunday picnics dances at the tradition of the weekly public Pontchartrain, continuing bands in New Orleans vied for attention the Place Congo. The best for such Because the banjo was perfect among the Sunday picnickers. instrument for all the bands ofthe era. outdoor concerts, it became a key could handle the chording "It could beat the rhythm. It was loud. It those flying the crowd loves about watching and there is something fingers." >38 George Guesnon joked in an It could be hard work: as banjo player beborn he would be a trumpet player, interview, ifhe was to be again St. Cyr, occa- "get to rest." 97 Banjo players, including, Johnny cause they while continuing to play. Banjoist, Johnny sionally fell half-asleep on stage during the days, once put Dave, who like St. Cyr worked construction When the band started up down his banjo on the floor during a break. the rhythm-but he immediately woke up and started strumming again, was still on the floor in front ofl him.39 his banjo ofNew Orleans musicians. Danny The banjo connected generations in the midst of the burst of Barker was born in 1909 and came of age amidst all the mujazz in the city. He later described growing up early calls from street vendors, including sical sounds of New Orleans-the the river; the singing of his mother, who sold food to the workers along few hundred named Blind Tom, who gathered crowds a a guitar player "Ballad of the Titanic"; and the music strong and sang a twenty-minute Barker was on the banks of the at banquets and picnics. One evening, band start to play on one ofthe Mississippi when he heard Fate Marable's started with drums, then riverboats, before it set out on the river. Barker found his calling when an aunt bought switched to clarinet, but ultimately left it around the house. and, after trying to play for a bit, a banjo-ukulele but a did and came by every Barker didn't know how to tune it, neighbor music strong and sang a twenty-minute Barker was on the banks of the at banquets and picnics. One evening, band start to play on one ofthe Mississippi when he heard Fate Marable's started with drums, then riverboats, before it set out on the river. Barker found his calling when an aunt bought switched to clarinet, but ultimately left it around the house. and, after trying to play for a bit, a banjo-ukulele but a did and came by every Barker didn't know how to tune it, neighbor --- Page 274 --- THE BANJO for him. Barker created a band called the evening to tune the instrument and tambourine, and "Boozan Kings," 99 with a washboard player, kazoo, and when he was in local bars; his banjo-ukulele as the lead. They played for Kid Rena's band was fourteen, he got a lucky break: the banjo player banjo, asked Barker ifhe could play a traditional too drunk to play. They insisted he take to the stage, tuning the banjo and though he said no they like a hero." His uncle soon in the ukulele style. He played well and "was from Chicago, and he began a rich career playing got him his own banjo including Louis Armin the city, going on to record with jazz greats and Sidney Bechet. 40 Jelly Roll Morton, and later Cab Calloway strong, the relatively early in his career, Though Barker switched to guitar life. Along for the rest ofhis he continued to play the banjo occasionally and recorded songs in player George Guesnon, Barker played with banjo ofNew Orleans's linguistic and musical Creole, preserving a critical part became famous not just as a muculture in the process. In time Barker ofjazz, creating an ofthe raconteurs of the history sician but as one great New Orleans musicians who archive that recorded the history of many have been forgotten. never made recordings and therefore might otherwise styles, including the influence ofwhat he called "Spanish' He emphasized the describing how from Cuban music, on history ofjazz, those coming and Spanish' 17 instrumentation. He the banjo offered a mix of"African ofCuban background, whose recalled the banjo player Willie Santiago, favorite leaves." Another ofBarker's hands were as flexible as "poplar who played in one of banjo players was a man named Saint-Thomas, the entire rhythm for a band the town's parade orchestras and could carry moved through the streets. 41 as they into most oft the great, jazz ensembles of The banjo was incorporated bands, the Washingtonians, the period. One of Duke Ellington's early After Ellington took and first led by banjoist Elmer Snowden. was created Fred Guy, who stayed with the band over in 1925, he hired banjo player in London with a backfor the next two decades. In 1930 they performed In the same year decorated with huge pictures of banjo players. drop for the banjo in a jazz club Danny Barker witnessed the ongoing passion "What I saw and heard I in New York City called the Rhythm Club. contest" among ' he later recalled. It was a "wild cutting will never forget, were three ofthe top banjo players dozens of musicians. Around the piano but the crowd insisted that anin the city. Each ofthem played choruses, he hired banjo player in London with a backfor the next two decades. In 1930 they performed In the same year decorated with huge pictures of banjo players. drop for the banjo in a jazz club Danny Barker witnessed the ongoing passion "What I saw and heard I in New York City called the Rhythm Club. contest" among ' he later recalled. It was a "wild cutting will never forget, were three ofthe top banjo players dozens of musicians. Around the piano but the crowd insisted that anin the city. Each ofthem played choruses, --- Page 275 --- 265 Black Banjo other musician, a man named Seminole, show Seminole picked up one of the them how it was done. he flipped it around and banjos; but because he was left-handed, "started wailing on the down, that is playing banjo playing it upside everything backwards." " He'd taught everything this way and silenced the other himselfto play impressed by his solos and after banjo players, who were deeply rhythm. 42 that just accompanied him playing In time technological changes gradually in jazz recording and undermined the banjo's place performance. In 1927 an electric Western Electric microphone that could capture individual developed guitar makers developed louder instruments. In 1934 1937 the electric guitars with larger bodies, and then in guitar was invented. The cut through the music of brass and banjo's capacity to carry and The electric guitar drums was no longer an advantage. essentially spelled the demise of the jazz as well as in other popular ensemble tenor banjo in to the point that during World music. Banjo sales plummeted, War II residents offered banjos to local up their unused foundries SO they could be melted down and turned weaponry. How many banjos, one author has into build a tank? The cycle ofboom and wondered, did it take to the banjoist Earl bust, ofcourse, was a boon to some: Scruggs, who would define the 1940s, recalled that in the late 1930s, bluegrass style of the literally filled with pawnshops in the Carolinas some oft the most valued were vious decades-beaurifiul Gibson instruments made in the preMastertone and Fairbanks banjos going cheap. 43 Whyte Ladie The bebop jazz music ofthe 1940s didn't of the prominence given the use banjo, in part because cymbal in the music. In terms of timbre, percussive landscape ofthe and cymbals and banjos have a putting them together is a kind of"musical common energy, aside the banjo was also a very visible and redundancy." Leaving with past, jazz traditions and strike audible way to make a break American out in a new direction. A few banjo players continued to showcase the Africanwork, notably Elmer instrument in their Snowden, who had started tieth century in playingin the early twenWashington and Baltimore and record called "Harlem in 1960 released a formed in Banjo. But the instrument was venues structured by nostalgia, like increasingly perOrleans. The fossilization of Preservation Hall in New in time, banjo playing in New Orleans meant many people forgot the energy and that, dynamism the instrument American out in a new direction. A few banjo players continued to showcase the Africanwork, notably Elmer instrument in their Snowden, who had started tieth century in playingin the early twenWashington and Baltimore and record called "Harlem in 1960 released a formed in Banjo. But the instrument was venues structured by nostalgia, like increasingly perOrleans. The fossilization of Preservation Hall in New in time, banjo playing in New Orleans meant many people forgot the energy and that, dynamism the instrument --- Page 276 --- THE BANJO the early 1960s the brilliant banjoist had brought to the birth ofjazz. By called the could only find work playing on a riverboat Johnny St. Cyr When he was interviewed in 1958, LawMark Tivain-at Disneyland. the instrument in a long Marrero admitted that he had not played rence banjo in God knows how long. Stroking time: "I haven't touched my he was described as the those chords was nice." When he died in 1959, would be archaic 77 Still, he had hopes the banjo last ofthe "real jazzmen." In a 1953 letter to a young, aspiring picked up by another generation. wrote: "Just keep on your banjo. banjo player named Bill, Marrero afraid or scared of anyone just play Keep up the good work : don'tbe like hell."4 * crossings, also became a global instrument. The banjo, born of global had already brought the inMinstrel troupes in the nineteenth century and music oft the of the world. The ragtime jazz strument to many parts with the production and distribution early twentieth century, combined of all kinds, helped to spread the inofincreasingly inexpensive banjos this period that the banjo strument into new musical realms. It was during becoming a staninto Irish music, in time was most likely incorporated bands. It found its way into almost every corner dard instrument in many with accordions in France, Gerof Western Europe, played side-by-side Fallone, 97 which toured in and Scandinavia. In 1902 the "Troupe many, of Europe, featured a young girl playing the Belgium and other parts love with the instrument during this pebanjo. One oft those who fell in in 1910 and raised in Reinhardt. Born in Belgium riod was Django ofRomani ethnicity and as a young boy got hold France, Reinhardt was heels: he used to sleep with the inof a guitar-banjo and fell head over in banjo competistrument. By the age of twelve, he was performing most switched to the guitar, becoming one ofthe tions. He eventually oft the twentieth centuries. The pascelebrated European jazz musicians 1930 advertisement for a sion for the instrument continued in France: a and answers in Paris asked a series of questions banjo method published that they really could do it: "Are banjo players meant to reassure potential be black to the banjo?" "No." black?" "No." "Is it necessary to play you music?" "No matter." "Can you learn to play "Do you know how to play ed to the guitar, becoming one ofthe tions. He eventually oft the twentieth centuries. The pascelebrated European jazz musicians 1930 advertisement for a sion for the instrument continued in France: a and answers in Paris asked a series of questions banjo method published that they really could do it: "Are banjo players meant to reassure potential be black to the banjo?" "No." black?" "No." "Is it necessary to play you music?" "No matter." "Can you learn to play "Do you know how to play --- Page 277 --- Black Banjo months?" "Yes!" In 1936 some workers on strike in the banjo in three ofJames Reese Europe, composed of Paris formed a band almost worthy They performed for an accordion, and five banjos! a violin, a saxophone, in the courtyard of their factory. a large crowd ofworkers gathered France led to a kind ofl homecoming for The popularity ofbanjos in musicians led by Alexandre the instrument, when a group of Martinican of music from the Stellio arrived in Paris in 1929. Drawing on traditions dances and marAntilles and Guiana, they had played for social French silent movies, in their home island for riages, as well as accompanying of drums, cello, violin, nearly a decade. They used an instrumentation records and sought and clarinet. The group had heard ragtime trumpet, into their music. In Paris they encountered to bring some oft their styles including that performed rich culture of"black transnational music," a musicians as well as performers from Cuba and by African-American, jazz their repertoire of sounds, and of Haiti. In this context, they expanded would become standard in instruments, adding a banjo. The instrument to be known as beguine, providing a strong rhythm the music that came recorded 130 songs in the next deas it had in early jazz music. Stellio figure in a wave ofmusic the 1930s he was the leading cade. Throughout the Bal popular in Paris dance clubs, particularly that was extremely of upwards of five hundred people night Nègre, which drew crowds Caribbean, they often included after night. When bands returned to the the island were still It is likely that some rural residents on a banjo. first observed by Labat and later by Laffamiliar with the instrument traditions of making homecadio Hearn and perhaps had maintained form ofl beguine that made banjos. But it was ultimately the circulating music in the the sounds ofthe instrument back into popular brought other of the French empire: an unAntilles. It also traveled to parts probably from the Indian Ocean island ofRéunion, dated photograph shows a band called "La jeunesse taken in the early twentieth century, workers of Bagatelle" playing ouvriere de Bagatelle" "The young what looks like accordion, and banjo outside a house alongside drums, a cane field.40 in Jamaica with a music known as Something similar happened rural music and dance and influmento. Rooted in various forms of in the 1940s and became espeenced by calypso music, the style emerged as a central rhythm in the 1950s. It, too, featured a banjo cially popular band called "La jeunesse taken in the early twentieth century, workers of Bagatelle" playing ouvriere de Bagatelle" "The young what looks like accordion, and banjo outside a house alongside drums, a cane field.40 in Jamaica with a music known as Something similar happened rural music and dance and influmento. Rooted in various forms of in the 1940s and became espeenced by calypso music, the style emerged as a central rhythm in the 1950s. It, too, featured a banjo cially popular --- Page 278 --- THE BANJO the instrument was useful because mento instrument. As in New Orleans, and the instrument's sound bands often played outdoors in rural areas, their instruments the musicians usually acquired could carry. Although influenced by, jazz and ragtime sounds, from the United States and were some memory and inJamaica, as in the French Antilles, there was likely echo of the traditions. Indeed, in a curious link back to earlier banjo in time became seen as consumsituation in the United States, mento showcased in "rural" music and also a form that was particularly like mately That was also true in the Bahamas, where musicians tourist settings. made careers playing local music on Blind Blake and Nathaniel Saunders But mento banjo had a the banjo for North American visitors at resorts. who developed the influence: several of the early guitarists the long-lasting foundation for reggae music had previously played styles that were a often muffed the strings to create a sharp banjo. On the electric guitar they and used the instrument as sound not unlike that of the banjo percussive foundation for the music. 47 the rhythmic ofthe Caribbean, some individuals conIn Jamaica and other parts banjos. In 1934 a jourtinued to make their own instruments, including board a tram. The saw a man and his wife come on nalist in Kingston made of"a long bamboo fixed into the man was carrying an instrument stretched. A rough wooden screw halfofa gourd, across which a skin was the wire." He of the cane served to tighten or slacken single at the top voice," 99 stamping his feet on "thrummed" it and sang in a "high-pitched danced as he finished the floor of the car, and eventually stood up and in an age of The was pleased to see this "troubadour" his song. journalist could "boast a pretty long cata- "canned music," and added that Jamaica 99 but that the musical instruments, including the "banjar," logue" of native preferred storemost ofthese was fast fading as musicians skill ofmaking such traditions of making instrubought instruments. In fact, though, in the mid-1950s, vanished. Working in Kingston ments have never named Barrett, who lived in anthropologist Sidney Mintz met a man Percy abolished community founded when slavery was Sturge Town, a hilltop of and took brass pieces in 1838. He made a body for the banjo out plaster frets. Ethnomusiused for weighing vegetables to make cut from a scale and musicians has interviewed photographed cologist Kenneth Bilby of whom continue to make and play throughout the Caribbean, many their own banjos. , vanished. Working in Kingston ments have never named Barrett, who lived in anthropologist Sidney Mintz met a man Percy abolished community founded when slavery was Sturge Town, a hilltop of and took brass pieces in 1838. He made a body for the banjo out plaster frets. Ethnomusiused for weighing vegetables to make cut from a scale and musicians has interviewed photographed cologist Kenneth Bilby of whom continue to make and play throughout the Caribbean, many their own banjos. --- Page 279 --- 269 I Black Banjo as well. In South Africa The banjo had other kinds ofhomecomings century, then the visits of minstrels to Cape Town in the mid-nineteenth perSingers, and later of African-American troops ofthe Fisk Jubilee mark on the culture. These visits "Coon Songs" all left a deep forming street carnival that brings contributed to the development of a remarkable with Islamic feselements of North American theatrical culture together ofsound and theater known as the "Coon tivals to produce an explosion each year. A swirling and Carnival" on the first and second of January parade of minstrel styles and tropes-many slightly surreal repurposing faces and lips that were a cenin the ill-fitting suits and hats and painted kind ofliving "Coon Carnival"isa tral part ofthe minstrel get-up-the cultures that of the curious sedimentation of performance museum States in the nineteenth century. The fescame together in the United mandolin, violin, and with small ensembles playing guitar, tival begins which are then joined by layers banjo and singing old minstrel tunes, Malaysian songs, of other migrant music- Portugure-ladeneian global minstrel pulled into a kind of never-ending choir music-all repertoire." 49 ofthe main instrumentaElsewhere in Africa the banjo became part including a dance bands in Central and East Africa, tion of colonial-era These included the Dar-es-Salaam] Jazz series recorded in the early 1950s. "Swahili rumba" and used Band, who played a style of music known as the Lake Vicinstrument. In Nairobi, Kenya, a tenor banjo as a rhythm in the Dholuo language. And toria Band showcased a banjo and sang dance music coming Dance Band, which was influenced by the Chippy's playing quickstep and singing a tune from South Africa, had two banjos, and another in the Shona in English called "Love Is a Merry-Go-Round" was based on the Another of their songs language called Ndinokuziwa. known as the thumb piano. sounds oft the Shona mbira, more commonly tremendous migration set in In the 1950s these regions were places of in which bands colonial exploitation, sites ofartistic creativity motion by the move. And SO it was fitting that they found had to speak to people on the instrument back home to an ally in the banjo in the process bringing to bring people toAfrica, taking advantage of its long-rooted capacity gether through its sound. 50 for the banjo has been in Perhaps the most remarkable homecoming where starting in the 1940s the instrument was incorporated North Africa, ira, more commonly tremendous migration set in In the 1950s these regions were places of in which bands colonial exploitation, sites ofartistic creativity motion by the move. And SO it was fitting that they found had to speak to people on the instrument back home to an ally in the banjo in the process bringing to bring people toAfrica, taking advantage of its long-rooted capacity gether through its sound. 50 for the banjo has been in Perhaps the most remarkable homecoming where starting in the 1940s the instrument was incorporated North Africa, --- Page 280 --- THE BANJO I 270 into a range of musical styles, notably the celebratory chaabi music performed at weddings in Algeria and Morocco. The instrument, according to one theory, arrived in the hands of U.S. soldiers during World War II. The Algerian musician Dahmane El Harrachi, considered the "Father of the Algerian banjo, ?) has recorded many albums and performed for decades on the instrument. And the Orchestra El Gusto performs with a variety of Arabic lutes but also a row ofbanjo players, and their performances include banjo solos. It was in North Africa-in Marrakech-too, that in the late 1920s Claude McKay wrote his ode to the instrument, Banjo. He would later be the first American to write about Gnawa music, recognizing the filiation between the lutes played in this ritual music in North Africa and the banjo carried in the hands ofhis character. In these new journeys that are also returns, the layers of the banjo's history come together. After a journeyh hundreds ofyears long, from the Arabic lutes to West and Central African instruments, to the Caribbean and North American slaves who made a new instrument, to the blackface minstrels and the black minstrels and jazz musicians who followed them, the sound of the banjo, that sound of strings humming over skin, returned in new form to North Africa.51 --- Page 281 --- Sounding America "I WOULD LIKE TO BUY A BIG BANJO and play in the very little jazz band up here that has just been started," a teenage Pete Seeger wrote to his mother in 1932. He had been borrowing a banjo from the music teacher at his boarding school, but it had become "awful awkward to keep borrowing it.' ? Pete was learning fast: "It's not halfso hard to play one as I thought and I've already learned about ten chords last week. I'm having lots of fun." 99 Perhaps missing his banjo a bit, Pete's teacher told him it would be easy enough for them to drive over to a pawnshop in Hartford and pick one up for a few dollars. "Will you let me get one?" he asked his mother. "Please?"1 So it was that Pete Seeger got his banjo, a four-string tenor ofthe kind that had been played in many jazz bands in the 1920s. But several years later, he switched to a five-string banjo made by the Stewart banjo company. He'd bought it in a pawn shop-for five dollars. He took it on a trip across the country, playing it in bars and homes and camps until the day he was jumping off a freight train and smashed the instrument. When Seeger got back to New York, he paid ten dollars for a fine replacement-a Fairbanks Whyte Laydie banjo. That one lasted him nearly a decade. But in the meantime banjos were becoming more popular, in --- Page 282 --- THE BANJO influence. In 1949 he left it in an unlocked car part because of Seeger's When he headed back to the pawnin New York, and someone stole it. banjos were he discovered "how expensive shop to get a new banjo, hundred dollars apiecel"s getting--they had gone up to several rather than had made their own banjos Once upon a time, people opted to tap into that venergetting them cheap in pawnshops. . But in the meantime banjos were becoming more popular, in --- Page 282 --- THE BANJO influence. In 1949 he left it in an unlocked car part because of Seeger's When he headed back to the pawnin New York, and someone stole it. banjos were he discovered "how expensive shop to get a new banjo, hundred dollars apiecel"s getting--they had gone up to several rather than had made their own banjos Once upon a time, people opted to tap into that venergetting them cheap in pawnshops. Seeger resonator- direct and skin-covered able tradition. He got a "pot"-the company. And cost" from the "nice man" who ran the Vega banjo "at oflignum vitae, a hardwood long cherished then he got a nice long piece is to the Cafor its solidity and heft. The tree indigenous by carpenters used centuries earlier by those who built ribbean and may well have been and Haiti. Seeger got a guitarthe earliest banjos in Martinique,. Jamaica, from the piece of wood, maker in New York to "rough out" the neck needed to varnish and then he took a rasp and "rounded it off." He never don't need vitae "takes a natural shine and you the wood, since lignum maker, who added frets. The to." He then brought it back to the guitar at the time. Seeger with a much longer neck than usual result was a banjo for the rest ofhis life.3 kept playing the same instrument "looks like, and in a sense "Pete Seeger," writes Robert Cantwell, of anomalies in 77 The instrument sings out the "anomalies is, his banjo.' he had built for himThe particular banjo his anomalous personality." original, elongated variety ofits ninetenth-century self was "an oddly three extra frets had fixed halfway up a neck to which with a tuning peg more and "exposed the been added." This "permitted him to play keys" in which man and arms, and banjo neck, conspiracy of elongation, legs, collusion, confluence, and involved." The instrument were passionately and singer, was the result conflagration ofbanjo and man, ofi instrument ifin some ways between an individual and a powerful, of an encounter There was, at the time, somehidden, accumulation ofcultural symbols. the "instruabout the banjo: it was an "enigma," thing a bit mysterious In picking it up, Seeger was carrying ment that history had left behind." the an inof"cultural scavengery," bringing to foreground out an act unfamiliar to many audiences. As strument that had become somewhat for independence the banjo was a kind ofrebel act, a search such, playing But the banjo also offered to Seeger from the reigning musical landscape. the result ofi its long and complia deep well of meanings and symbols, strands of American history, and cated history. it was an "enigma," thing a bit mysterious In picking it up, Seeger was carrying ment that history had left behind." the an inof"cultural scavengery," bringing to foreground out an act unfamiliar to many audiences. As strument that had become somewhat for independence the banjo was a kind ofrebel act, a search such, playing But the banjo also offered to Seeger from the reigning musical landscape. the result ofi its long and complia deep well of meanings and symbols, strands of American history, and cated history. It brought together many --- Page 283 --- 273 Sounding America who "spun the fibers of it enabled him to craft a character as a performer >4 diverse cultural traditions into a continuous thread.' that saved saved the banjo. Or maybe it was the banjo Pete Seeger son, educated at boarding him. The transformation of a musicologist's and rootedness would school and Harvard, into an icon of American roots the without the instrument. When he picked up have been impossible and made it his own. banjo, he drew on its on strength, and symbolism, into tradicreative invention as it was a journey It was as much an act of that somehow ignited many of tion. It was, too, an act ofbrilliance, one the instrument on a new set the latent possibilities of the banjo, setting enabled Seeger to channel ofjourneys, into a new set ofhands. The banjo all at once, of American music and American protest and condense a sense instrument. As such, Seeger made creating new solidarities through the and promise as something the instrument live again its original purpose sound that could allow people to sing out against opthat produced a completed a circle and imagine new worlds. In this sense Seeger pression of the Americas by enslaved people begun long ago on the plantations harmonious. solace, community, and the promise of something seeking * from the first, intertwined with one of the great Pete Seeger's life was, the study and recording cultural projects ofthe early twentieth century: was his vernacular music. At the center of this movement of American friend named Alan Lomax. Both of father, Charles Seeger, and a family American music was these men believed that collecting and preserving that no one fulof America. It was a mission ultimately a way changing than Pete Seeger. filled more dynamically German immigrant who arrived The Seegers were descendants ofa with America after in the United States in 1787, having become "obsessed on the of the U.S. Constitution that had been peddled reading a copy where his father was working streets." 91 Charles was born in Mexico City, where he got a degree and made his way to Harvard, as a businessman, conductor and composer. While conducting in music and began work as a Constance de Clyver Edson, a in Europe, he met Pete Seeger's mother, Tunisia. The two soon moved violinist who had grown up in France and music Charles became the chair of the department, to Berkeley, where obsessed on the of the U.S. Constitution that had been peddled reading a copy where his father was working streets." 91 Charles was born in Mexico City, where he got a degree and made his way to Harvard, as a businessman, conductor and composer. While conducting in music and began work as a Constance de Clyver Edson, a in Europe, he met Pete Seeger's mother, Tunisia. The two soon moved violinist who had grown up in France and music Charles became the chair of the department, to Berkeley, where --- Page 284 --- THE BANJO and offering the first course in musicology in expanding its curriculum department, he found 1,200 the United States. In Berkeley's anthropology Listening to them recordings of Native American songs. wax cylinder music, and he began to argue against spurred his interest in non-European classical music was dominant idea in his field that only European the worthy ofs scholarly study.3 He visited ranches Charles Seeger also began to speak out politically. of laCalifornia and was shocked by the condition migrant in Northern in World War I after borers. He also spoke out against U.S. involvement Legion, Alan, who had volunteered for the French Foreign his brother the Berkeley administration, and, died in combat. His activism angered The family moved to he resigned his academic position. under pressure, was born. The one-time professor New York, where in 1919 Pete Seeger a wooden He devoted a year to building now embarked on a new project. The plan was for the family trailer with a canvas top and a portable stage. >16 "travel around bringing music to rural Americans." to Carolina, in 1921, though, Charles Seeger had Near Pinehurst, North visited the farmhouse of As Pete Seeger told it, the family a realization. them "the good music, Bach and called the McKenzies to play a family said, 'Oh, that's Beethoven." 17 The McKenzies were very polite. They and fiddles little music too.' They took down banjos very nice. We play a 79 Years later, Charles told his son Pete offt the wall and fiddled up a storm. made him realize, for the first that the stay with the McKenzie family had didn't need my "that people had a lot of good music in them. They time, >) Pete laughed when he told that story, good music as much as I thought. that defined his entire the twist in consciousness which encapsulated he played in Chapel career. Years later, in 1995, after a concert musical from the McKenzie family. She Hill, Pete met a great granddaughter talking about that family from told Seeger: "My mother never stopped >7 New York that spent the winter with them. music to the masses" "grand scheme oftaking classical Charles Seeger's trailer, which collapsed on his family as well as on his rickety was a strain marriage had collapsed in Richmond. By 1929 Charles and Constance's the first woman to reSoon afterwards he met Ruth Crawford, as well. The two were married in in musical composition. ceive a Guggenheim halfbrother, Mike Seeger, who 1932, and among their children was Pete's collectors and inhis brother would become one ofthe great alongside music of the late twentieth century." terpreters ofl banjo classical Charles Seeger's trailer, which collapsed on his family as well as on his rickety was a strain marriage had collapsed in Richmond. By 1929 Charles and Constance's the first woman to reSoon afterwards he met Ruth Crawford, as well. The two were married in in musical composition. ceive a Guggenheim halfbrother, Mike Seeger, who 1932, and among their children was Pete's collectors and inhis brother would become one ofthe great alongside music of the late twentieth century." terpreters ofl banjo --- Page 285 --- 275 Sounding America of a of composers who asCharles and Ruth Seeger were part group He helped write music that would help spur political change. pired to collective whose goal was to introduce classical animate a composer's "that would reflect proletarian intermusic to workers and write pieces should be musically revests." They believed that "music for revolution listeners' habits and olutionary" and composed songs meant to challenge wanted to that few people actually expectations. It turned out, though, the music was supnot the workers to whom listen to them-particularly concluded that this project Over time, the Seegers posed to be geared. where workers were struggling too "rarified"i in a context was ultimately The workers don't seem to like our music," for daily survival. "Let's faceit. Ifwe want to recalled his father saying. "Let'sl learn the vernacular. Pete with the music that people already know." create new music, let's start thinkers had considered verThis represented a departure, as many leftist the threw reactionary." But Seegers nacular and rural music "hopelessly y themselves into this new project with gusto." the project of rePete Seeger grew up quite literally surrounded vernacular by music. All documenting, and channeling American covering, childhood home, were recordings and a bewildering around him, in his mother left musical inof musical instruments. "I remember my array the house, ?? including "a marimba, and a squeezebox, struments all around Seeger recalled, "she whistle." 7 When he was eight years old, and a penny into fretted instruments ever since." His gives me a ukulele and I've been when he was allowed him to buy his first banjo from a pawnshop mother wasn't satisfied, and soon asked ifhe might school. But Pete at boarding nice tone and "Td like banjo with a everything?" be able to get a "good think that it would be worth it behe added, "and honestly I to a lot," the banjo and I'd like to learn how to play cause I'm awfullyinterested: in it really well."0 school, Pete Seeger In the summer of 1936, after he finished high Dance Festival south with his father to attend the Folk Song and traveled The festival was created in 1928 by the muin Asheville, North Carolina. the of bringing visitors to Bascom Lamar Lunsford with goal sician culture. Lunsford Asheville and celebrating and promoting Appalachian the 1927 "I banjo player; among his recorded songs was was a celebrated whose words alight upon rolling, Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground," heard Lunsford play in Ashebanjo melody. When Pete Seeger captivating he "fell in love with the old-fashioned five-string banjo, ville in 1936, festival was created in 1928 by the muin Asheville, North Carolina. the of bringing visitors to Bascom Lamar Lunsford with goal sician culture. Lunsford Asheville and celebrating and promoting Appalachian the 1927 "I banjo player; among his recorded songs was was a celebrated whose words alight upon rolling, Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground," heard Lunsford play in Ashebanjo melody. When Pete Seeger captivating he "fell in love with the old-fashioned five-string banjo, ville in 1936, --- Page 286 --- THE BANJO 276 rippling out a rhythm to one fascinating after rhythms. I liked the melodies, song another. I liked the time-tested liked the words.' 99 The by generations of singers. I songs, sung in a "strident vocal meat oflife in them." "They tone" had "all the "Above all, they seemed sang ofheroes, outlaws, murderers, fools." his frank, straightforward, honest." 77 Pete left behind four-stringed tenor banjo for the home to his father's house, which five-stringed instrument. He went was full ings ofs southern banjo music. He ofLibrary ofCongress recordon the turntable and slowed borrowed a banjo, put the recordings them down with his out each note and try to play what he finger SO he could pick kered," Alan Lomax heard. "Hours and hours he tinsouthern recalled, "trying to figure out by ear what banjo aces were playing." In the next those grimages to meet great banjo players, years Seeger made pilCrisp. "It is a fine including the Kentuckian Rufus thing to watch his out, ? Seeger wrote,"! finger fly" and "let the strings ring After two years at Harvard-where he sociology professor who announced was particularly put offby a world"-Pete to students "You can't change the dropped out and moved to New York. gave his first public concert, In April 1939 he lads" for a presenting "a group of authentic balsquare dance group. He met folklorists who banjo "folk songs with teeth,' >7 written had been collecting by "Irish miners and Negro cotton farmers from the deep south >> and railroad workers, He began "learning songs of white "backwoodsmen." Kentucky miners, and Texas farmers," 9 and Wisconsin lumberjacks, performing them. That summer group called the Vagabond he joined a York presenting Puppeteers, who traveled through rural New songs and skits for milk farmers who against the Milk Trust, which were on strike loved Pete's set prices for their products. Audiences banjo playing, and he transformed the ballad Polly" a haunting song about the murder ofa a song "Pretty Farmer," a cautionary tale about young girl-into "Mister cheated by the a dairy farmer who was "seduced and big-money boys." The Puppeteers didn't money of their own: they netted a grand total make much whole summer. But Pete had found of$13.34 in profit for the songs could warm and a vocation as a banjo picker whose That fall Alan encourage political protest. 12 work Lomax invited Pete to come down as his assistant, going to Washington to lumbia Records through piles of records discarded and other labels to "set aside the by Coschmaltz, and pick out was "seduced and big-money boys." The Puppeteers didn't money of their own: they netted a grand total make much whole summer. But Pete had found of$13.34 in profit for the songs could warm and a vocation as a banjo picker whose That fall Alan encourage political protest. 12 work Lomax invited Pete to come down as his assistant, going to Washington to lumbia Records through piles of records discarded and other labels to "set aside the by Coschmaltz, and pick out --- Page 287 --- 277 Sounding America access to a seemingly inexthe best.' 19 Thanks to Lomax, Seeger gained by Uncle Dave archive ofmusic. Among them were recordings haustible with his intricate, driving banjo playing Macon, who fascinated Seeger coalminers. Lomax and a song he sang about an 1892 rebellion among and Woody collected a series of protest songs and gave them to Seeger had them and eventually published them as a book. Guthrie, who transcribed his adopted instrument. Lomax encouraged Seeger to continue studying " Lomax later recalled.1 "He just looked like a banjo, called Seeger and invited him to meet One day in New York, Lomax went to the apartment of someone and told him to bring his banjo. They William Ledbetter, Affican-American singer Huddie the legendary was a humorous clash of styles: known as Lead Belly. The encounter shed Harvard updressed down, "trying my best to my Seeger was clothes other than blue jeans," > he bringing, scorning to waste money on shirt and starched collar, wellrecalled. "But Lead Belly had on a clean shoes." ?9 Seeger was taken by Lead Belly'sp playing: pressed suit, and shined he as in the notes he "his genius was not SO much in the notes played with the banjo, didn't play." He was inspired to take up the guitar along modeling his style on that ofthe blues musician." alongstumbled along the way. In 1940, at an early performance He folksingers ofthe day, Seeger froze up side Lead Belly and other leading the wrong I didn't know how to play the banjo, I was playingit on stage. froze on me. Tried to do it too fast. Forgot words. way, and my fingers up retired in confusion." But another of I got polite applause for trying, and Guthrie. Seeger recalled the performers that night was the singer Woody the back ofhis headed guy with a cowboy hat shoved on how this "curly he didn't much care ifthe audihead" sang and told stories "as though his with or not. >> At one point he cleaned fingernails ence was listening As Seeger recalled: "One song his guitar pick. But the audience was rapt. of New York intellectuals." after another was a revelation to this audience "I could find the Guthrie took the young banjo player under his wing. 9 Seeger remembered, and "didn't right notes to accompany him anytime, try anything too fancy." >15 out to Oklahoma to Guthrie invited Seeger to join him on a trip from New They made a curious pair, an "intellectual visit his family. intellectual" from Oklahoma. "He was England" alongside a "self-made Seeger later wrote about the determined not to let himselfbe changed," . of New York intellectuals." after another was a revelation to this audience "I could find the Guthrie took the young banjo player under his wing. 9 Seeger remembered, and "didn't right notes to accompany him anytime, try anything too fancy." >15 out to Oklahoma to Guthrie invited Seeger to join him on a trip from New They made a curious pair, an "intellectual visit his family. intellectual" from Oklahoma. "He was England" alongside a "self-made Seeger later wrote about the determined not to let himselfbe changed," --- Page 288 --- THE BANJO 99 For him Guthrie's genius was rooted in journey. "I was eager to change. damn fool can get complicated, his understanding of a basic truth: "Any voracious obGuthrie was a but it takes a genius to attain simplicity." he discovered Rabelais and and reader. "T'll never forget the week server volume in a couple of days. During read through the two-inch-thick with some of the weeks I could see him experimenting the following Rabelais used, such as paragraphs full ofimages, techniques ofstyle that On the road together, after adjective getting more fantastic." adjective including "66 Highway Blues" Seeger and Guthrie wrote a few songs, chorus: "Oh, you can't scare me, and "Union Maid," with its resounding the Union 'til the day I I'm sticking to the Union. : I'm sticking to continued on his own, die." >7 When Guthrie arrived to see his family, Pete into a bar, sling with advice from his mentor. "Pete, if you go fortified Guthrie told him. back but don't play it right away," your banjo on your can. "Sooner or later, somebeer" and "sip it slow as you "Buy a nickel that thing?' Now don'tbe too eager. body's gonna say, 'Kid, can you play beer." Eventually, someone Say 'Maybe a little, and keep on sipping your tune. 1 That was would "Kid, I got a quarter for you if you pick us a >9 say and "play your best tune. Seeger made the moment to "swing it around" He travel that way and honed his skills as a performer. enough money to of evicted sharecroppers in Missouri, also heard new songs. In a camp church." "I began there to really he heard "beautiful" music in their "little >16 work on my banjo. after and teamed up with the singer He returned to New York soon and know the in December 1940. "I know some songs, you Lee Hayes musician, they formed a group banjo, 77 Hayes said. Along with another for one oftheir early called the Almanac Singers. The handwritten poster balladeers" singing described them as "Rhythmic, rarin' banjo concerts "Free-All Welcome!" The group at times "Hot labor & defense songs!" Guthrie and a man named added other musicians, including Woody voice," 99 and a "sharp sense of Arthur Stern, who brought "a big booming materialism." All the humor," along with "a strong sense of dialectical had sympathies with the Communist members of the Almanac Singers Communist League at Seeger had been a member of the Young Party. the Communist Party itself. Harvard and in New York and now joined who tried to guide us "We had weekly sessions with a nice young man he recalled, "but a little more about dialectical materialism," in learning added other musicians, including Woody voice," 99 and a "sharp sense of Arthur Stern, who brought "a big booming materialism." All the humor," along with "a strong sense of dialectical had sympathies with the Communist members of the Almanac Singers Communist League at Seeger had been a member of the Young Party. the Communist Party itself. Harvard and in New York and now joined who tried to guide us "We had weekly sessions with a nice young man he recalled, "but a little more about dialectical materialism," in learning --- Page 289 --- 279 Sounding America about becoming great Marxist none of us were really that enthusiastic know the right "trusted the Communists to generally scholars." They for," and all read the party newspaper, The thing we should be pushing in the world. It had a Daily Worker. "It was one of the best newspapers stories about section." ?9 The Daily Worker published positive great sports "America Is in Their Songs." the group, including one that announced "If there were six Theodore Dreiser extolled their work, proclaiming teams like you, we could save America." >917 more defined itselfas anti-fascist and supThe Communist Party had long Stalin signed a nonaggresthe Republicans in Spain, but in 1939 ported Communist Party line, therefore, was that war sion pact with Hitler. The struggle that ignored the with Hitler was "an imperialistic, capitalistic class.' 79 The Almanac Singers wrote antiwar songs, interests ofthe working the draft. Franklin Delano Roosevelt for pushing through attacking seeing the song as clever Eleanor Roosevelt offered a restrained response, asked an advisor "but in poor taste, while Franklin himself apparently described the Almanac "Can't we forbid this?" A Harvard Professor subversive "Poison in Our System" and their songs as "strictly Singers as attacked the Soviet Union in July 1941, the and illegal." When Hitler heard the news while playing at a gathparty line shifted. The group be any more and Guthrie noted: "Well, I guess we won't singing ering, without skipping a beat," songs. 7) "The Almanac Singers flipped Allies peace about supporting the against and quickly produced a series ofsongs "no-strike" pledge. the Nazis and encouraging unions to sign a wartime "Round and Round They went on CBS radio and sang one ofthese songs, however: some, Hitler's Grave." ) They were still seen as a menace by on with the headline "Commie Folksingers Try one newspaper ran an article CBS It was the last Radio" the day after their appearance. to Infiltrate network radio show." 18 time the group appeared on a songs, including continued to write and play strong prolabor They Union" that was essentially a singing manual one written called "Talking roof loft with his a union. Sitting on the ofthe group's on how to start verses: "Ifyou don'tlet Red-baiting banjo, Seeger wrote the final, rousing hatred break you up, ?9 Seeger break you up," and "ifyou don't let race and the CIO "You'll win." 9 The song was an instant hit, proclaimed, national tour of unions. The William Morris sponsored the group on a offer them and approached the Almanac Singers to representation Agency loft with his a union. Sitting on the ofthe group's on how to start verses: "Ifyou don'tlet Red-baiting banjo, Seeger wrote the final, rousing hatred break you up, ?9 Seeger break you up," and "ifyou don't let race and the CIO "You'll win." 9 The song was an instant hit, proclaimed, national tour of unions. The William Morris sponsored the group on a offer them and approached the Almanac Singers to representation Agency --- Page 290 --- THE BANJO 280 the Rainbow Room in them more shows, including one at upscale but get thought they could use the band, Rockefeller Center. The manager and we can put the we'll have to put all the men in overalls, "of course not taken with the idea, and in sun bonnets. 9> Woody Guthrie was girls a song that joked that at the Rainbow the group immediately improvised Oil." Not surprisingly, they Room, they stirred the salad "with Standard urinated on the balthe "I've forgotten whether Woody did not get gig. "but I know he swiped some ofthe cony or not, 9 Seeger remembered, friend from William silverware; and a couple of weeks later when our as we he ruefully saw this silverware on our table Morris was visiting us, both for their "radical served him dinner.' 17 The agency gave up on them, >19 unconventional ways in hotels." reputation" and "Woody's events at local parties. They The group mainly performed at political for their loft in Union sometimes held "rent parties" to raise money used there for such Square. On a trip to Seattle, they learned a new term the term, and in "hootenanny" The group adopted fundraising parties: fixture of the folk music scene to describe any time it would become a The music ofthe Almanacs was informal, participatory musical gathering. for the folk to lay the groundwork an opening, and an invitation, helping later. Out of the cultural crossrevival that would take shape a decade from 'different Greenwich Village at the time, musicians roads that was later wrote, "to work out a new places" had come together, as Seeger new." The group's new. Somewhat old and somewhat form-somewhat outlook, which saw the music "antiesablishment" and "anticommercial" would shape ofthe corrupt capitalist system, industry itself as an extension the ethos of the folk revival as well.20 with his future The Almanac Singers also brought Seeger together Amerthe of a father and an wife, Toshi Ohta. She was daughter Japanese in New York. In mother who had met in Germany, and grew up ican the Almanac Singers. Her mother early 1942 she volunteered to catalog Square by herself at insisted that she couldn't walk across Washington done, and "pretty walked her home when the work was night, SO Seeger he recalled. He was drafted a few weeks soon we were going steady," 7 They were married in Greenwich later, and she said "I'll wait for you. would work as a filmmaker, Village while he was on furlough in 1943. She often in collabfolklorist, and producer in the coming decades, activist, borrowed money from friends and oration with Pete. In 1949 the couple Square by herself at insisted that she couldn't walk across Washington done, and "pretty walked her home when the work was night, SO Seeger he recalled. He was drafted a few weeks soon we were going steady," 7 They were married in Greenwich later, and she said "I'll wait for you. would work as a filmmaker, Village while he was on furlough in 1943. She often in collabfolklorist, and producer in the coming decades, activist, borrowed money from friends and oration with Pete. In 1949 the couple --- Page 291 --- 281 Sounding America the Hudson River, in Beacon, New family and bought a plot ofland along lived for the rest oft their lives.21 York. They built a house there, where they with his banjo. drafted in 1942, he went to war When Seeger was which consisted mostly of"long During his early days in the service, and was very popular, waiting," 79 he played for other soldiers. "My banjo bucks." He later the boys took up a collection for me, some 5 in fact once that took him to Hawai'i and once there entertained troops on the ship Oahu, he played the banjo in a was recruited to perform for troops. In skit. In dissolute Mountaineer" in one popular role of the "perennially and learned songs from the local Saipan, he played for groups of children music was his vocation: "I The war confirmed his sense that population. and that is music and I can get quite have got one helluva dissipation he wrote too and lost in it-I hope you are a patient wife," drunk on it, he recalled, joyously a night of music among to Toshi in 1945. Years later mechanics at Keesler Field, Missoldiers when he was studying aircraft the ofthe barin 1943. Seeger was "sitting with a banjo on steps A sissippi, when a small cluster gathered." racks, picking a few tunes to myself, would bring the banjo over forward and asked Seeger ifhe man stepped and there's a buddy of mine plays a to the barracks. "I got a mandolin, there were a few guitar fiddle." 1) Once at the barracks, it turned out good started "playing up a storm." 17 Just then the sergeant players too. They all "Hell, we're just getting warmed shouted that it was time for lights out. the The they "adjourned to latrine." up." the soldiers responded-so walls made us sound SO great, sound quality was perfect: The echoing then thirty, didn't want it to ever stop. 99 Soon there were "twenty, we in it, standing in the shower stalls, sitand finally almost forty people other and toilet seats." Seeger never saw the musicians ting on sinks was it I made some ofthe best again, but "ifanyone ever asks me where made in my life, I'm liable to reply: 'In a latrine" music I ever home he was, as the New Yorker later put it, When Pete returned also sings, ex-G.I. who looks like a telescope, "an enormous young on a banjo." Seeger was accompanying- y-or rather, encourging-himwife also served during the war, in reunited with Woody Guthrie, who had Africa. Both men had learned and written songs along Europe and North "louder, faster, better than ever," the way. Seeger, Guthrie recalled, played and longings ofthe GIs singing "songs ofs satire, wit, anger, protest, hope now that with and sang with out in the Pacific." "By that he had played telescope, "an enormous young on a banjo." Seeger was accompanying- y-or rather, encourging-himwife also served during the war, in reunited with Woody Guthrie, who had Africa. Both men had learned and written songs along Europe and North "louder, faster, better than ever," the way. Seeger, Guthrie recalled, played and longings ofthe GIs singing "songs ofs satire, wit, anger, protest, hope now that with and sang with out in the Pacific." "By that he had played --- Page 292 --- THE BANJO had become a steel stallion that could gallop out right hand on the banjo and Seeger 77 remembered Alan Lomax. Guthrie any kind of rhythm," called People's Songs in order to offer decided to create an organization the "bosses" had long "paid artists music for workers. As Guthrie put it, offer music crap. >7 The only way to supporting to play their complacent "to all together in one big songrather than sapping resistance was get the name union, and we will call our union by writers and song singers all hell and melted tearof People's Songs. And if we all stick together, 97 Seeger can't us, nor atoms hold us back." "We envisioned," gasses stop a nationwide folklater wrote, "a singing labor movement spearheading song revival." >23 version of what Pete's People's Songs was in some ways an adapted with his ComposCharles Seeger, had attempted decades earlier father, and it faltered in similar ways. As Seeger himself admitted, er's Collective, connections between music and union leaders "could not see any War many 1947 and 1948 the Cold pork chops.' * Perhaps more importantly, by strains and splits within politics in the United States was creating new with wary of associations the labor movement, which was increasingly like Seeger. The result Party and therefore with figures the Communist from its own history: the that the labor union cut itselfofff was partly "Which Side Are You On," Seeger opined, was classic union song miners union local." "known in Greenwich Village but not in a single the funds necesSongs closed its doors, unable to raise By 1949, People's And yet, as Seeger also noted brightly sary" "to pay printers and landlords." had ended up having looking back on the experience, the organization from the union The "banishment" of singers unintended consequences. concerts in schools and colleges. circuit meant that they began playing which "were good And the kids they played to remembered the songs, them themselves, fool could plainly see," and began to play songs, as any the Songs bulletins or the magazine looking to publications like People's in 1950, for lyrics. 24 Sing Out!, which Seeger helped publish starting ofthese songs to Seeger's second group, the Weavers, brought many of the Almanac the stage. The group was in some ways a continuation other musicians. featuring Lee Hays alongside Seeger and two Singers, including songs collected during the They drew on a broad repertoire, including "Michael, Row People's Songs project and traditional tunes, The Weavers wrote and from the Georgia Sea Islands. the Boat Ashore," or the magazine looking to publications like People's in 1950, for lyrics. 24 Sing Out!, which Seeger helped publish starting ofthese songs to Seeger's second group, the Weavers, brought many of the Almanac the stage. The group was in some ways a continuation other musicians. featuring Lee Hays alongside Seeger and two Singers, including songs collected during the They drew on a broad repertoire, including "Michael, Row People's Songs project and traditional tunes, The Weavers wrote and from the Georgia Sea Islands. the Boat Ashore," --- Page 293 --- Sounding America made some its political overtones recorded "IfI Had a Hammer." Though familiar classic of the folk nervous at the time, it ultimately became a "Goodnight, The Weavers also recorded a song by Lead Belly, revival. massive hit, selling two million copies. By the Irene," which became a and making good money early 1950s the group was extremely popular Their success helped to open from their record sales and performances. for folk music. The Weavers in the commercial music industry up: a space in the business," according to Time, became "the most imitated group followed in the 1960s by popular creating a model that would later be the center ofthe Weavers, like the Kingston Trio. Pete Seeger was groups from his driving banjo, his passion welding "the fire, the flames leaping the group. >25 solo by Pete Seeger, Alan In the liner notes for a 1950 recording by the musician. the transformation being wrought Lomax captured and stinging in perfect Seeger was the sound of "the banjo rippling on the hometo gallop, rolling into a tearing run time, beginning into a finale of Spanish rasgados stretches of song and then thundering milled, bunched and stopped, just as ifa herd ofwild horses had suddenly Lomax saw the whole trembling' ' In Seeger's playing ofthe instrument, across of the Americas condensed: "What happened musical history melodies tropically stimulated by three hundred years to Anglo-Scots land of America has happened to with African music in the new contact of contact with southern singing and Yankee Peter Seeger across years banjo-playing. 26 of American Folk Music, Smith released his Anthology In 1952 Harry of the People's Songs project. Made which was a kind of sonic version the 1920s and 1930s, it gathered up ofi rare commercial recordings from to enter into curious collection and made it an offering and codified a home and a real exile.' > It became what Greil Marcus calls an *imaginary The Smith andocument ofthe American folk revival." "the founding ofmusicians have thology provided a rich archive to which generations confusion, and inspiration, finding complexity and returned, seeking recordings and make them dreaming that they could channel long-lost ofs some oft these songs is, in a live in the present. The depth and mystery and never fully realwhat enabled a profusion of never-ending, sense, form ofthe folk revival. In the playing ofbanjo players ized, returns in the Lamar Lunsford included in the like Clarence Ashley and Bascom The Smith andocument ofthe American folk revival." "the founding ofmusicians have thology provided a rich archive to which generations confusion, and inspiration, finding complexity and returned, seeking recordings and make them dreaming that they could channel long-lost ofs some oft these songs is, in a live in the present. The depth and mystery and never fully realwhat enabled a profusion of never-ending, sense, form ofthe folk revival. In the playing ofbanjo players ized, returns in the Lamar Lunsford included in the like Clarence Ashley and Bascom --- Page 294 --- THE BANJO the instrument found inspiration, a horizon anthology, new converts to of possibility.? 27 back from the dead," Woody "I saw Pete carry the five string banjo "Pete went over his first Guthrie wrote in 1953. He had been there when him folks." 97 But now he saw before Blue Ridge smelling in after banjo Though all-around oldtime five-string banjo picker." "our champion like Uncle Dave Macon, Guthrie admitted there were "a few champs" Pete on some Lunsford, and Earl Scruggs who could "outplay Bascom out ahead 99 he argued that Seeger 'pulls away special tricky tune or two," hard allnite drags." 79 He now ofthem all, like Joe Louis does, on the long, in his "Calypso kind of dialect of a voice" in his singing, heard "every and Korean songs to march along by or to and Spanish and West Indian and to work by in every lay down to take a little nap by, to jump up by Union. All Free. All land for the better world sees yonder coming. All hearts." *28 ofhis he carried "all ofour fighting Singing" "In the sound banjo, instrument in the largest conSeeger would sound the For decades, classes and colleges, and on cert halls and in the streets, in kindergarten would take the banjo on many records that carried music into homes. He from demonstration of sitar technique in India he got a new journeys: returned the favor by teaching the Inthe legendary Imrat Khan, then Mountain" on the banjo. And dian musician how to play "Sourwood his instruction manual, many new players their start with Seeger gave first in 1948 and would the Banjo. It was published How to Play 5-String to play and emmany editions, teaching a new generation go through Alan Lomax noted, the modestly titled book brace the instrument. As the first one) of our most significant was in fact "a brilliant analysis (and small it had only instrumental style." 77 At first it circulated among a group: and in 1951. But by 1963 it sold 20,000 in one year, sold 100 copies by edit, Sing Out!-which feathe same year the magazine Seeger helped the instrument-reached tured many banjo songs and articles on playing eternal sound would never circulation of25,000 a year. The banjo's old, a quite be the same again. of music, and song, to change Seeger believed deeply in the power Wilkinson, that He realized early on, writes biographer Alec the world. people to a cause, 99 because they could songs were "a way of binding measure except his feel powerful when he isn't by any "make someone read once or twice, but determination." 79 "A piece of writing might be tured many banjo songs and articles on playing eternal sound would never circulation of25,000 a year. The banjo's old, a quite be the same again. of music, and song, to change Seeger believed deeply in the power Wilkinson, that He realized early on, writes biographer Alec the world. people to a cause, 99 because they could songs were "a way of binding measure except his feel powerful when he isn't by any "make someone read once or twice, but determination." 79 "A piece of writing might be --- Page 295 --- Sounding America ? mission, then, was to be "an im- "a song is sung over and over. Seeger's succeeded, in song. 19 He always tried, and usually plement for delivering rather than sitting and listening as was getting audiences to participate 99 which he joked should be done in the "European fine arts tradition," 1964 reviewer described cruel and unusual punishment." A "ruled to be song" to an audience by saying "You how he would lintroduce a "strange somehow true. "His all know this one, 77 in the process making it seem to was "not a command, but an invitation inevitable "Sing it with me'," ofthe specHis were "one phenomenal share in his joy"1 performances Carter put it: "When As British music critic Sidney tacles of our time." that he is singing part of you." ""His perforhe sings, you feel, in a sense, Cantwell, because "unlike mances have changed lives," wrote Robert privacy beof who have secured their personal the great mass performers makes in performance, I believe hind a façade of public masks, Seeger revelation." 79 In revealing innocently and unconsciously, a most intimate them his audience's hearts and spirits, gathering himself, he opened up into a kind of communion. 30 on what about music and politics, reflecting Seeger wrote extensively these he spoke of chanthe social role of a singer should be. In writings, much than tradition ofmusic that was larger neling a vast and powerful feeling" he sometimes got him, or any of us. He described the "funny ?? It was "emhim for "some little banjo piece." after someone applauded listen to him rather than listening to barrassing" to have SO many people to emulate and of the great banjo players he was seeking the recordings putting out an LP of"nothing learn from. He looked forward to someone Uncle Dave Macon" SO but the singing and banjo picking of the late models. At the could delve directly into the music of one ofhis the people valuable about performing same time, however, there was something to audiences to whom 3 He could "introduce music role of"intermediary." And he stuff would seem too raw, crude, or unintelligible" the straight offolk music than any true folk musicould also offer "a broader picture at his or her own kind of cian could," since they might be "a genius Still, hearing him music-but that one kind is liable to be all he knows." hear it done his audience should "go on and should just be the beginning: since they were knee high, who who have been raised on it by people whose music blends in with their lives, the way have it in their bones, music always ought to. >31 seem too raw, crude, or unintelligible" the straight offolk music than any true folk musicould also offer "a broader picture at his or her own kind of cian could," since they might be "a genius Still, hearing him music-but that one kind is liable to be all he knows." hear it done his audience should "go on and should just be the beginning: since they were knee high, who who have been raised on it by people whose music blends in with their lives, the way have it in their bones, music always ought to. >31 --- Page 296 --- THE BANJO creativity as being at the heart of tradiSeeger celebrated ongoing new traditions out of tion. "We are all in the process of building up will. But we will do a old ones, and as folks change, folk music learn the many traditions when we take time to better, job ofbuilding up new debates about what constituted best oft the old." As he wrote in 1960, lead to dangerous "folk" music versus "pop" music could easily true those that "fascist racists have in defining the dichotomies, not unlike races." 99 He quoted the blues singer difference between colored and white he'd was a "folk who when asked if something sang Big Bill Broonzy, heard horses sing it." The only solusong" replied: "It must be. I never and categories within those bent on creating divisions tion in confronting through an open and generous apmusic was to "confound the enemy" A folk song in a "A song is ever moving and changing. proach to music. in a bird book. The book is like a picture of a bird in midflight, printed continued flying afbefore the picture was taken, and bird was moving to think that the picture is the terwards," 19 and "no one is SO foolish as would continue had been changing for generations and bird." Folk songs we trust." 99 To briefly capture it to change "for many generations more, was the mission oft the in time, sound it out, and pass it on in a moment performer." 32 audiences, with enduring conseWhat Seeger passed on to many It was that sound the sound of-and love for-the banjo. quences, was The instrument traveled with him that allowed his songs to take flight. critic wrote in 1954, he went a lot of places. As one and everywhere--and "heard in every one ofthe 48 states his banjo had been in concerts decided, right then and Canada." Many who saw him perform all over the instrument. For Roger Abrahams, there, that they had to learn to play ofhis folklorists generation, who would go on to become one ofthe great Seeing in 1953 was an awakening. hearing Seeger play at Swarthmore recalled, we realized that that concert with a friend, Abrahams later lives.' 1 The first step what we wanted to do for the rest of our this was "went out to buy banjos." Robert was obvious: they both immediately encountering Seeger. Cantwell had a similarly transformative experience who his at a summer camp thanks to a counselor He first heard songs address system. Cantwell heard played the Weavers songs over the public 77 When he got to the "a kind of neighborliness, which I never forgot. of Michigan, "all my friends had guitars or banjos. University , Abrahams later lives.' 1 The first step what we wanted to do for the rest of our this was "went out to buy banjos." Robert was obvious: they both immediately encountering Seeger. Cantwell had a similarly transformative experience who his at a summer camp thanks to a counselor He first heard songs address system. Cantwell heard played the Weavers songs over the public 77 When he got to the "a kind of neighborliness, which I never forgot. of Michigan, "all my friends had guitars or banjos. University --- Page 297 --- Sounding America long-necked banjo, the 'Pete Seeger' model, Il had a beautiful white face, white as table linen, a whiskery with a smiling that crossed it like the surface, and a set ofshining steel strings and I played it constantly. I had a sweetheart Golden Gate Bridge, for and we who me a Pete Seeger album my birthday, too, gave lonesome banjo tunes carry us out over the yellow let one ofhis of tender new caresses where we hinterlands beyond the bower Orchestra Hall, and lay. At last Pete Seeger came to Chicago's me. It wide his arms as we sang to him, and it changed spread back. 33 ago, and I have not changed was thirty years in the folk-music revival are, in varying "All of us who participate children," 99 wrote one reviewer in 1964. "It was degrees ofkinship, Pete's and told us, 'Here, this thing is simplehe who first put a banjo in our lap And such was his convicahead and play it. You'll sound great!" just go and his conviction became our own: by God, tion, we did as we were told; we did sound goodl"ss these individual conversion exReplicated throughout the country, boom that enough that they created a new banjo periences were common sickness. "Rash of Banjo Fever Breaks Out one, journalist diagnosed as a announced. "Record Hits Start in the U.S.," a 1955 article from Billboard Instrument Shortage a the subtitle read, "TV carries 'Bug; Epidemic," almost could be something straight out of Problem." 7) The alarming tone brilliant parody of the ways Ishmael Reed's 1972 novel Mumbo Jumbo, a been music and dance have periodically African and Affican-American from a byline in New York, seen as a threat to the body politic. Reporting Bill Simon described the scene: An instrument long regarded as a relic The banjo is back, by jingo! shows and even Civil ofthe ragtime and flapper eras, minstrel windows is fast from hock shop War days, the banjo disappearing records and on TV. and showing en masse on phonograph the fever, and as the supply of Kids on campuses are catching have resumed used instruments is dwindling, manufacturers of new of new banjos, including a wide variety production models. 35 as a threat to the body politic. Reporting Bill Simon described the scene: An instrument long regarded as a relic The banjo is back, by jingo! shows and even Civil ofthe ragtime and flapper eras, minstrel windows is fast from hock shop War days, the banjo disappearing records and on TV. and showing en masse on phonograph the fever, and as the supply of Kids on campuses are catching have resumed used instruments is dwindling, manufacturers of new of new banjos, including a wide variety production models. 35 --- Page 298 --- THE BANJO various causes for the sudden epidemic and atThe article laid out instrument maker was out ofthe tendant panic. "Seven years ago every a series of recordings: business," ? the author noted. But then came banjo used the banjo in their hit recording of "Four Art Mooney's big band of New Orleans style jazz. But it Leaf Clover," and there was a revival Musiin 1954 and 1955 that the banjo "Aowered profusely." was starting including the Ames Brothers' cians penned songs celebrating the banjo, that deWith the Banjo, >> and a recording by Sammy Kaye "The Man driver for Back in Town." But the most important clared "The Banjo's of Pete Seeger." Ted McCarthy, the new boom was the "banjo stylings ofthe National ofthe Gibson instrument company and director owner Manufacturers, offered the requiAssociation of Musical Merchandise between 1953 statistics: banjo sales increased by a modest 27 percent site three months of 1955-with a series of new and 1954, but during the first presmarket and Seeger an increasingly popular banjo recordings on the a hundred a fifty audiences-sales were already up ence among young months ofthe year before. Gibson, as well as percent from the first three out new banjo models to and other companies, were rushing to put Vega sate the throngs of young players. these found themselves Those who picked up the banjo during years cultural movement that was experienced as deeply, at a crossroads of a the instrument became a way of personally, transformative. Carrying of cultural movement, not just with a sound but with a kind Beconnecting to connect with the past. that ahead even as it promised one pointed in and disappearances from difcause of its many different appearances the banjo called up a range of ferent popular music forms in America, it in the and symbols. But because many who encountered references off from its earlier history, the banjo 1950s were unfamiliar with and cut different things could kind but from which many itselfwas a ofrevelation, Fourth Avenue with The 'strange lanky fellow ambling up be projected. was heading off to combat, with on his back" might look as ifhe a banjo carbine." >9 Rather than being a reassuring his instrument like a "soldier's musical tradition-the way sign ofbelonging to a particular, structured, banjo was might have been-the with a violin or trumpet a musician But what was clear was that it untethered, an invitation to new meaning. It had always been here, was in some sense deeply, obdurately American. with The 'strange lanky fellow ambling up be projected. was heading off to combat, with on his back" might look as ifhe a banjo carbine." >9 Rather than being a reassuring his instrument like a "soldier's musical tradition-the way sign ofbelonging to a particular, structured, banjo was might have been-the with a violin or trumpet a musician But what was clear was that it untethered, an invitation to new meaning. It had always been here, was in some sense deeply, obdurately American. --- Page 299 --- 289 Sounding America it. And it sounded like a place you wanted to even ifyou had never seen go home to.37 * revival of the 1950s and 1960s was about simultaneously conThe folk tradition, about finding new energy and necting with and reinventing and enticing past. It by seeking a connection to a deep community had long done, and in pivoted around the banjo because the instrument old that: sounding like something very fact had been made to do, just The instrument played a constantly reinvented. even as it was being that during the same pesimilar role in another musical form emerged distinct in its journey: intertwined with other forms but ultimately riod, bluegrass. ofbluegrass was a man named Bill Monroe, The recognized founder Kentucky, in a small in 1911 and grew up in Rosine, who was born he took in the music played by a local rural community. As a child recalled breakthe Foster String Band, who as he later "played 99 He group, few waltzes and little Hawaiian music.' downs, dance music and a who hauled freight into fascinated by an African-American man was the blues" as he went, and by the the community on a mule, "whistling musician Arnold Schultz. playing of the blues guitarist and string band with his uncle Pen VanHe first started playing himself as he journeyed household traveled the countryside bartering and trading diver, who dances in rural homes. As a teenager goods and playing fiddle for the home other young men from region-left Monroe-like many Illinois, where he for work and ended up in East Chicago, looking trains for Sinclair Oil. He and barrels off and on freight stacked gasoline for extra money and were recruited to his brothers played house parties radio station. In their play on a series of tours sponsored by a Chicago brothers were marketed as players of"hillbilly early years the Monroe the musicians who played this style music." A writer in 1925 described southern states, with a "from the mountain regions of our as coming some of which have never been written collection ofold-time melodies, fiddler the been passed on from fiddler to through down but have generations. >38 stacked gasoline for extra money and were recruited to his brothers played house parties radio station. In their play on a series of tours sponsored by a Chicago brothers were marketed as players of"hillbilly early years the Monroe the musicians who played this style music." A writer in 1925 described southern states, with a "from the mountain regions of our as coming some of which have never been written collection ofold-time melodies, fiddler the been passed on from fiddler to through down but have generations. >38 --- Page 300 --- THE BANJO 290 sound driven by Bill's virThe Monroe brothers had a fast, striking Carolina, and mandolin playing. They moved to Raleigh, North tuoso "What Would You Give in Exchange for Your released a song called radio stations. The group disbanded Soul?" that became a hit on southern formed his own band. He by the late 1930s, but a few years later Bill the mandolin, to supplement decided it needed an additionalinstrument of the because "What I wanted was the sound banjo, fiddle, and guitar. player named David I'd heard it back in Kentucky." He recruited a banjo Akeman was rooted in Akeman, who went by the stage name "Stringbean." he told jokes and the tradition of minstrel and vaudeville banjo playing: someskits in between songs and, like other white performers, acted out left Monroe's band, and times performed in blackface. In 1945 Stringbean Earl Scruggs. 39 later Monroe found a replacement banjo player: a year in the Piedmont region of North Carolina Scruggs had grown up Poole, whose band the listening to the music of Charlie and grew up become in the state starting in North Carolina Ramblers had popular picking, in which 1918. Their style was centered on three-finger banjo and middle finger picked the strings rapidly. the thumb, index finger, finger-picking was rootedin the nineteenth-century Poole's banjo playing Stewart; but unlike the earlier classtyles championed by Dobson and used the flesh ofthe fingers in order sical and parlor picking styles, which his creating a softer sound, Poole picked with fingernails, to create a He played in a "raggy, percussive style" with brighter and stronger sound. pulse ofthe older mounupbeat that "echoed the rhythmic a prominent " He often played high up the neck tain clawhammer and frailing styles." the music. He was also heavily with "tight, stiff chords" that accentuated of a musician music, notably the banjo playing influenced by ragtime famous for the "banjo rag" named Fred Van Eps, who had been death playing other bands mainin vaudeville acts in the South. After Poole's Among them tained the style spread by the North Carolina Ramblers. Snuffy String Band, fronted by the banjo player 40 was the popular, Jenkin's picking style. Jenkins, who played with a fast, bright three-fingered transforming their Scruggs brought this style to Monroe's group, had difficulty Whereas Stringbean sometimes music in the process. Monroe's galloping mandolin keeping up with the fast tempo set by fast and bright. As he travplaying, not SO with Scruggs. He played banjo who were not familiar eled with Monroe's band, he wowed audiences in Nashville "no Carolina style. As he later recalled, with the picking was the popular, Jenkin's picking style. Jenkins, who played with a fast, bright three-fingered transforming their Scruggs brought this style to Monroe's group, had difficulty Whereas Stringbean sometimes music in the process. Monroe's galloping mandolin keeping up with the fast tempo set by fast and bright. As he travplaying, not SO with Scruggs. He played banjo who were not familiar eled with Monroe's band, he wowed audiences in Nashville "no Carolina style. As he later recalled, with the picking --- Page 301 --- 291 Sounding America style before. People would gather around one had heard the three-finger talented and almost.' 97 But he was preternaturally me like I was a freak never before heard." His "could play the melody on the banjo in a way introduced became a hallmark oft the band. Monroe banjo playing soon and his fancy banjo, 97 and frequently his him on stage as "Earl Scruggs review of Monroe's band desolos "brought down the house.". A 1947 makes the banjo as "the boy from North Carolina, who scribed Scruggs "who bears 77 The New York Times saw Earl Scruggs as a musician talk.' banjo that Paganini does to about the same relationship to the five-string the violin." >41 banjo" style was a central part Scruggs's "pyrotechnic three-finger Scruggs, like Charlie of what set Monroe's band apart: speed and pitch. and in time began played with his fingernails Poole and Snuffy Jenkins, attached to the ends ofthe finger shaped like spoons to use metal picks, sound. This added one fingers, to create an even stronger and brighter the banjo that had to the steady increase in metal surrounding more layer bringing the transformation from begun in the mid-nineteenth century, the modern metallic sound the mellow gourd and minstrel instruments to in and to that of the banjo jazz to its extreme. This tone was similar And in fact the connection goes ragtime, with its hard-strumming styles. roll, "with its groups deeper than that. Scruggs's famous three-fingered phrase" made of is identical to the basic ragtime of three and one two, father was a banjo player. by the pianist Scott Joplin-whose most popular tradition in banjo playing was tied to the African-American Bluegrass the long tradition of clawhammer styles muliple ways, both through recent innovations ofjazz rooted in the rural south and through the more hidden by the way it has Though this fact has often been and ragtime. much rooted in African and Afrobeen marketed, bluegrass is very oft the banjo and musical traditions, both through the presence Atlantic ofits music. 42 through the larger structures Earl and guitarist Lester band with Scruggs Bill Monroe's legendary its name from the nickname Flatt was called the Blue Grass Boys, taking itselfbecame of But the term "bluegrass" for his home state Kentucky. in the mid to late 1950s as a result attached to the music firmly only revival. By the early 1950s ofthe links and connections with the folk notably in popular among urban audiences, the music was increasingly involved in the folk revival, espeWashington, DC. For many oft those because it showed cially fans of Pete Seeger, bluegrass was attractive 's legendary its name from the nickname Flatt was called the Blue Grass Boys, taking itselfbecame of But the term "bluegrass" for his home state Kentucky. in the mid to late 1950s as a result attached to the music firmly only revival. By the early 1950s ofthe links and connections with the folk notably in popular among urban audiences, the music was increasingly involved in the folk revival, espeWashington, DC. For many oft those because it showed cially fans of Pete Seeger, bluegrass was attractive --- Page 302 --- THE BANJO 292 them that "the of music five-string banjo was alive and well" in a connected to southern folk thriving form impressed and attracted traditions. Earl Scruggs's playing brother many other musicians. "We would Pete's house, ?7 Pete's brother Mike gather at my to figure out what Earl Seeger later recalled, "and try Scruggs was doing. We'd to figure out. One share what we were able ofhis person might get very, very close to Earl appearances and then try to learn that during one would be shared with way. Then that at the next information players who get-together." In New York, the gathered in Washington banjo to play Scruggs's style. In Square Park traded tips on how 1955, when Pete his five-string banjo instruction published a new edition of manual, he included chapter on "Scruggs-style banjo. 77 And in a new short an LP for 1957 Mike Seeger Folkways records called American produced liner notes included the first Banjo Scruggs Style, and the ofmusic. 43 use of the term "bluegrass" to describe a style Two years later Mike Seeger produced another Mountain Music Bluegrass Style, which Folkways LP called tion of the style. offered the first detailed descripdirect outgrowth "Instrumentally," Seeger wrote, "bluegrass music is a oftraditional hill music styles, its features being that it has no electrified two most distinctive string banjo for lead or instruments and that it uses a five corn-shucking background in all songs." >7 It came out ofthe "old party banjo and fiddle music," 2 ballads and religious music ofthe Seeger went on, as well as southern and most competent form" in mountains. It took "its classic with Monroe's the years after World War II, band. As for the songs, they were most especially successful love" but also covered often about "unand almost "home, mother, catastrophes, anything under the sun.' religion, word about bluegrass music Seeger's LP helped to spread the were invited among folk revivalists, and to festivals and bluegrass bands urban settings sometimes colleges. The concerts at colleges and in fell flat with audiences used to politics and styles ofthe folk revival. the left-wing comedy The references to and routines, as well as the styles of dress, religion the many college kids. But the "fast were a bit of a reach for been enthusiastically instrumentals". on the banjo, which had embraced by the folk revival, cut ferences, bringing audiences through the dif The together as it SO often had before.44 early entanglements of folk and scured by the condensation of bluegrass would, in time, be obnew symbols and marketing around the styles ofthe folk revival. the left-wing comedy The references to and routines, as well as the styles of dress, religion the many college kids. But the "fast were a bit of a reach for been enthusiastically instrumentals". on the banjo, which had embraced by the folk revival, cut ferences, bringing audiences through the dif The together as it SO often had before.44 early entanglements of folk and scured by the condensation of bluegrass would, in time, be obnew symbols and marketing around the --- Page 303 --- Sounding America of a longer process through which a set music. This was a continuation contributed to what Karl ofassumptions about race and music ultimately who marketed music, sound." Those Hagstrom Miller calls "segregating claimed and cemented a sharp and often those who studied it as well, that was the music ofblacks sand whites, a distinction distinction between audiences. This repreand characterize each to mass used to promote ofthe music, which had constantly sented a radical erasure of the truth where distinguishing social and racial boundaries, to the point crossed what is "black" in American music is esbetween what is "white" and however, the distinctions impossible. Like other racial fictions, sentially and cultural impact to this day. They have had an enduring interpretive the as a "white" instrument are one reason that many came to see banjo almost surreal, during the mid to late twentieth century-a remarkable, silencing. 45 act ofhistorical the in which bluegrass, despite its One result of this has been way of a backwards, has come to be associated with negative images origins, the 1970s the most famous popular representation rural white south. By Deliverance about a canoe trip by Atofthe banjo was in the 1972 movie horribly wrong. In businessmen into the Georgia wilderness gone lanta of convivial interaction between one guitarthe film there is a moment boy with an businessman and a porch-bound rural banjo-playing the inplaying teeth. But, in the broader plot of the film, odd look and funny primitive, and frightening strument registers as a symbol for a backward, the Dixie Chicks, southern culture. In a 2012 review of an album by white expressed the consequence ofs such the comedian Kid Mero humorously he unless associations: "Here's a secret you may not know," explained, (banjoes?) either "in the music industry or a minority"; "Banjos you are racist." 99 "If you played a Martin Luther King make everything sound the he went on, it Jr. speech and had a banjo playing in background," >46 sound like "Rush Limbaugh at a Klan rally." would make him anchored music, thriving in fesBluegrass has remained a strongly music. And it influencing more popular forms of country tival circuits, oft them embarking on called people to the banjo, many has persistently almost-or: at least just a little bit-like Earl an never-ending quest to play U.S. culture, Scruggs. It is a curious artifact oflate twentieth-century surrounding racial and cultural fault lines, that the image with its enduring themselves-is SO often cultivated by practitioners the music-sometimes Klan rally." would make him anchored music, thriving in fesBluegrass has remained a strongly music. And it influencing more popular forms of country tival circuits, oft them embarking on called people to the banjo, many has persistently almost-or: at least just a little bit-like Earl an never-ending quest to play U.S. culture, Scruggs. It is a curious artifact oflate twentieth-century surrounding racial and cultural fault lines, that the image with its enduring themselves-is SO often cultivated by practitioners the music-sometimes --- Page 304 --- THE BANJO roots ofboth its style and its most visible unhinged from the Afro-Atlantic divisions have been articulated and symbolic instrument. But whatever has also centrally served to prethrough and projected onto the music, it streaks through the music. serve and raise up: an instrument whose history countless and recordings have inspired Earl Scruggs's performances County, California, a teenager banjo players. Growing up in Orange of Mountain Steve Martin heard Scruggs's rendition "Foggy named learn to the banjo. "I had taught myself Breakdown" and decided to play and out the songs slowing down banjo records on my turntable picking by to practice without note, 77 Martin later recalled. "The only place not by in the house was in my car, parked on the street with agonizing everyone the middle of August. 99 The banjo turned windows rolled up, even in as a comedian at the out to be the perfect prop as he developed a persona "hillbilly" routines that Knott's Berry Farm amusement park, performing Martin tapped into combined jokes with musical numbers. In the process he was, in a tradition stretching back to the nineteenth century: a long became a fundamental part ofhis comedic way, a late minstrel. The banjo his often surreal and hipersona, featuring on his posters, accompanying who deconstructed Martin ultimately became a comedian larious songs. who simultaneously captured and upcomedy, an incomparable persona has neverl left his side, and he ranks ended theatrical traditions. The banjo bluegrass musicians in the country.? today as one ofthe great innovators rooted in bluegrass, The past decades have seen many new Trischka, and Bela Fleck, the brilliant banjoists Bill Keith, Tony including of banjo music that drew on the bright who would create an explosion it in new directions, even back electric styles ofb bluegrass but also took about the banjo that during to Africa once again. And it says something forms that are often seen decades it sounded out in parallel musical many different political and regional affiliations--but as expressions of totally like America, whatever America still somehow always sounding just might mean. * Frank Tavenner asked Pete "What is your profession or occupation?" Un-American Activities ComSeeger in 1955, at a hearing ofthe House things," 17 Seeger replied, "Well, I have worked at many mittee (HUAC). electric styles ofb bluegrass but also took about the banjo that during to Africa once again. And it says something forms that are often seen decades it sounded out in parallel musical many different political and regional affiliations--but as expressions of totally like America, whatever America still somehow always sounding just might mean. * Frank Tavenner asked Pete "What is your profession or occupation?" Un-American Activities ComSeeger in 1955, at a hearing ofthe House things," 17 Seeger replied, "Well, I have worked at many mittee (HUAC). --- Page 305 --- 295 Sounding America student of American folklore, and I make "and my main profession is as a opinion." 79 of damning in some people's my living as a banjo picker-sort shirt, and a yellow tie; and his Seeger was dressed in a tweed jacket, plaid audience his banjo at the ready. Throughout wife, Toshi, sat in the holding to listen to a few ofhis the hearing Seeger tried to get the committee the places he wouldn't, even though it was his songs-and songs. They which he was on trial.8 had sung them-for arriving that day: to invoke the First Seeger had made a choice before his right to free speech. It was a risky approach. Amendment and defend called before the committee, inSeveral other musicians who had been answered the commitfolk singers Burl Ives and Josh White, had Fifth cluding indictment. Some had invoked the tee's questions and escaped self-incrimination but Amendment, which gave them the right to refuse Others, that they were in fact guilty ofsomething. in the process suggested and challenged the comincluding Pete's father Charles, had appeared But when refusing to answer certain questions. mittee in various ways by directors had done SO in 1947, they had ofHollywood writers and was a group of Congress. Still, Seeger felt that this ended up in jail for contempt there," he told his athe could pursue. "I want to get up >49 the only option for what they are, the worst of America.' torney, "and attack these guys effects of repression for then Seeger had been feeling the political By at a concert in Peekskill, New several years. In 1949 he had performed Party's civil rights to raise money for the Communist York, organized attended, and Seeger played a few songs thousand activism. Twenty-five Paul Robeson, took to the stage. Just on his banjo before the main act, of demonstrators linked to outside the concert, however, a small group Klan shouted at the crowd, calling them "nigger-lovers." the Ku Klux and forced the departing The police were in cahoots with the protestors who narrow road, which was flanked by protestors cars down a single All the windows of Seeger's car were threw rocks at the passing cars. were covered in and Toshi and his three-year-old son, Danny, smashed, the two-mile gauntlet. The next shards of glass by the time they escaped to identify the called Red Channels, which purported year, a pamphlet media, out Pete Seeger. By 1951 Communist influence on the U.S. singled found their found themselves blacklisted and increasingly the Weavers cancelled. By late 1952 the group had radio appearances and concerts disbanded. 50 Seeger's car were threw rocks at the passing cars. were covered in and Toshi and his three-year-old son, Danny, smashed, the two-mile gauntlet. The next shards of glass by the time they escaped to identify the called Red Channels, which purported year, a pamphlet media, out Pete Seeger. By 1951 Communist influence on the U.S. singled found their found themselves blacklisted and increasingly the Weavers cancelled. By late 1952 the group had radio appearances and concerts disbanded. 50 --- Page 306 --- THE BANJO venues, Seeger turned Unable to perform in established performance his In concerts to churches and other gathering places to share songs. to would remind the young that protest and hope for college audiences, he could sing along with world were alive and well as long as they a better rallies, particularly those him. He always made time to play at political Louis he joined a gathof the Civil Rights Movement. In 1953 in St. Labor Council, which was leading a campaign ering ofthe local Negro at the local Sears. The group had against racial discrimination in hiring and the crowd a South African its own chorus, and Seeger taught them as went out to called "Baleka." 7 He then joined the protestors they chant white man with a long-necked banjo picket Sears: "a single tall, skinny with rhythmic leading the pickets in a complex African chant, interspersed audiences the banjo in English about Sears bigotry." For many phrases performances often brought his audiences sounded out freedom. Seeger's to tears.51 before HUAC in 1955. The remained defiant when called Seeger with documentation showing committee's approach was to present Seeger to the Communist had at events sponsored by or linked he performed that he was indeed there. They began Party and to ask him to confirm Worker saying he had performed by reading an advertisement in the Daily 9 and asked Seeger in 1947 at the "Allerton Section housewarming, Party." He replied: "Sir, whether this was a "section ofthe Communist from the New that whether it was a quote I refuse to answer question, he announced: "I am York Times or the Vegetarian Journal." When pressed, as to my association, my philosophical not going to answer any questions in election, or any ofthese private beliefs, or how I voted any or religious questions for any American to affairs. I think these are very improper 19 When asked about under such compulsion as this." be asked, especially event, a 1948 May Day Rally, whether he had "lent his talent" at another He had never done anyhe again refused to answer the question. that because his and resented the implication thing conspiratorial" committee that he was "any less of opinions differed from those ofthe deeply, sir." American than anybody else. I love my country very any toward preserving its institutions?" "Why don't you make a contribution >52 "I feel that my whole life is a contribution.' he was asked. question about whether he'd sung Seeger never answered a specific confirmed that he event. He gladly a particular song at any particular ent his talent" at another He had never done anyhe again refused to answer the question. that because his and resented the implication thing conspiratorial" committee that he was "any less of opinions differed from those ofthe deeply, sir." American than anybody else. I love my country very any toward preserving its institutions?" "Why don't you make a contribution >52 "I feel that my whole life is a contribution.' he was asked. question about whether he'd sung Seeger never answered a specific confirmed that he event. He gladly a particular song at any particular --- Page 307 --- Sounding America had sung certain songs in his life as a performer but declined "to say who has ever listened to them, who has written them, or other people who have sung them.' 99 One ofthe songs the committee pressed him about was "Wasn't That a Time," which he had co-written with Lee Hayes and performed with the Weavers. It celebrated the long history of resistance to tyranny, from Valley Forge to Gettysburg, recalling the heroism of those who stood fast in difficult times. The chorus went: Wasn't that a time, wasn't that a time, A time to try the soul of man, Wasn't that a terrible time? Then the verses oft the song turned from past to present: And now again the madmen come, And should our vic'try fail? There is no vic'try in a land Where free men go to jail. Isn't this a time! Isn't this a time! A time to try the soul of man, Isn't this a terrible time? When asked whether he had sung this song at a recent Fourth ofJuly event, Seeger again demurred. "I have sung that song. I am not going to go into where I have sung it. I have sung it in many places." ? He then offered to sing it for the committee: "I can sing it. I don't know how well I can do it without my banjo. When the committee refused his invitation, he told them: "I am sorry you are not interested in the song. It is a good song. 99 As the committee pressed him, Seeger finally exclaimed: "I have sung for Americans of every political persuasion, and I am proud that I never refuse to sing to an audience, no matter what religion or color of their skin, or situation in life. I have sung in hobo jungles, and I have sung for the Rockefellers, 3 he added. "I am proud of the fact that my songs seem to cut across and find perhaps a unifying thing, basic humanity, and that is why I would love to tell you about these songs, is a good song. 99 As the committee pressed him, Seeger finally exclaimed: "I have sung for Americans of every political persuasion, and I am proud that I never refuse to sing to an audience, no matter what religion or color of their skin, or situation in life. I have sung in hobo jungles, and I have sung for the Rockefellers, 3 he added. "I am proud of the fact that my songs seem to cut across and find perhaps a unifying thing, basic humanity, and that is why I would love to tell you about these songs, --- Page 308 --- THE BANJO with me more, sir." He added a perbecause I feel that you would agree committee was from Western sonal plea: one of the members of the from your home and Seeger told him: "I know many songs Virginia, and I hitchhiked through there and stayed county, Carbon, and Monroe, in the homes of miners." >53 indicted for contempt went home that day, but in 1957 he was Seeger he left New York, he was required to send a teleofCongress. Whenever and how he was saying where he was going gram to the government until 1961 to bring the case traveling there. But it took the government conference Before into court, Seeger organized a press to trial. going journalists, including where he sang three songs to the assembled with his banjo. The "Wasn't That a Time," accompanying his singing from after his final song, and he read a statement journalists applauded that Seeger should "be a free man, poet Carl Sandburg, who declared for the audiences who love roving the American landscape, singing 7 But in a courtroom him, Republican, Democrat, and independents." found guilty. At his with five hundred spectators, Seeger was packed noted that HUAC had not allowed him to sing sentencing hearing, he trial," he asked the "Wasn't That a Time." >7 Since it was "apropos ofthis not," 9 it here before I close?" "You may judge for "permission to sing at a Weavers had in fact once heard Seeger sing, replied the judge-who will hear it some other time," Seeger conconcert. "Well, perhaps you and I am proud of the songs I cluded. "A good song can only do good, have sung. >54 overturned on a technicality. By then, In 1962 Seeger's sentence was the 1960s, as many the influence ofHUAC was waning. Still, throughout on televihit the charts and were invited to play other folk singers pop some singers refused to apsion and radio, Seeger wasn't. In solidarity, he, Toshi and their three until Seeger was allowed. In 1963 pear on shows vernacular music in difaround the world to study children took a trip he would perform in the coming ferent contexts, learning songs that in India Seeger pervisited thirty countries, and at one point years. They concert. But back home thousand people at an outdoor formed to sixty around smaller concerts at colSeeger's musical life continued to center the circulated among fans, animating leges and schools. His recordings and banjo playing all folk revival. In time that probably made his singing cultural force, supfor it became a kind of tectonic the more powerful, around the world to study children took a trip he would perform in the coming ferent contexts, learning songs that in India Seeger pervisited thirty countries, and at one point years. They concert. But back home thousand people at an outdoor formed to sixty around smaller concerts at colSeeger's musical life continued to center the circulated among fans, animating leges and schools. His recordings and banjo playing all folk revival. In time that probably made his singing cultural force, supfor it became a kind of tectonic the more powerful, --- Page 309 --- Sounding America invisible, but inciting long-term transforpressed and often somewhat mations in ways of seeing and hearing nonetheless. the Civil Rights contributions to One of Seeger's most enduring a foundational Movement was helping to turn "We Shall Overcome"into In old one sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers. anthem. It was an spiritual, Affican-American Alabama in 1909 a miner's union that brought together it, and "that good old song was sung at every and white workers adopted Affican-American women, on meeting." ? And in 1946 workers, mostly the song on South Carolina tobacco factory sang strike at a Charleston, slowly SO that the harmony the picket line. They sang it "very, very Some of the strikers visited could develop, with high and low voices." the to the music Folk School in Tennessee and taught song the Highlander Pete It was published in 1948 in director there, who taught it to Seeger. to circulate in of People's Songs and in the 1950s began the newsletter and circles. Seeger "gave it a banjo accompaniment" union and protest "Shall." In 1956 he sang the song at a gathering changed the "Will" to included Martin Luther King School, to a crowd that at Highlander who had just led the Montgomery Bus BoyJr. and Ralph Abernathy, in the back seat of a car, King said "We cott. Traveling the next day, doesn't it?"55 song really sticks with you, Shall Overcome'-that the song at the founding convention In 1960 another musician sang Committee and started the traofthe Student Nonviolent Coordinating ofthem" and grasping hands dition of"everyone crossing arms in front recorded the slowly from side to side." Seeger with each other, "swaying and the album sold half a milsong at a 1963 concert at Carnegie Hall, if don't copyright this His manager warned him: "Pete, you lion copies. character will. He'll put new lyrics in like 'Baby, song, some Hollywood 77 Along with two others Seeger copylet'syou and me overcome tonight. SO that all royalties of the song but set it up righted an arrangement Fund" chaired by singer and activist would go to a "We Shall Overcome "black music in the South." Bernice Johnson Reagon and used to support 1960s and circulated It became the soundtrack to protest throughout the outside Calcutta in 1994 Seeger was visiting a village globally as well: him in and a man and his daughter sang it to Bengali. In had become an icon ofthe counterculture. By the late 1960s Seeger television-he began filming his own 1967-still banned from network Toshi produced the called Rainbow Quest, for public television. show, --- Page 310 --- THE BANJO 300 Heights High School," 1967. "Pete Seeger at the Yorktown James Kavillines, Library of Congress. Johnny ofthe show, while Pete invited musical guests. didn't ask for a thirty-nine episodes stoned but played a great set-and and Cash came on the show Brothers came on played The Stanley dressed penny for the appearance. banjo player Roscoe Holcomb, show.37 bluegrass, and the great Kentucky was featured in another and hat, like an undertaker," "in a suit BANJO 300 Heights High School," 1967. "Pete Seeger at the Yorktown James Kavillines, Library of Congress. Johnny ofthe show, while Pete invited musical guests. didn't ask for a thirty-nine episodes stoned but played a great set-and and Cash came on the show Brothers came on played The Stanley dressed penny for the appearance. banjo player Roscoe Holcomb, show.37 bluegrass, and the great Kentucky was featured in another and hat, like an undertaker," "in a suit --- Page 311 --- 301 Sounding America criticizing the Vietnam In 1967 Seeger also wrote a powerful song river in the newsof U.S. soldiers fording a War. He saw a photograph came to him. The and the phrase Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" paper, in 1942 and tells the cautionary tale of a captain song is set in Louisiana river, and he ultihis recalcitrant soldiers must cross a deep who insists Seeger later explained, mately drowns in the water. "It was an allegory," 7> The blindly stubborn captain was Lyndon "and a very obvious one." told to wade into a muddy the soldiers in the song all those being Johnson, in Moscow. In Sepconflict. Seeger sang the song on tour, including television, on tember of 1967 he was, finally, invited to play on network hit Hour. He played his much-beloved the Smothers Brothers Comedy and then "Waist Deep in Wimoweh, 9 based on a South African song, had But before the segment was aired, the producers the Big Muddy." that song. Seeger exposed what had where he played cut out the segment that the airwaves were being happened in the New York Times, noting invited back by the net- "censored for ideas as well as for sex." He was and this time performed the song to an audiwork in February of 1968, ence ofs seven million people. 58 decorated his banjo with a circle It was for this appearance that Seeger an to his What he wrote was homage ofwords, along with a peace sign. World War II had written on his Guthrie, who during mentor Woody Fascists." 97 The slogan actually came from guitar: This Machine Kills had written this on the machines they workers in munitions factories who version in 1968 was: "This for the war. Seeger's used to make weapons But it encapsuSurrounds Hate and Forces It to Surrender." Machine had done and would continue to do: offer lated what he hoped his banjo else in its that could confront a violent world and put something music its stated truth one day at a concert near Seeger's place. The banjo bore out he a man walked up to him home in Beacon, New York. After played, "I think I should tell and shook his hand. "Mr. Seeger," ?" he announced, afternoon to kill you. A Vietnam vet, the man you, I came here this the war. But he had first listened stance against was enraged by Seeger's with the rest ofthe audience, to him playing his banjo, and began to sing he told Seeger behis hatred faded away. "I feel cleansed," and suddenly fore walking away. Guthrie, who at the had written a letter to Woody In 1956 Seeger disease that eventually took from the Huntington's time was suffering "Mr. Seeger," ?" he announced, afternoon to kill you. A Vietnam vet, the man you, I came here this the war. But he had first listened stance against was enraged by Seeger's with the rest ofthe audience, to him playing his banjo, and began to sing he told Seeger behis hatred faded away. "I feel cleansed," and suddenly fore walking away. Guthrie, who at the had written a letter to Woody In 1956 Seeger disease that eventually took from the Huntington's time was suffering --- Page 312 --- THE BANJO don't get more letters from me? I feel his life. "Do you know why you and whanging away on you're here all the time. Singing your songs, I like I first heard you do. Same way everywhere mandolins and guitars that summer to play "where kids go." Seeger had visited camps during up or trying to holler out in that nice open way kids do, not covering Woody's song: their voices sound pretty"; they were all singing make land, this. "In a way, we are all your children, "This land is yourrr only had eight kids, but you ended Woody. You may have thought you several million or billion not having several hundred thousand, there's up even born yet. >60 Those like HUAC who In a sense the same could be said of Seeger. blunder. They kept silence him ultimately made a great strategic tried to but instead he crisscrossed the country him offt the radio and television, schools, at colleges concerts, at camps and elementary and sang at smaller teachers taught his songs to the next and protests. A generation of music died in 2014, one of who then did the same. When Seeger atgeneration, touched by him remembered, as a child, the many whose lives were house in Beacon, over the hill from Seeger's tending a Jewish camp. just Mt. Beacon with his banjo in tow New York. "He would climb over his farm to get to the They had to cut across just to sing to campers." them coming, "he rushed out and whenever he was home and saw town, it began to rain SO he rushed us into his to greet and sing to us. One day this went on voter and entertained us there." Later, when camper barn during the Civil Rights movement, she registration drives in the South strumming his banjo and recalled how "Mr. Seeger was always around, she recalled, "on his songs. 97 She and her husband were married, singing Pete Seeger was finally allowed to appear September 10, 1967, the day important to me; our television. I don't remember which was more on that Mr. Seeger would be on TV."a marriage or and moving appearances came six One of Seeger's most important the mall the day before before his death, when he performed on end years His appearance came at the President Obama's 2008 inauguration. ofmusicians parade concert that had seen an incredible pastiche of a long Renée Fleming to U2. Seeger took by, from Beyonce to Garth Brooks to president. He was wearing the after a speech by the soon-to-be to stagejust: wool cap and was fanked by his jeans, a Alannel shirt, and a floppy and Springand by Bruce Springsteen; grandson Tao Rodriguez-Seger --- Page 313 --- 303 Sounding America "This Land Is Your Land," 2009. Pete Seeger sings Donna Lou Morgan, (Wikimedia Commons). and said he folk music," him as "the father of American about our home." steen introduced the greatest song ever written And would sing "perhaps give you the words," Seeger announced. Land" on his "You sing it with us-we'll of"This Land Is Your he out the first notes the mall, clear, infinite, then picked stretched out across banjo. The notes rang out, Page 313 --- 303 Sounding America "This Land Is Your Land," 2009. Pete Seeger sings Donna Lou Morgan, (Wikimedia Commons). and said he folk music," him as "the father of American about our home." steen introduced the greatest song ever written And would sing "perhaps give you the words," Seeger announced. Land" on his "You sing it with us-we'll of"This Land Is Your he out the first notes the mall, clear, infinite, then picked stretched out across banjo. The notes rang out, --- Page 314 --- THE BANJO I 304 across the Tidal Basin all the way out to the Washington Monument, where I was standing. The freezing crowd was pretty young, with lots of people in their twenties and thirties; but it was Seeger's banjo, rather than anything that had come before, that for the first time set everyone, unanimously, bopping and singing along. We were his children, there, back in elementary school with our hippie music teachers. It turned out we needed Seeger to feed us the words, for there were a few verses most of us had never learned in the expurgated versions we had been taught: the more radical verses Woody Guthrie had written, describing his people waiting in soup lines and at the Relief Office, and pointing out that if a sign said "No Trespassing" on one side, well "On the other side, it didn't say nothing. This land belongs to you and me!" Seeger knew precisely what he was doing singing these trenchantly political verses on the steps ofthe Lincoln Memorial that day. He smiled as he called out those verses, for Woody and for us. And he did SO in a spot layered with a history ofdreams-the African-American opera singer Marian Anderson's 1939 concert on the Mall, after Constitution Hall refused to have her sing because she was black, Martin Luther King's 1963 "I Have a Dream Speech, the protests against the Vietnam War-and played an instrument with an even deeper history. Right there, calling all of us to join together in community to sing a different future, the alvays-wandering banjo was right at home. --- Page 315 --- Epilogue TODAY, THE BANJO IS ON THE MOVE. You can hear it backing up Ani DiFranco or Taylor Swift and find it at the center ofthe music of Mumford and Sons and Old Crow Medicine Show. You can catch a sold-out concert and hear Bela Fleck or Tony Trischka play jaw-dropping solos on the instrument and Abigail Washburn sing a traditional Chinese tune accompanied by her banjo. You can hear it chunking along with old jazz standards at Preservation Hall in New Orleans, but you'll hear it on the streets there too. Each year, across the country, hundreds gather in various "banjo camps" to learn to play and share songs, finding themselves in a world where every single person is walking around with a banjo. And of course you can hear the banjo at summertime bluegrass concerts and a thousand old-time jams from Chapel Hill homes to Brooklyn pubs. In the south of France, a yearly festival brings together banjo obsessives from throughout the country and beyond. You can hear the instrument in Japan, in North Africa, and on the street in Jacmel, Haiti. The banjo can seem like it is everywhere, and in a way it is: in flight, sounding out unhesitant in places you expect it and places you don't. The banjos that are seen and heard today are mostly the complex metallic contraptions inherited from the great explosion ofbanjo manufacturing of the late nineteenth century. After more than a century of mass production ofthe banjo, our country is quite literally littered with them. There are beautiful banjos, collected and cared for by lovers of the instrument, catalogued and exhibited, their necks inlaid with gorgeous pearl, their tuning mechanisms and tone rims and brackets testament --- Page 316 --- Epilogue to the devotion and genius of there are plenty of cheap generations of instrument makers. banjos that are seen and heard today are mostly the complex metallic contraptions inherited from the great explosion ofbanjo manufacturing of the late nineteenth century. After more than a century of mass production ofthe banjo, our country is quite literally littered with them. There are beautiful banjos, collected and cared for by lovers of the instrument, catalogued and exhibited, their necks inlaid with gorgeous pearl, their tuning mechanisms and tone rims and brackets testament --- Page 316 --- Epilogue to the devotion and genius of there are plenty of cheap generations of instrument makers. And bent, but banjos, too, in attics and sometimes just as good for pawnshops, buzzing and along. knocking out a tune and singing But we are also living in a time where all the history are coming alive again. The layers of the banjo's cessfully transformed Carolina Chocolate Drops have a relatively obscure brand of sucback into a beloved and popular string band music sound, and banjo part of this group-Dom players who have been Flemons, Rhiannon Giddens, and McCalla-keep the instrument Leyla now buy beautifully made humming in their solo careers. We can makers of the banjos in the style of Boucher or other minstrel age, with large pots and less banjo necks. Other - banjo makers are metal and fretless when it is time to harvest going back further: they grow gourds and, them, dry them and cut them delicately attach skins to them with tacks carefully. They and careful artistry of those or chords, reliving the arduous who, centuries ments. They look to ago, first built the instruimages like The Old Plantation or ings, or to the Haitian banza in Sloane's engravbring back that old Paris, and find themselves inspired to sound, the mellow hum of plant and process they make sure that wood. In the remembered but every generation of the banjo is not resurrected. just Where will the instrument mulated history sound out? journey from here? How will its accuis the musicians That part ofthe story is as yet to come who will keep it living, unwritten: it through our cultural and sonic twisting, and spiraling they pick up the instrument, landscape. But wherever and whenever be inheriting whatever song they choose to play, they will something from those musical the ancestors who first instrument on the plantations ofthe Caribbean invented They will feel the hum ofan and North America. tural boundaries and instrument that was created to cross culcreate new solidarities. will object that has been reinvented They hold on to an after over and over again but made generation feel like they were generation tion. In its richness and connecting to deep wells of tradihas been flexibility as both sound and a tremendous, inexhaustible symbol, the banjo sound ofstrings gift. Whenever we listen to that humming over skin, we should remember to ofthanks to those who, in the midst of say a word created this source ofillumination, unimaginably dark conditions, solidarity, and unending wonder. --- Page 317 --- NOTES ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INDEX --- Page 318 --- --- Page 319 --- Notes INTRODUCTION 1 Claude McKay, Banjo (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1929), 6. 2 McKay, Banjo, 11-12. 3 Fernando Ortiz, Cuban Counterpoint, Tobacco and Sugar (Durham: Duke University Press, 1995), 97-103. 4 Filippo Buonanni, Antique Musical Instruments and Their Players: 152 Plates from Bonanni's 18th Century "Gabinetto Armonico, s ed. Frank Harrison and Joan Rimmer (New York: Dover Publications, 1964); one oft the founding works of the field, published in 1861, is Adolphe Le Doulcet Pontécoulant, Organographie (Amsterdam: F. Knuf, 1972). 5 André Schaeffner, Origine des instruments de musique: Introduction ethnologique à P'histoire de la musique instrumentale (Paris: Mouton, 1968), 185; for one illustrative example of early rwentieth-century organology, see Henri Bouasse, Instruments à vent, 2 vols. (New York: Dover Publications, 1964); one oft the founding works of the field, published in 1861, is Adolphe Le Doulcet Pontécoulant, Organographie (Amsterdam: F. Knuf, 1972). 5 André Schaeffner, Origine des instruments de musique: Introduction ethnologique à P'histoire de la musique instrumentale (Paris: Mouton, 1968), 185; for one illustrative example of early rwentieth-century organology, see Henri Bouasse, Instruments à vent, 2 vols. (Paris: Delagrave, 1929). 6 Schaeffner, Origine, 185-186; André Schaeffner, Les Kissi: Une Société noire et ses instruments de musique, Collection l'Homme (Paris: Hermann et Cie, 1951). 7 Johannes Fabian, Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes Its Object (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002). 8 Stephen Blum, "European Musical Terminology and the Music of Africa," in Comparative Musicology and Anthropology of Music: Essays on the History of Ethomusicology, ed. Bruno Nettl and Philip Bohlman (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), 13. 9 Gerhard Kubik, Theory ofAfrican Music (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010), 2:5-6; Blum, "Musical Terminology," 19, 29 n. 11; for one classic work --- Page 320 --- Notes to Pages 10-13 different way ofthinking about these issues, on African music that offers a very Music and Traditions of the Shona People of see Paul F. Berliner, The Soul ofMbira: University of Chicago Press, 1978). Zimbabwe (Chicago: 10 Schaeffner, Origine, 185-186. A Study of Folk Traditions African Banjo Echoes in Appalacia: F. 11 Cecelia Conway, Press, 1995); Philip F. Gura and James (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Nineteenth Century (Chapel Hill: Bollman, America's Instrument: The Banjo in the exhibit on the of North Carolina Press, 1999); for a wide-ranging the University excellent catalogue, Leo G. Mazow, ed., Picturing banjo that produced an State University Press, 2005). Much ofthis Banjo (University Park: Pennsylvania including the yearly Banjo Collectors work has been shared at conferences, organized by Cecelia Conway Gatherings and the two Black Banjo Gatherings various online fora and email lists, State University, as well as in note at Appalachian animated by Tony Thomas. Of particular notably the Black Banjo group ofShlomo Pestcoe, most ofwhose findin this process has been the tireless work the contributions of UlfJaghave been generously shared via Facebook; Adams in ings archive brought together by Greg fors and Pete Ross; and the digital curators of the 2014 database. Adams was also one ofthe the Banjo Sightings The Banjo in Baltimore and Beyond. exhibit Making Music: Rock n' Roll: An Alternative History of 12 Elijah Wald, How the Beatles Destroyed Press, 2009), 20. American Popular Music (Oxford: Oxford University hisreconstructing and analyzing the early 13 On the challenges surrounding Radano, Lying up a Nation: Race and tory of black music, see Ronald Michael Press, 2003), 5. An important and Black Music (Chicago: University of Chicago Der Merwe, Origins of the Popular Style: influential work on this topic is Peter Van Clarendon Press, Tirentieth-Century Popular Music (Oxford: The Antecedents of approach here in a series of historically 1989). 20. American Popular Music (Oxford: Oxford University hisreconstructing and analyzing the early 13 On the challenges surrounding Radano, Lying up a Nation: Race and tory of black music, see Ronald Michael Press, 2003), 5. An important and Black Music (Chicago: University of Chicago Der Merwe, Origins of the Popular Style: influential work on this topic is Peter Van Clarendon Press, Tirentieth-Century Popular Music (Oxford: The Antecedents of approach here in a series of historically 1989). I find inspiration for my specific Tal Tamari, Les African and Afro-Atlantic music, particularly rich reflections on musiciens endogames (Nanterre: Société Castes de l'Afrique occidentale: Artisans et Traditional and Modern Music of d'ethnologie, 1997); Eric S. Charry, Mande Music: University of Chicago and Mandinka of Western Africa (Chicago: the Maninka Tango: The Art History of Love (New Press, 2000); Robert Farris Thompson, Cuba and Its Music: From the First York: Pantheon Books, 2005); Ned Sublette, Chicago Review Press, 2004). Drums to the Mambo (Chicago: Black Folk Music to the Civil War Sinful Tunes and Spirituals: 14 Dena J. Epstein, 2003 [1977)), xX-xxi; Orlando Patterson, (Urbana: University ofIllinois Press, Development, and Structure of Slavery: An Analysis of the Origins, The Sociology of NJ: Farleigh Dickenson University Negro Slave Society in Jamaica (Rutherford, Press, 1969). CulTunes; Christopher, J. Smith, The Creolization ofAmerican 15 Epstein, Sinful Minstrelsy (Urbana: UniverWilliam Sidney Mount and the Roots of Blackface ture: sity ofIllinois Press, 2013). . Epstein, 2003 [1977)), xX-xxi; Orlando Patterson, (Urbana: University ofIllinois Press, Development, and Structure of Slavery: An Analysis of the Origins, The Sociology of NJ: Farleigh Dickenson University Negro Slave Society in Jamaica (Rutherford, Press, 1969). CulTunes; Christopher, J. Smith, The Creolization ofAmerican 15 Epstein, Sinful Minstrelsy (Urbana: UniverWilliam Sidney Mount and the Roots of Blackface ture: sity ofIllinois Press, 2013). --- Page 321 --- Notes to Pages 14-24 16 W. E. B. Du Bois, Writings (New York: Library of America, 1986), 536. 17 Du Bois, Writings, 538-539. 18 Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993), 89-91. 19 This formulation about the redundancy of the term "Black Atlantic" was inspired by a conversation with historian Julius Scott in the context of our discussion of the title ofan edited collection we produced together: Laurent Dubois and Julius Sherrard Scott, eds., Origins of the Black Atlantic (New York: Routledge, 2010). My approach here has been deeply influenced by the reflections on the analysis of black music in Gilroy, The Black Atlantic, notably PP. 100-101; and Radano, Lying up a Nation, X11-xiv. 20 Joseph Miller, closing comments at The Black Atlantic and the Biographical Turn conference, National Humanities Center, February 25, 2011. 21 André Schaeffner, Variations Sur La Musique (Paris: Fayard, 1998), 48-49; Wald, How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll, 6, 21-22. L.SOUNDING AFRICA 1 Pierpont Morgan Library, Saint Beatus, Presbyter of Liebana, d. 798, Commentary on the Apocalypse, 940, MS M.644, vol. II, fol. 174 verso. Spain, perhaps in Taibara, ca. 940-945. 2 I've drawn here on the definitions provided in Marie-Thérèse Brincard, ed., Sounding Forms: African Musical Instruments (New York: American Federation of Arts, 1989), 196-197. 3 My approach is inspired by Ned Sublette's magisterial study of Cuban music, which shows how the long history ofinteractions in Iberia helped lay the foundation for a new round of interactions in the Caribbean. Ned Sublette, Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2004). 4 Klaus P. Wachsmann, "A "ShipLike' String Instrument from West Africa," Ethnos 38 (1973): 43-56. 5 Douglas Alton Smith, A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance (Lexington, MA: Lute Society of America, 2002), 1. 6 Smith, Lute, 3-4. 7 Athanassios Vergados, The Homeric Hymn to Hermes: Introduction, Text and Commentary (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2013), 103; on Greek turtle-shell lyres in images and archacological remains, see Helen Roberts, "Reconstructing the Greek Tortoise-Shell Lyre, 27 World Archaeology 12, no. 3 (February 1, 1981): 303-312. (Lexington, MA: Lute Society of America, 2002), 1. 6 Smith, Lute, 3-4. 7 Athanassios Vergados, The Homeric Hymn to Hermes: Introduction, Text and Commentary (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2013), 103; on Greek turtle-shell lyres in images and archacological remains, see Helen Roberts, "Reconstructing the Greek Tortoise-Shell Lyre, 27 World Archaeology 12, no. 3 (February 1, 1981): 303-312. --- Page 322 --- Notes to Pages 25-31 I 312 8 Lam indebted to James Millward, who generously shared with me his recent research on the earliest depictions of lutes. Some, but not all, of this material is presented in James A. Millward, The Silke Road: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 91-93. A fuller version was presented by James Millward, "Silk road journeys ofthe Eurasian lute," talk at Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 30 January 2014. The British Museum piece, a Cylinder Seal from Uruk, is BM 141632; the second piece mentioned is from the Iraq Museum, IM 46588; and the piece from Susa is Musée Guimet Sb 6579, 9 Smith, Lute, 7-8; Eric Charry, "Plucked Lutes in West Africa: An Historical Overview," The Galpin SocietyJournal 49 (1996): 3; Sue Carole DeVale, "African Harps: Construction, Decoration, and Sound," in Sounding Forms: African Musical Instruments, ed. Marie-Thérèse Brincard (New York: American Federation of Arts, 1989), 54. 10 John Gardner Wilkinson, The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, ed. Samuel Birch (New York: Scribner and Welford, 1878), 480-484 and Plate XI; Hans Hickmann, Catalogue général des antiquités egyptiennes du Musée du Caire: Instruments de musique (Cairo: Imprimerie de l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale, 1949), 159-163 and Plates XCVII to CII; Hans Hickmann, Musicologie pharaonique; études sur l'évolution de l'art musical dans r'Égypte ancienne (Kehl: Heitz, 1956). 11 Smith, Lute, 8-9. 12 Sublette, Cuba and Its Music, 12-14; Veit Erlmann, Music and the Islamic Reform in the Early Sokoto Empire (Stuttgart: Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GmbH, 1986), 10-11. 13 Sublette, Cuba and Its Music, 14-15; Smith, Lute, 16. 14 Sublette, Cuba and Its Music, 16. 15 Christian Poché, La Musique Arabo-Andalouse (Arles: Actes sud, 1995), 35-39. 16 Smith, Lute, 17. 17 Poché, Musique Arabo-Andalouse, 17-18, 38, 99. 18 Smith, Lute, 19-20. 19 Smith, Lute, 3-4. 20 I am indebted to Pete Ross, a maker ofbanjos (including gourd banjos), for this insight on the impact of climate on the construction of the instrument, and to David Garner for pointing out that this problem would have been less serious for drums than for chordophones. 21 DeVale, "African Harps.' 39. 16 Smith, Lute, 17. 17 Poché, Musique Arabo-Andalouse, 17-18, 38, 99. 18 Smith, Lute, 19-20. 19 Smith, Lute, 3-4. 20 I am indebted to Pete Ross, a maker ofbanjos (including gourd banjos), for this insight on the impact of climate on the construction of the instrument, and to David Garner for pointing out that this problem would have been less serious for drums than for chordophones. 21 DeVale, "African Harps.' --- Page 323 --- Notes to Pages 31-34 22 Joseph Cuoq, Recueil des sources arabes concernant T'Afrique occidentale du VIIle au XVle siécle (Bilad Al-Sndan) (Paris: Editions du CNRS, 1985), 272-273, 305; J. F. P. Hopkins and Nehemia Levtzion, Corpus of Early Arabic Sources for West African History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), 252-253, 266-267, 291; C. Defrémery and B. R. Sanguinetti, trans., Voyages (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1922), 406; Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa, 1325-1354, trans. H. A. R. Gibb (London: G. Routledge, 1929), 326; Veit Erlmann, "Some Sources on Music in Western Sudan from 1300-1700," African Music 5, no. 3 (January 1, 1973): 34-39, 37. Al-'Umari lived in Damascus and Cairo in the first halfofthe fourteenth century and gathered his information on Mali from Egyptian officials who had visited there and from former residents in the kingdom. 23 Erlmann, "Some Sources,' 97 37; H. R. Palmer, "The Kano Chronicle," The Journal ofthe ReyaldAnthropolocical Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 38 (January 1, 1908): 90, dot10.2307/2843130. 24 Charles Hercules Read, Antiquities from the City of Benin and from Other Parts of West Africa in the British Museum (New York: Hacker Art Books, 1973); Philip, J. C. Dark and Matthew Hill, "Musical Instruments on Benin Plaques," in Essays on Music and History in Africa, ed. Klaus P. Wachsmann (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1971), 65-78; for the Akan sculpture see Brincard, Sounding Forms, 189. 25 Charry, "Plucked Lutes," 3; Eric S. Charry, Mande Music: Traditional and Modern Music ofthe Maninka and Mandinka of Western Africa (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000); for a detailed study of griot practice see Sory Camara, Gens de la parole: Essai sur la condition et le role des griots dans la société Malinke (Paris: Kharthala, 1992). 26 Djibril Tamsir Niane, Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali (London: Longmans, 1965), 39-41, 63, 75, 78. 27 Tal Tamari, Les Castes de l'Afrique occidentale: Artisans et musiciens endogames (Nanterre: Société d'ethnologie, 1997), chap. 3, esp. 118, 124-126. 28 Niane, Sundiata, 39-41; Tamari, Les Castes, 151-152;J. H. Kwabena Nketia, "The Aesthetic Dimensions of African Musical Instruments, 99 in Sounding Forms: African Musical Instruments, ed. Marie-Thérèse Brincard (New York: American Federation of Arts, 1989), 21; the most detailed and careful study of these instruments in West Africa has been done by Eric Charry. See Charry, "Plucked Lutes,". 3; and Charry, Mande Music. 29 Erlmann, "Some Sources," 9 35; Charry, Mande Music, Appendix A provides an excellent compendium of both early Islamic and European sources relating to Mande music; and Tamari's Les Castes offers a detailed bibliography of sources as well as a useful appendix explaining the interpretive issues surrounding each. American Federation of Arts, 1989), 21; the most detailed and careful study of these instruments in West Africa has been done by Eric Charry. See Charry, "Plucked Lutes,". 3; and Charry, Mande Music. 29 Erlmann, "Some Sources," 9 35; Charry, Mande Music, Appendix A provides an excellent compendium of both early Islamic and European sources relating to Mande music; and Tamari's Les Castes offers a detailed bibliography of sources as well as a useful appendix explaining the interpretive issues surrounding each. --- Page 324 --- Notes to Pages 34-39 30 Alvise Cà da Mosto, The Voyages ofCadamosto and Other Documents on Western Africa in the Second Half ofthe Fifteenth Century, ed. Gerald Roe Crone (London: Printed for the Hakluyt Society, 1937), 51; Valentim Fernandes, Description de la côte occidentale d'Afrique, ed. Théodore Monod, Avelino Teixera, and Raymond Mauny (Bissau: Centro de Estudos da Guiné Portuguesa, 1951), 9-11; Charry, Mande Music, 358-359. 31 Pieter de Marees, Description and Historical Account of the Gold Kingdom of Guinea (1602) (Oxford: British Academy by Oxford University, 1987), 171; Richard Jobson, The Golden Trade: Or, A Discovery of the River Gambra, and the Golden Trade of the Aethiopians (London: Nicholas Okes, 1623), 105-108; excerpts from Jobson are reproduced in Eileen Southern, ed., Readings in Black American Music, 2nd ed. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1983), 1-3; and Charry, Mande Music, 360-361. 32 Jobson, Golden Trade, 105-106; Charry, Mande Music, 360-361. 33 A translation ofkey excerpts is provided in Charry, Mande Music, 364-365; Michel Jajolet de La Courbe, Premier voyage du sieur de la Courbe fait a la coste d'Afrique en 1685, ed. Prosper Cultru (Paris: E. Champion, 1913), 43, 172. 34 Jacques-Joseph Le Maire, Voyage of the Sieur Le Maire to the Canary Islands, Cape-Verd, Senegal and Gamby (London: F. Mills and W. Turner, 1696), 82-84; a modern translation ofthese selections from the French is presented in Charry, Mande Music, 364-365. A 1705 account by the Dutch voyager Willem Bosman describes a similar instrument, which he declares is "the best they have": "a hollow piece of Wood oftwo hands breadth long, and one broad; from the hinder part of this a Stick comes cross to the fore-part, and upon the Instrument are five or six extended Strings: So that it bears some sort of Similitude to most Sound have a small Harp : - and affords by much the agreeable of any they here." * Charry, Mande Music, 365-366; Willem Bosman, A New and Accurate Description ofthe Coast of Guinea, Divided into the Gold, the Slave, and the Ivory Coasts (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1967), 139-140. 35 Duarte Lopes, A Report of the Kingdom of the Congo and of the Surrounding Countries, Drawn out of the Writings and Discourses of Duarte Lopez, by Filippo Pigafetta, in Rome, 1591, trans. Margarite Hutchinson (New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969). 36 Pierre Avity, Description Generale de L'Afrique, Seconde Partie Du Monde (Paris: Chez Claude Sonnius, 1637), 445; André Schaeftner, Variations Sur La Musique (Paris: Fayard, 1998), 87, 93-94. 37 Cavazzi's images are reproduced and analyzed in Ezio Bassani, "Un Cappuccino nell'Africa Nera Del Seicento: I Disegni Dei Manoscritti Araldi Del Padre Giovanni Antonio Cavazzi Da Montecuccolo, 73 Quaderno Poro 4 (1987); John Thornton has done a translation of the work, available online: Giovanni Chez Claude Sonnius, 1637), 445; André Schaeftner, Variations Sur La Musique (Paris: Fayard, 1998), 87, 93-94. 37 Cavazzi's images are reproduced and analyzed in Ezio Bassani, "Un Cappuccino nell'Africa Nera Del Seicento: I Disegni Dei Manoscritti Araldi Del Padre Giovanni Antonio Cavazzi Da Montecuccolo, 73 Quaderno Poro 4 (1987); John Thornton has done a translation of the work, available online: Giovanni --- Page 325 --- Notes to Pages 39-45 Antonio Cavazzi, Missione Evangelica, trans. John K. Thornton (http://www.bu -dux@nu/bcubyjoha-dientencamami-aniueneraniioe-congic-3. n.d.). The image is available at htp/hitcheock.itexinginis.edu/SlaveTrade/collection large/Bawani-19PG at wwwolineryimageorg compiled by Jerome Handler and Michael Tuite, and sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the University of Virginia Library. 38 Erlmann, Sokoto Empire, 10-11. 39 Erlmann, Sokoto Empire, 10-11, 38-39; For a detailed examination of the problems surrounding the use ofthe term "molo" in writings about the banjo, see Ken A. Gourlay, "Letters to the Editor," Ethnomusicology 20, no. 2 (May 1976): 327-332; Gourlay, "Letters to the Editor." 40 Mungo Park, Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa: Performed Under the African Association, in the Years 1795, 1796, and 1797 (London: W. Bulmer and Co., 1799), 278-279; the full excerpt is reproduced in Southern, Readings in Black American Music, 4-7. 41 Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, ed. Robert J. Allison (Boston: Bedford Books, 2007), 46. 42 Hugh Clapperton.Joumad ofa Second Expedition into the Interior of Africa, from the Bight of Benin to Soccatoo; to Which Is Added the Journal of Richard Lander from Kano to the Sea-Coast, Partly by a More Eastern Route (London: F. Cass, 1966), 103, 129-131; Dixon Denham et al., Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa, in the Years 1822, 1823, and 1824, 2nd ed. (London: John Murray, 1826), 208; image between pages 106 and 107. 43 DeVale, "African Harps," 53; Jean-Sébastien Laurenty, Les Cordophones du Congo belge et du Ruanda-Urundi (Tervuren: Annales du Musee Royale du Congo Belge, 1960). 44 Stephen Chauvet, Musique Nègre (Paris: Sociéte d'Editions Géographiques, Maritimes et Coloniales, 1929), 106-113. 45 DeVale, "African Harps, 91 58-59. 46 Anthony V. King and David Ames, Glossary of Hausa Music and Its Social Contexts (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1971), 40-47. See also David W. Ames, "Igbo and Hausa Musicians: A Comparative Examination," Ethnomusicology 17, no. 2 (May 1, 1973): 256. 47 Henry George Farmer, Studies in OrientalMusical Instruments (Road Town, British Virgin Islands: Longwood Press, 1978), 40; Philip D. Schuyler, "Music and Meaning Among the Gnawa Religious Brotherhood of Morocco, The World of Music 23, no. 1 (1981): 5. 48 DeVale, "African Harps," 53-54; Nketia, "Aesthetic Dimensions, 99 25. icians: A Comparative Examination," Ethnomusicology 17, no. 2 (May 1, 1973): 256. 47 Henry George Farmer, Studies in OrientalMusical Instruments (Road Town, British Virgin Islands: Longwood Press, 1978), 40; Philip D. Schuyler, "Music and Meaning Among the Gnawa Religious Brotherhood of Morocco, The World of Music 23, no. 1 (1981): 5. 48 DeVale, "African Harps," 53-54; Nketia, "Aesthetic Dimensions, 99 25. --- Page 326 --- Notes to Pages 46-56 I 316 49 DeVale, "African Harps," 59. 50 DeVale, "African Harps," 57 and p. 181 of the same volume for the sculpture; Nketia, "Aesthetic Dimensions," 25. 51 Greg C. Adams and Shlomo Pestcoe, "The Jola Akonting: Reconnecting the Banjo to Its West African Roots,' 77 Sing Out! 51, no. 1 (Spring 2007): 43-51. 52 Brincard, Sounding Forms, 92; Wachsmann, "A 'Ship-Like' Instrument." 2.THE FIRST AFRICAN INSTRUMENT 1 Derek Walcott, Omeros (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1990), 133, 148. 2 Walcott, Omeros, 149-151. 3 Sidney Wilfred Mintz and Richard Price, The Birth of African-American Culture: An Anthropological Perspective (Boston: Beacon Press, 1992); Kamau Brathwaite, The Development of Creole Society in Jamaica, 1770-1820 (Kingston: Ian Randle, 2005); Édouard Glissant, Caribbean Discourse: Selected Essays, trans. J. Michael Dash (Charlottesville: University Press ofVirginia, 1989). 4 Sidney W. Mintz, Three Ancient Colonies: Caribbean Themes and Variations (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010), 198. 5 On the meaning of"Africa" in the context of eighteenth-century North America, see James Sidbury, Becoming African in America: Race and Nation in the Early Black Atlantic (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). 6 Jean-Baptiste Labat, Nouveau voyages aux isles de l'Amerique: Contenant P'histoire naturelle de ces pays, l'origine, les moeurs, la religion & le gouvernement : Nouv. ed. augm. considérablement, vol. 4 (Paris, 1742), 463. 7 Labat, Nouveaux voyages, 4:463, 465-466. 8 Labat, Nouveaux voyages, 4:466-470. 9 Labat, Nouveaux voyages, 4:463, 467-470. 10 Labat, Nouveaux voyages, 4:461-462. 11 Labat, Nouveaux voyages, 4:463-464. 12 Labat, Nouveaux voyages, 4:468-469. Labat's description of the instrument was incorporated into various later texts. Thomas Jefferys, for instance, in his 1760 history of the French colonies of the Americas, described two ofthe musical instruments ofthe slaves in the Caribbean colonies as "a sort ofdrum, being a piece of hollow wood covered with sheepskin, and a kind of guitar, made of a calabash. " Thomas Jefferys, The Natural and Civil History of the French Dominions in North and South America (London, 1760). Labat, Nouveaux voyages, 4:468-469. Labat's description of the instrument was incorporated into various later texts. Thomas Jefferys, for instance, in his 1760 history of the French colonies of the Americas, described two ofthe musical instruments ofthe slaves in the Caribbean colonies as "a sort ofdrum, being a piece of hollow wood covered with sheepskin, and a kind of guitar, made of a calabash. " Thomas Jefferys, The Natural and Civil History of the French Dominions in North and South America (London, 1760). --- Page 327 --- Notes to Pages 57-63 13 Richard Cullen Rath, How Early America Sounded (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2003), 78-79, 84. 14 John Taylor, Jamaica in 1687: The Taylor Manuscript at the National Library of Jamaica, ed. David Buisseret (Kingston.Jamaica: University of West Indies Press, 2008), 269. 15 Taylor, Jamaica in 1687, xi-xv; Pratik Chakrabarti, "Sloane's Travels: A Colonial History of Gentlemanly Science," in From Books to Bezoars: Sir Hans Sloane and His Collections, ed. Alison Walker, Arthur MacGregor, and Michael Hunter (London: The British Library, 2012), 74. 16 Richard S. Dunn, Sugar and Slaves; the Rise of the Planter Class in the English West Indies, 1624-1713 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1972); on the early history ofJamaica and its Maroons, see Kenneth M. Bilby, True-Born Maroons (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2005); Vincent Brown, The Reaper's Garden: Death and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008). 17 Taylor,Jamaica in 1687, 271. On the early development of Afro-Atlantic religion, see Mintz and Price, The Birth of African-American Culture; Karen McCarthy Brown, Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn (Berkeley: University ofCalifornia Press, 1991). 18 Hans Sloane, A Voyage to the Islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers andJamaica, vol. 1 (London: B. M., 1707), xlviii. 19 Mark Purcell, ""Settled in the North of Ireland' Or, Where Did Sloane Come From?" in From Books to Bezoars: Sir Hans Sloane and His Collections, ed. Alison Walker, Arthur MacGregor, and Michael Hunter (London: The British Library, 2012), 25-27; Michael Hunter, "Introduction," in From Books to Bezoars, 1. 20 Hunter, "Introduction," 1, 3, 7; Chakrabarti, "Sloane's Travels," 72-73; James Delbourgo, "Collecting Hans Sloane," in From Books to Bezoars, 14. 21 Delbourgo, "Collecting Hans Sloane," 10-11, 18. 22 Sloane, Voyage, 1: Preface;Delbourgo, "Collecting Hans Sloane," ? 17; Chakrabarti, "Sloane's Travels,' " 78-79. 23 Delbourgo, "Collecting Hans Sloane, 99 17; Hunter, "Introduction, 7. 24 Rath, How Early America Sounded, 69-70, 201 n. 44. Rath offers an "imaginative reconstruction" of the scene, placing it on the edge of a Jamaica plantation. On music and theater in Saint-Domingue, see Bernard Camier and Laurent Dubois, "Voltaire et Zaîre, Ou Le Théâtre Des Lumières Dans L'aire Atlantique Française, ?) Revue D'histoire Moderne et Contemporaine 54, no. 4 (2007): 39-69;Jean Fouchard, Plaisirs de Saint-Domingue (Port-au-Prince: Impr. de l'État, 1955). "imaginative reconstruction" of the scene, placing it on the edge of a Jamaica plantation. On music and theater in Saint-Domingue, see Bernard Camier and Laurent Dubois, "Voltaire et Zaîre, Ou Le Théâtre Des Lumières Dans L'aire Atlantique Française, ?) Revue D'histoire Moderne et Contemporaine 54, no. 4 (2007): 39-69;Jean Fouchard, Plaisirs de Saint-Domingue (Port-au-Prince: Impr. de l'État, 1955). --- Page 328 --- Notes to Pages 63-68 I 318 25 Rath, How Early America Sounded, 72. 26 Rath, How Early America Sounded, 72-73; on the cultural and demographic landscape ofJamaica, see Brown, The Reaper's Garden; for an example of a slave conspiracy in which Akan leaders play a key role, see David Barry Gaspar, Bondmen & Rebels: A Study of Master-Slave Relations in Antigua, with Implications for Colonial British America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985). 27 Rath, How Early America Sounded, 79-81. 28 Hans Sloan, A Voyage to the Islands, 1:xlviii-xlix. 29 Shlomo Pestcoe, "Banjo Beginnings: The Afro-Creole 'Strum-Strumps" ofJamaica, 1687-1689," Facebook (May 23, 2013), https://www.facebook com/neev/bode-.ce-hunjs-bogintin-bogimtingybunsn-loginmine-therasje-kognmingn-ihe-aime creole-strum-strumps-ofjamaicz-1687-89/596163290402853 offers the most detailed examination of the history of these instruments. I am grateful to him, and also indebted to James Delbourgo, who in personal correspondence helped me enormously both in understanding the details surrounding these instruments and their representations and with the interpretation I lay out here. 30 The Kickius sketch is BL, Add. MS 5234, fol. 75, and is reproduced in Delbourgo, "Collecting Hans Sloane, 91 13; Henry George Farmer, "Early References to Music in the Western Sudân," Journal oft the Royal. Asiatic Society ofGreat Britain and Ireland, no. 4 (October 1, 1939): Plate XI, P. 579. 31 Pestcoe, "Banjo Beginnings." 32 Rath, How Early America Sounded, 80; Pestcoe, "Banjo Beginnings." On Taino aesthetics and Haitian Vodou, see Milo Rigaud, Vèvè: Diagrammes Rituels Du Voudou, Trilingual ed., French-Englibi-Spanish (New York: French and European Publications, 1974); Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods ofHaiti, Myth and Man (New York: Documentext, 1959). 33 Sally Price, "When Is a Calabash Not a Calabash?," New West Indian Guide/ Nieuwe West-Indische Gids 56, no. 1/2 (1982): 69-82; on the complexities ofinterpreting the history of Taino music, see Donald Thompson, "The 'Cronistas de Indias' Revisited: Historical Reports, Archeological Evidence, and Literary and Artistic Traces of Indigenous Music and Dance in the Greater Antilles at the Time of the 'Conquista," Latin American Music Review / Revista de Misica Latinoamericana 14, no. 2 (October 1, 1993): 181-201, doi10.2307/780174. 34 The Kickius sketch is BL, Add. MS 5234, fol. 75, and is reproduced in Delbourgo, "Collecting Hans Sloane, 99 13. The presence of what might well be an African instrument led one early analyst ofthis image, the leading musicologist George Farmer, to describe it as an illustration of"Musical Instruments of the ," Latin American Music Review / Revista de Misica Latinoamericana 14, no. 2 (October 1, 1993): 181-201, doi10.2307/780174. 34 The Kickius sketch is BL, Add. MS 5234, fol. 75, and is reproduced in Delbourgo, "Collecting Hans Sloane, 99 13. The presence of what might well be an African instrument led one early analyst ofthis image, the leading musicologist George Farmer, to describe it as an illustration of"Musical Instruments of the --- Page 329 --- Notes to Pages 69-74 Western Sudan" in a 1938 publication, and as one of the earliest visual depictions of African musical instruments. Though this was an error, it was an understandable one, since the instruments were, in a sense, African-but of an Atlantic variety. See Farmer, "Early References to Music in the Western Sudan,' 91 Plate XI, p. 579. 35 I explore the symbolism of the cross in more detail in Chapter 3. Robert Farris Thompson, Flash ofthe Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy (New York: Random House, 1983); Wyatt MacGaffey, Religion and Society in CentralAfrica: The BaKongo ofLower Zaire (Chicago: University ofChicago Press, 1986), 116-120. 36 The reconstructions ofthe music piece are available via Richard Rath, "African Music in Seventeenth Century, Jamaica," htps/way.net/waymusic/?p =13 (consulted July 24, 2014). 37 For a collection of essays reflecting on circulation in the Atlantic world, see Laurent Dubois and Julius Sherrard Scott, eds., Origins of the Black Atlantic (New York: Routledge, 2010); the classic, foundational study ofthe circulation of news and information among Afro-American communities is Julius S. Scott, "The Common Wind: Currents of Afro-American Communication in the Era ofthe Haitian Revolution" (Ph.D., Duke University, 1986). 38 The Spy, "Letter," New York WecklyJournal, March 7, 1736. 39 Shane White and Graham White, The Sounds of Slavery: Discovering African American History through Songs, Sermons, and Speech (Boston: Beacon Press, 2005), 8-9; Eileen Southern, ed., Readings in Black American Music, 2nd ed. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1983), 41-47. 40 White and White, Sounds of Slavery, 8; James Fenimore Cooper, Satanstoe (Lincoln: University ofNebraska Press, 1962), 60. 41 The Spy, "Letter"; White and White, Sounds of Slavery, 8. 42 The Spy, "Letter." 43 Orville Platt, "Negro Governors," in Papers of the New Haven Colony Historical Society 6 (1900): 323-324. Platt does not cite the source of this account, though it was clearly written after the American Revolution (since it explains that this tradition ended after 1776), SO it is not an eyewitness account. For a detailed history of election day celebrations, see Joseph Reidy, "Negro Election Day and Black Community Life in New England, 1750-1860," Marxist Perspectives 1, no. 3 (Fall 1978): 102-117; see also Sam Kinser, Carnival, American Style: Mardi Gras at New Orleans and Mobile (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), 334-335, n. 74; Dale Cockrell, Demons of Disorder: Early Blackface Minstrels and Their World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 37-38. election day celebrations, see Joseph Reidy, "Negro Election Day and Black Community Life in New England, 1750-1860," Marxist Perspectives 1, no. 3 (Fall 1978): 102-117; see also Sam Kinser, Carnival, American Style: Mardi Gras at New Orleans and Mobile (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), 334-335, n. 74; Dale Cockrell, Demons of Disorder: Early Blackface Minstrels and Their World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 37-38. --- Page 330 --- Notes to Pages 74-79 44 WalterJ Johnson, River ofDark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013), 224; on the complexities of using runaway advertisements as a historical source, see David Waldstreicher, "Reading the Runaways: Self-Fashioning, Print Culture, and Confidence in Slavery in the Eighteenth-( Century Mid-Atlantic;" The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, 56, no. 2 (April 1, 1999): 243-272. 45 Southern, Readings in Black American Music, 34-35. 46 Philip F. Gura and James F. Bollman, America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999), 13-14:"Eighteenth Century Slaves as Advertised by Their Masters," TheJournal of Negro History 1, no. 2 (1916): 163-216, 210. 47 Philip Vickers Fithian,Journal and Letters of Philip Vickers Fithian, 1773-1774: A Plantation Tutor of the Old Dominion, ed. Hunter Dickinson Farish, New Edition (Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg, Inc., 1957), 62; Cecelia Conway, African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia: A Study of Folk Traditions (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995), 64. 48 John Oldmixon, British Empire in America, Containing the History of the Discovery, Settlement, Progress and Present States ofAll the British Colonies on the Continent and Islands ofAmerica (London: J. Brotherton, 1708), 2:135;Johann David Schoepf, Travels in the Confederation, 1783-1784., trans. Alfred.J. Morrison (Philadelphia: W. J. Campbell, 1911), 2:261-262; James Barclay, The Voyages and Travels ofJames Barclay (Privately Printed, 1777), 26;Jean Benjamin de Laborde, Essai sur la musique ancienne et moderne 1 (Paris, 1780), 291. 49 Douglas Chambers, Murder at Montpelier: Igbo Africans in Virginia (Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2005), 180. 50 Trudi Martinus-Guda and Hillary de Bruin, Drie Eeuwen Banya: de geschiedenis van een Surinaamse slavendans / Bruin, Hillary de. (Paramaribo: Ministerie van Onderwijs en Volksontwikkeling (Minov) / Directoraat Cultuur, 2005), 39ff. 51 Martinus-Guda and de Bruin, Drie eeuwen Banya, 39ff. 52 Martinus-Guda and de Bruin, Drie eeuwen Banya, 39ff. The classic study of the early history of the Maroons ofSuriname is Richard Price, First-Time: The Historical Vision of an Afro-American People (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983); see also Richard Price, ed., Maroon Societies: Rebel Slave Communities in the Americas, 3rd ed. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996). 53 John Gabriel Stedman, Narrative ofa Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam; Transcribedfor the First Timefrom the Original 1790 Manuscript, ed. Richard Price and Sally Price (New York: IUniverse, Inc., 2010), XV, xxi, xxiv, lxii. of an Afro-American People (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983); see also Richard Price, ed., Maroon Societies: Rebel Slave Communities in the Americas, 3rd ed. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996). 53 John Gabriel Stedman, Narrative ofa Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam; Transcribedfor the First Timefrom the Original 1790 Manuscript, ed. Richard Price and Sally Price (New York: IUniverse, Inc., 2010), XV, xxi, xxiv, lxii. --- Page 331 --- Notes to Pages 79-88 54 Stedman, Narrative, xiv. 55 Stedman, Narrative, 292. 56 Stedman, Narrative, 537. 57 Stedman, Narrative, 538. 58 Stedman, Narrative, 538-540; Paul F. Berliner, The Soul ofMbira: Music and Traditions oft the Shona People of Zimbabwe (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978), 17. 59 Stedman, Narrative, 540; on the discovery of the piece and the broader context of Stedman's collection, see Richard Price and Sally Price, "John Gabriel Stedman's Collection of 18th Century Artifacts from Suriname," Nieuwe WestIndische Gids 53 (1979): quote P. 138. An in-depth discussion ofthe artifact itself, carried out via a group email discussion in 2007 between UlfJagfors, Shlomo Pestcoe, and Richard Price highlighted the curious construction of the instrument in which the strings are set in grooves, thus making them difficult to play. 60 Stedman, Narrative, 538. I am indebted to Kenneth Bilby for this interpretation oft the issue of the name, which he laid out to me during a conversation in New Orleans in April 2013. 61 "No. 26," Jun. 28, 1828, Reports of Protectors of'Slaves, Berbice, Colonial Office 116/144, National Archives, Kew, UK. Randy Browne, who shared this source with me, makes rich use of such documents in his dissertation: Randy Browne, "Surviving Slavery: Politics, Power, and Authority in the British Caribbean, 1807-1834" (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2012). 62 John Matthews, A Voyage to the River Sierre-Leone (London: B. White and Son, 1788), 105-106; Eric S. Charry, Mande Music: Traditional and Modern Music of the Maninka and Mandinka of Western Africa (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 368-369. A. M. Falconbridge, Narrative of Tivo Voyages to the River Sierra Leone During the Years 1791-1792-1793 (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2000), 47; Thomas Winterbottom, An Account of the Native Africans in the Neighbourhood of Sierra Leone, vol. 1 (London: Frank Cass, 1803), 113. 63 John Davis, Travels of Four Years and a Half in the United States of America; During 1798, 1799, 1800, 1801, and 1802 (London: R. Edwards, 1803), 1-2. 64 Davis, Tiavels, 378-381. 65 Samuel Mordecai, Richmond in by-Gone Days Being Reminiscences of an Old Citizen (Richmond, VA: G. M. West, 1856), 180, 310. 66 Kenneth Bilby, "Africa's Creole Drum: The Gumbe as Vector and Signifier ofTrans-African Creolization, in Creolization as Cultural Creativity, ed. Robert Baron and Ana C. Cara (Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2011), 137. Edwards, 1803), 1-2. 64 Davis, Tiavels, 378-381. 65 Samuel Mordecai, Richmond in by-Gone Days Being Reminiscences of an Old Citizen (Richmond, VA: G. M. West, 1856), 180, 310. 66 Kenneth Bilby, "Africa's Creole Drum: The Gumbe as Vector and Signifier ofTrans-African Creolization, in Creolization as Cultural Creativity, ed. Robert Baron and Ana C. Cara (Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2011), 137. --- Page 332 --- Notes to Pages 89-98 67 Bilby, "Africa's Creole Drum,' ') 137-138. 68 Bilby, "Africa's Creole Drum,' >7 140, 147. 69 Bilby, "Africa's Creole Drum," 138-139, 147-149. 70 Bilby, "Africa's Creole Drum," 150-151. 71 Antigua and the Antiguans: A Full Account ofthe Colony and Its Inhabitants, vol. 2 (London: Saunders and Otley, 1844), 107; Lafcadio Hearn, Tivo Years in the West Indies (New Yorker: Harper, 1923), 145. 3.THREE LEAVES 1 Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe, Impressions Respecting New Orleans, Diary and Sketches, 1818-1820 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1951), 49-50. The Latrobe manuscript is reprinted in full in Latrobe, Impressions. The original is held by the Maryland Historical Society. 2 Latrobe, Impressions, 49-50. 3 Latrobe, Impressions, 49-51. 4 Jerah Johnson, "New Orleans's Congo Square: An Urban Setting for Early Afro-American Culture Formation, 7 Louisiana History: The Journal ofthe Louisiana Historical Association 32, no. 2 (April 1, 1991): 142; Gary A. Donaldson, "A Window on Slave Culture: Dances at Congo Square in New Orleans, 18001962," TheJ Journal of Negro History 69, no. 2 (1984): 64. 5 Johnson, "New Orleans's Congo Square," 119-120; Ned Sublette, The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square (Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 2008), 283. 6 The image here, from the original manuscript at the Maryland Historical Society, is available at Mtp-/emrahcmeiioulHloulinuesningagnd-immunos -february-21-1819 (consulted March 8, 2014). 7 Victor Schoelcher, Colonies Etrangères et Haiti: Résultats de L'emancipation Anglaise, vol. 2 (Paris: Pagnerre, 1843); on Schoelcher's visit to Haiti and the broader political context of the time, see Laurent Dubois, Haiti: The Aftershocks of History (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2012), esp. chap3. 8 Florence Gétreau, "Gustave Chouquet, Léon Pillaut, et l'unique catalogue du Musée Instrumental du Conservatoire de Musique de Paris, in Le Musée du Conservatoire de Musique (Geneva: Editions Minkoff, 1993), 5-6. 9 Gustave Chouquet, Le Musée du Conservatoire de Musique (Geneva: Editions Minkoff, 1993), ix-x. 10 Florence Gétreau, Aux origines du musée de la musique: Les collections instrumentales du Conservatoire de Paris: 1793-1993 (Paris: Klincksieck, 1996), 135, 205206, 234, 417. ique de Paris, in Le Musée du Conservatoire de Musique (Geneva: Editions Minkoff, 1993), 5-6. 9 Gustave Chouquet, Le Musée du Conservatoire de Musique (Geneva: Editions Minkoff, 1993), ix-x. 10 Florence Gétreau, Aux origines du musée de la musique: Les collections instrumentales du Conservatoire de Paris: 1793-1993 (Paris: Klincksieck, 1996), 135, 205206, 234, 417. --- Page 333 --- Notes to Pages 99-107 11 Chouquet, Le Musée du Conservatoire de Musique, xii. 12 Chouquet, Le Musée du Conservatoire de Musique, 222. 13 I met with Bruguière in Paris in June of 2006, and this and the following paragraphs are based on our conversations. The museum description of the instrument, along with several photos, is here: https//mediatheque.cite-musique Shwcplanag1b-05759 (consulted July 30, 2014). 14 My discussion of the banza here and throughout this chapter are informed by conversations and correspondence with Pete Ross and UlfJagfors, who was also kind enough to share with me his unpublished article about the instrument, which describes its construction and the story ofl how it was found: Ulf Jagfors, "A Banza from Haiti," 2005. 15 Thomas Granger, "The Sugar-Cane: A Poem," in Thomas Krise, ed., Caribbeana: An Anthology of English Literature of the West Indies, 1657-1777 (Chicago: University ofChicago Press), 257. 16 William Beckford, A Descriptive Account of the Island of Jamaica (London: T. and J. Egerton, 1790), 1:387-388; on Beckford's life, see Kamau Brathwaite, The Development of Creole Society in Jamaica, 1770-1820 (Kingston: Ian Randle, 2005), 131. 17 Beckford,Jamaica, 1:388-390. 18 A Short Journey in the West Indies, in Which Are Interspersed, Curious Anecdotes and Characters (London: Published by the Author, 1790), 1:88-90. 19 Thomas Clarkson, An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, Particularly the African (London:, J. Phillips, 1788), 147, 150-151. 20 Clarkson, An Essay on Slavery, 151-152. 21 Gilbert Francklyn, An Answer to the Rev Mr. Clarkson's Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, Particularly the African, in a Series of Letters from a Gentleman in Jamaica to His Friend in London (London: Logographic Press, 1789), 206-207. 22 Lida Tunstell Rodman, ed., "Journal of a Tour to North Carolina by William Attmore, The James Sprunt Historical Publications ofthe North Carolina Historical Society 14, no. 1 (1916): 43;J. F. D. Smyth, A Tour in the United States of America, vol. 1 (Dublin: G. Perrin, 1784), 46. 23 Thomas Fairfax.Jeumey/rom Virginia to Salem Massachusetts, 1799 (London, 1936), 2. 24 Thomas Ashe, Travels in America, Performed in 1806, For the Purpose of Exploring the Rivers Alleghany, Monongahela, Ohio, and Mississippi (London: John Abraham, Clement's Lane, 1808), 1:233-235. 25 Robert Coates, The Outlaw Years: The History of the Land Pirates of the Natchez Trace (New York: The Macaulay Company, 1930), 27. 46. 23 Thomas Fairfax.Jeumey/rom Virginia to Salem Massachusetts, 1799 (London, 1936), 2. 24 Thomas Ashe, Travels in America, Performed in 1806, For the Purpose of Exploring the Rivers Alleghany, Monongahela, Ohio, and Mississippi (London: John Abraham, Clement's Lane, 1808), 1:233-235. 25 Robert Coates, The Outlaw Years: The History of the Land Pirates of the Natchez Trace (New York: The Macaulay Company, 1930), 27. --- Page 334 --- Notes to Pages 108-116 26 James Kirke Paulding, Letters From the South (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1835), 1:96-98. 27 William Dickson, Letters on Slavery (London: J. Phillips, 1784), 73-74. 28 Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia: With Related Documents, ed. David Waldstreicher (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2002), 177. 29 John Luffman, A Brief. Account of the Island of Antigua (London: T. Cadell, 1789), 135-137; Charles MacPherson, Memoirs of the Life and Travels of the Late Charles MacPherson, Esq in Asia, Africa and America (Edinburgh: Arch. Constable, 1800), 186. 30 Bryan Edwards, The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies (London: John Stockdale, 1807), 2:102-103. 31 Robert Renny, A History ofJamaica (London: J. Cawthorn, 1807), 167-168. 32 Renny, A History ofJamaica, 168, 33 R. R. Madden, A Tivelvemonth 's Residence in the West Indies during the Transition from Slavery to Apprenticeship (Westport, CT: Negro Universities Press, 1835), 2:9-10. 34 George Pinckard, Notes on the West Indies, Including Observations Relative to the Creoles and Slaves ofthe Western Colonies, and the Indians of South America, vol. 1 (London: Messrs. Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, 1816), 127-130. 35 Frederick Bayley, Four Years Residence in the West Indies, During the Years 1826, 7, 8, and 9, by the Son ofa Military Officer, vol. 3 (London: William Kidd, 1833), 437. 36 Sylvester Hovey, Letters from the West Indies: Relating Especially to the Danish Island St. Croix and to the British Islands Antigua, Barbadoes and Jamaica (New York: Gould and Newman, 1838), 36. 37 On the place ofmasking and parody in Caribbean culture, see Richard D. E. Burton, Afro-Creole: Power, Opposition, and Play in the Caribbean (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997). 38 Robert C. Smith, "Liberty Displaying the Arts and Sciences: A Philadelphia Allegory by Samuel Jennings," Winterthur Portfolio 2 (January 1, 1965): 85105, 87-89. For a wide-ranging study of depictions of African-American music and musicians from the eighteenth through the early twentieth century, see Eileen Southern and Josephine Wright, Images: Iconography of Music in AfricanAmerican Culture, 1770s-1920s (New York: Garland Publishing, 2000). 39 Smith, "Liberty," 85, 92, 96-99; David Hackett Fischer, Liberty and Freedom: A Visual History of America's Founding Ideas (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 234-235; Southern and Wright, Images, 20-22. 40 Smith, "Liberty,' 99-100. and musicians from the eighteenth through the early twentieth century, see Eileen Southern and Josephine Wright, Images: Iconography of Music in AfricanAmerican Culture, 1770s-1920s (New York: Garland Publishing, 2000). 39 Smith, "Liberty," 85, 92, 96-99; David Hackett Fischer, Liberty and Freedom: A Visual History of America's Founding Ideas (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 234-235; Southern and Wright, Images, 20-22. 40 Smith, "Liberty,' 99-100. --- Page 335 --- Notes to Pages 116-123 41 Smith, "Liberty," 101. 42 Susan P. Shames, The Old Plantation: The Artist Revealed (Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2010), 10-11, 18, 36-40, 43-47; Southern and Wright, Images, 17-20. 43 Shames, The Old Plantation, 26-27; on the complex dynamics of sexuality in master-slave relations, see Joan Dayan, Haiti, History, and the Gods (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995); Trevor G. Burnard, Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire: Thomas Thistlewood and His Slaves in the Anglo-Jamaican World (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004). 44 Shames, The Old Plantation, 11, 56-60. 45 Shames, The Old Plantation, 12. 46 Shames, The Old Plantation, 12; Robert Farris Thompson, Flash ofthe Spirit: African and. Afro-American Art and Philosophy (New York: Random House, 1983). 47 Thompson, Flash of the Spirit; Wyatt MacGaffey, Religion and Society in Central Africa: The BaKongo of Lower Zaire (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986), 116-120; James Denbow, "Heart and Soul: Glimpses of Ideology and Cosmology in the Iconography of Tombstones from the Loango Coast of Central Africa," TheJournal of American Folklore 112, no. 445 (July 1, 1999): 407-408. 48 Shames, The Old Plantation, 12; Maria Franklin, "Early Black Spirituality and the Cultural Strategy of Protective Symbolism; Evidence from Art and Archaeology," in African Impact on theMaterial Culture of the Americas: A Conference Presented by Diggs Gallery at Winston-Salem State University (Winston-Salem, NC: Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, 1998), 8. 49 The painting is in the collection of the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tests on pigment from the painting, curatorjJonathan Stuhlman of the Mint Museum wrote to me in a 2009 email, found traces of titanium dioxide, a product produced only after 1919. 50 Franklin, "Early Black Spirituality," 8-10. 51 Franklin, "Early Black Spirituality," . 8-10; Leo G. Mazow, "From Sonic to Social: Noise, Quiet, and Nineteenth-Century American Banjo Imagery," in Picturing the Banjo, ed. Leo G. Mazow (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005), 95-113, 109-111. 52 Franklin, "Early Black Spirituality,"7, 10. 53 Franklin, "Early Black Spirituality," 10. 54 The entire archive ofrunaway advertisements from this newspaper has been digitized by a group at Sherbrooke University in Canada. For this advertisement, from Affiches Américaines, 14 December 1772, see hatg/www.marronnage info/ft/lire.php@typemannonce&id=34464. jo, ed. Leo G. Mazow (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005), 95-113, 109-111. 52 Franklin, "Early Black Spirituality,"7, 10. 53 Franklin, "Early Black Spirituality," 10. 54 The entire archive ofrunaway advertisements from this newspaper has been digitized by a group at Sherbrooke University in Canada. For this advertisement, from Affiches Américaines, 14 December 1772, see hatg/www.marronnage info/ft/lire.php@typemannonce&id=34464. --- Page 336 --- Notes to Pages 124-135 55 L'annonce, publié dans les Affiches Américaines le 15 Decembre 1784, est en ligne ici: hnp./awsauromngciulo/trlrepiphye-amneoeiddbits 56 Ada Ferrer, Freedom' 's Mirror: Cuba and Haiti in the Age of Revolution (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 165-166. 57 Henri Grégoire, De la littérature de Nègres, ou Recherches sur leurs facultés intellectuelles, leurs qualités morales et leur littérature (Paris: Maradan, 1808), 184. 58 Fr. Richard de Tussac, Crides Colons contre un ouvrage de M. L'Eveque et Senateur Gregoire (Paris: Les Marchands de Nouveautes, 1810), 292. 59 M. L. E. Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description topographique, physique, civile, politique et historique de la partie francaise de l'isle Saint-Domingue, vol. 1 (Philadelphia: Chez l'Auteur, 1797), 44. 60 Saint-Méry, Description, 1:51-52. 61 Claude Dauphin, Histoire Du Style Musical d'Haiti (Montréal: Mémoire d'Encrier, 2014), 117. 62 Michel Etienne Descourtilz, Flore pittoresque et médicale des Antilles, vol. 5 (Paris: Imprimerie de J. Tastu, 1833), 85-86. 63 Gaspard-Théodore Mollien, Histoire et maeurs d'Haiti: De Christophe Colomb a la révolte des esclaves, ed. François Arzalier, vol. 1 (Paris: Le Serpent de Mer, 2001), 84. 64 I spoke to Ti-Coca about the song before a concert he gave in Petionville, Haiti, on May 22, 2015. On Vodou song see Max G. Beauvoir, Le Grand Receuil Sacré, Ou Répertoire Des Chansons Du Vodou Haitien (Port-au-Prince: Edisyon Près Nasyonal d'Ayiti, 2008); Benjamin Hebblethwaite, Vodou Songs in Haitian Creole and English (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2012). 65 The image "Sick Slaves," published by Thomas McClean, Hay Market, London, in 1822, is in the Musée Acquitaine de Bordeaux, Collection Chatillon, 2003.4.313. 66 An image and description of the instrument is available through the online catalogue of MIMO, Musical Instrument Museums Online, here: http://www mine-momational.conional.con/MIMO4decPDASTK, BERLIN.DE.EM.ONID _169626/banjo (consulted July 30, 2014). I am indebted to Shlomo Pestcoe, who shared his discovery of this instrument in the database soon after it went online in a group email to banjo researchers datedJune 4, 2014, as well as sharing information provided to him by Richard Price about the instrument. 67 My discussion of the use of the banjo in trobado music draws on conversations I had with Ti-Coca and Richard Hector before and after a concert they gave on May 22 in Petionville, Haiti. In his 1960 ethnography ofHaiti, Harold Courlander noted that the term banza, once used to describe a "stringed in- shared his discovery of this instrument in the database soon after it went online in a group email to banjo researchers datedJune 4, 2014, as well as sharing information provided to him by Richard Price about the instrument. 67 My discussion of the use of the banjo in trobado music draws on conversations I had with Ti-Coca and Richard Hector before and after a concert they gave on May 22 in Petionville, Haiti. In his 1960 ethnography ofHaiti, Harold Courlander noted that the term banza, once used to describe a "stringed in- --- Page 337 --- Notes to Pages 137-143 strument resembling a banjo, 91 had by the twentieth century come to be "applied to the homemade fiddle which is used to accompany the minuet and other old dances of European origins. 77 He also noted that he had seen a "children's instrument" in the mountains, constructed of "half of a calabash shell, across the opening of which have been stretched a number of chords." See Harold Courlander, The Drum and the Hoe: Life and Lore ofthe Haitian People (Berkeley: University ofCalifornia Press, 1960), 202. 68 Mimi Barthélémy, Le mariage d'une puce (Montréal: Editions Québec / Amérique, 1991), 25-32. 69 Barthélémy, Le mariage d'une puce, 25-32. 4.THE SOUND OF FREEDOM 1 George William Featherstonhaugh, Excursion Through the Slave States: From Washington on the Potomac, to the Frontier of Mexico; with Sketches of Popular Manners and Geological Notices (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1844), 36-37; I draw here on the illuminating reading of this text in Saidiya V. Hartman, Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery, and Self-Making in Ninctenth-Century America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 32-33. 2 For a detailed analysis and portrait of this slave trade, see Walter Johnson, Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999); Walter Johnson, River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013). 3 Featherstonhaugh, Excursion, 37; Johnson, River of Dark Dreams, 218, notes that, as slaves were brought further from home, they were eventually allowed to walk "unfettered." 4 Alexander Mackay, The Western World; Or, Travels in the United States in 184647, 2nd ed. (New York: Negro Universities Press, 1968), 2:132-133. 5 George P. Rawick, The. American Slave: A Composite Autobiography (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1972), vol. 3, South Carolina Narratives Parts 1 & 2, Part 2, 279-281, and Parts 3 & 4, Part 3, 202-204 and 273. 6 Orlando Kay Armstrong, Old Massa's People: The Old Slaves Tell Their Story, 1st ed. (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1931), 261-262; this account is discussed in Mark Knowles, Tap Roots: The Early History of Tap Dancing (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2002), 41; on Armstrong's work, see Sterling A. Brown, "Negro Character as Seen by White Authors,' The Journal ofl Negro Education 2, no. 2 (April 1933): 186; and John W. Blassingame, Slave Testimony: Tivo Centuries ofl Letters, Speeches, Interviews, and.Autobiographies (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1977), Ixi. discussed in Mark Knowles, Tap Roots: The Early History of Tap Dancing (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2002), 41; on Armstrong's work, see Sterling A. Brown, "Negro Character as Seen by White Authors,' The Journal ofl Negro Education 2, no. 2 (April 1933): 186; and John W. Blassingame, Slave Testimony: Tivo Centuries ofl Letters, Speeches, Interviews, and.Autobiographies (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1977), Ixi. --- Page 338 --- Notes to Pages 143-149 7 Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff, Out of Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music, 1889-1895, American Made Music Series (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2002), 242. 8 Hartman, Scenes of Subjection, 8, 32. 9 William W. Austin, "Susanna, s "Jeanie, ) and "The Old Folks at Home": The Songs of Stephen C. Foster From His Time to Ours, 2nd ed. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987), xvi-xvii, 6-7, 238-239; Morrison Foster, My Brother Stephen (Indianapolis, 1932), 49-50. 10 Austin, Songs of Stephen C. Foster, 6-7. 11 Josiah Henson, Father Henson's Story ofHis Own Life (Boston: P. Jewett and Company, 1858), 1-7; Howard L. Sacks and Judith Rose Sacks, Way up North in Dixie: A Black Family's Claim to the Confederate Anthem (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993), 31. 12 Emmett D. Preston, "The Fugitive Slave Acts in Ohio,' The Journal of Negro History 28, no. 4 (October 1, 1943): 433, 438. 13 Preston, "The Fugitive Slave Acts in Ohio," 441-456. 14 Solomon Northrop, Twelve Years a Slave (New York: Penguin, 2013), 7. 15 Northrop, Twelve Years a Slave, 142-143. 16 Northrop, Twelve Years a Slave, 143, 189; the first three accounts of Junkanoo from Jamaica are excerpted in Roger D. Abrahams and John F. Szwed, eds., After. Africa: Extracts from British TiavelAccounts andJournals ofthe Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Centuries Concerning the Slaves, Their Manners, and Customs in the British West Indies (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983), 234, 241, and 249; for the full version ofLewis's account see Matthew Lewis,Journal of a West India Proprietor, Kept During a Residence in the Island ofJamaica, ed. Judith Terry (London: Oxford University Press, 1999), 36; Dale Cockrell, Demons ofDisorder: Early Blackface Minstrels and Their World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 40; for Phillippo's comments, in a book published in 1843, see James Phillippo, Jamaica: Its Past and Present State (London: Dawsons of Pall Mall, 1969), 243. 17 Elizabeth Fenn, "A Perfect Equality Seemed to Reign': Slave Society and Jonkonnu," North Carolina Historical Review 65 (April 1988): 128-129; Cockrell, Demons of Disorder, 39-40. The most detailed study of the tradition of Junkanoo in Jamaica is Judith Bettleheim, "The Afro-Jamaican Jonkonnu Festival: Playing the Forces and Operating the Cloth' 53 (Yale University, 1979); on the possible Ewe etymology, see Frederic Cassidy, "*Hipsaw' and John Canoe,' American Speech 41 (1966): 45-51, de PP. 50-51; for a broader study of the place of public performance traditions in the Caribbean, see Richard D. E. Burton, AfroCreole: Power, Opposition, and Play in the Caribbean (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997). , "The Afro-Jamaican Jonkonnu Festival: Playing the Forces and Operating the Cloth' 53 (Yale University, 1979); on the possible Ewe etymology, see Frederic Cassidy, "*Hipsaw' and John Canoe,' American Speech 41 (1966): 45-51, de PP. 50-51; for a broader study of the place of public performance traditions in the Caribbean, see Richard D. E. Burton, AfroCreole: Power, Opposition, and Play in the Caribbean (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997). --- Page 339 --- Notes to Pages 150-157 18 Lewis,Journal ofa West India Proprietor, 36; Peter P. Reed, Rogue Performances: Staging the Underclasses in Early American Theatre Culture (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), 118. 19 Abrahams and Szwed, Afier Africa, 235, 248-249; Cockrell, Demons of Disorder, 41; Maria Nugent, Lady Nugent's Journal ofHer Residence in Jamaicafrom 1801 to 1805, ed. Philip Wright (Kingston, Jamaica: Institute ofJamaica, 1966), 219. 20 Fenn, "Perfect Equality," 132-136. 21 Harriet A. Jacobs, Incidents in the Life ofa Slave Girl: Written by Herself (Boston, 1861), 179-180. 22 William B. Smith, "The Persimmon Tree and the Beer Dance," in The Negro and His Folklore in Nincteuth-Century Periodicals, ed. Bruce Jackson (Austin: Published for the American Folklore Society by the University of Texas Press, 1969), 3-5. 23 William B. Smith, "Persimmon Tree," 19 5. 24 William B. Smith, "Persimmon Tree,' 99 7-8. 25 John Finch, Travels in the United States of America and Canada (London: Longman, 1833), 238. 26 Bob Carlin, The Birth of the Banjo: Joel Walker Sweeney and Early Minstrelsy (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2007), 4; John Kennedy, Swallow Barn, or a Sojourn in the Old Dominion, vol. 1 (Philadelphia: Carey and Lea, 1832), 101-103, 27 Martin Robison Delany, Blake; Or, The Huts of America, a Novel, ed. FloydJ. Miller (Boston: Beacon Press, 1970), 251-252; for a rich reading of the novel, see Robert S. Levine, Martin Delany, Frederick Douglass, and the Politics of Representative Identity (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997), chap. 5. 28 Delany, Blake, 251-252. 29 Johnson, River of Dark Dreams, 229, 232-234. 30 Robert B. Winans, "Black Instrumental Music Traditions in the Ex-Slave Narratives,' 77 Black Music Research Journal 10, no. 1 (Spring 1990): 43-53. On the value ofthe WPA narratives, and the complexities of using them as sources, see Mia Bay, The White Image in the Black Mind: African-American Ideas about White People, 1830-1925 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 114-116. 31 Rawick, American Slave, vol. 3, South Carolina Narratives Parts 3 & 4, Part.3, P. 7. Rawick, American Slave, vol. 12, Georgia Narratives Parts 1 & 2, Part 2, P. 52-53. Thomas E. Barden, Charles L. Perdue, and Robert K. Phillips, eds., Weevils in the Wheat: Interviews with Virginia Ex-Slaves (Charlottesville: University Press ofVirginia, 1992), 326. 32 Rawick, American Slave, vol. 17, Florida Narratives, P. 244. Rawick, American Slave, vol. 7, Georgia Narratives Parts 1 & 2, Part 1, p. 197. George P. , Georgia Narratives Parts 1 & 2, Part 2, P. 52-53. Thomas E. Barden, Charles L. Perdue, and Robert K. Phillips, eds., Weevils in the Wheat: Interviews with Virginia Ex-Slaves (Charlottesville: University Press ofVirginia, 1992), 326. 32 Rawick, American Slave, vol. 17, Florida Narratives, P. 244. Rawick, American Slave, vol. 7, Georgia Narratives Parts 1 & 2, Part 1, p. 197. George P. --- Page 340 --- Notes to Pages 157-163 Rawick, ed., American Slave: A Composite Autobiography, Supplement Series 2 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1979), vol. 1, 88-89, 115. 33 Barden, Perdue, and Phillips, Weevils in the Wheat, 141. 34 Barden, Perdue, and Phillips, Weevils in the Wheat, 82. 35 Rawick, American Slave, vol. 7, Oklahoma and Mississippi Narratives, p. 272; Barden, Perdue, and Phillips, Weevils in the Wheat, 297-299. 36 For the James Davis narrative, see Rawick, American Slave, Vol. 8, Arkansas Narratives Parts 1 & 2, Part 2, P. 109-111. Other descriptions of the use of grape vines against patrols are in Ophelia Settle Egypt, Unwritten History of Slavery, Autobiographical Account of Negro Ex-Slaves, Social Science Source Documents, No. 1 (Nashville, TN: Social Science Institute, Fisk University, 1945), 78; Barden, Perdue, and Phillips, Weevils in the Wheat, 290; Hartman, Scenes of Subjection, 68. 37 Barden, Perdue, and Phillips, Weevils in the Wheat, 326; Rawick, American Slave, vol. 10, Arkansas Narratives Parts 5 & 6, Part 6, P. 366-367; Part 5, Pp. 2526, 268, Part 6, PP. 366-367. 38 Barden, Perdue, and Phillips, Weevils in the Wheat, 316. 39 Rawick, American Slave, vol. 8, Arkansas Narratives Parts 1 & 2, Part 1, p. 295; Part 2, P. 114. 40 Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 10, Arkansas Narratives Parts 5 & 6, Part 6 p. 28.1 Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 8, Arkansas Narratives Parts 1 & 2, Part 1 p. 64-65. 41 Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 8, Arkansas Narratives Parts 1 & 2, Part 2, p. 81. Georgia Writers' Project, Drums and Shadows: Survival Studies Among the Georgia Coastal Negroes (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1940), 148, 186-187. Eighty-nine-year-old Soloman Lambert of Holly Grove, Arkansas also remembered how slaves had made their own fiddles and banjos; see Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 9, Arkansas Narratives Parts 3 & 4, Part 4 p. 230. 42 Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12, Georgia Narratives Parts 1 & 2, Part 1 P. 81, 181, 190. 43 Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 12, Georgia Narratives Parts 1 & 2, Part 1 pP. 151, 161-167, 170; Part 2, PP. 6, 216, 248. 44 Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 10, Parts 5 & 6, Part 6, P. 143-144. 45 John Davis, "Johnson's Negro Life at the South and Urban Slavery in Washington, D.C., 99 The Art Bulletin 80, no. 1 (March 1998): 67-92. 46 Davis, "Johnson's Negro Life at the South, 9 75-78. Part 1 pP. 151, 161-167, 170; Part 2, PP. 6, 216, 248. 44 Rawick, The American Slave, vol. 10, Parts 5 & 6, Part 6, P. 143-144. 45 John Davis, "Johnson's Negro Life at the South and Urban Slavery in Washington, D.C., 99 The Art Bulletin 80, no. 1 (March 1998): 67-92. 46 Davis, "Johnson's Negro Life at the South, 9 75-78. --- Page 341 --- Notes to Pages 164-172 47 Davis, "Johnson's Negro Life at the South, 13 79. 48 Davis, "Johnson's Negro Life at the South, 3 79. 49 David Crockett, Sketches and Eccentricities of Col. David Crockett of West Tennessee, ed. David Manning White (New York: J. & J. Harper, 1833), 38-41. 50 Carlin, Birth ofthe Banjo, 3-5; "Old Titus-The Original Banjo Man," Richmond Dispatch, April 21, 1852. 51 Douglas R. Egerton, Gabriel's Rebellion: The Virginia Slave Conspiracies of 1800 and 1802 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993); James Sidbury, Ploughshares into Swords: Race, Rebellion, and Identity in Gabriel's Virginia, 1730-1810 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997). 52 Robert C. Toll, Blacking Up: Minstrel Show in Ninetenth-Century America (London, Oxford, and New York: Oxford University Press, 1974), 83-84; Firth, Pond and Co., "Uncle Gabriel" (New York, 1848), Microfilm M 3106 M1.A12V vol 29 Case Class, Library of Congress, Music Division, Music Copyright Deposits, htp./wwwclocgov/fit/am1sts.48.4417004 53 C. Holt Jr., "Uncle Gabriel" (New York, 1848), Microfilm M 3106 M1. A12V vol 29 Case Class, Library of Congress, Music Division, Music Copyright Deposits, hip./sewwclocgov/item/Am1848.41750, 54 The letter is reprinted in Rosa Faulkner Yancey, Lynchburg and Its Neighbors (Richmond, VA: J. W. Fergusson & Sons, 1935), 218-221; Carlin, Birth of the Banjo, 127. 55 Carlin, Birth of the Banjo, 5. 56 Carlin, Birth of the Banjo, 5. 57 Carlin, Birth ofthe Banjo, 20-21. 58 Yancey, Lynchburg and Its Neighbors, 218-220. 59 Carlin, Birth of the Banjo, 1-2. 60 Cecelia Conway, African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia: A Study of Folk Traditions (Knoxville: University ofTennessee Press, 1995) chap.2, esp. 85-87; Robert Winans, "The Folk, the Stage, and the Five-String Banjo in the Nineteenth Century," Journal of American Folklore 89, no. 354 (1976): 407-437 p. 417-418; Toll, Blacking Up, 46; Hans Nathan, Dan Emmett and the Rise of Early Negro Minstrelsy, 1st ed. (Norman: University ofOklahoma Press, 1962), chap. 13. 61 On later versions ofthe song "Run, Nigger, Run," see John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax, American Ballads and Folk Songs (New York: Macmillan, 1934), 228-231. Two recorded versions ofthe song, one by Rufus Crisp of Kentucky recorded in 1946 (AFS 8547), and another by Thaddeus C. Willingham ofGulfport, Mississippi, recorded in 1939 (AFS 3115), are in the American Folklife Press, 1962), chap. 13. 61 On later versions ofthe song "Run, Nigger, Run," see John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax, American Ballads and Folk Songs (New York: Macmillan, 1934), 228-231. Two recorded versions ofthe song, one by Rufus Crisp of Kentucky recorded in 1946 (AFS 8547), and another by Thaddeus C. Willingham ofGulfport, Mississippi, recorded in 1939 (AFS 3115), are in the American Folklife --- Page 342 --- Notes to Pages 174-179 Collection ofthe Library of Congress. Eric Lott, Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995); Karen Linn, That Half-Barbaric Tivang: The Banjo in American Popular Culture (Urbana: University ofIllinois Press, 1991), 42, 66. For a recent example ofthe deployment of the term "minstrel" in debates about popular culture, see the responses to Miley Cyrus's VMA performance, which some critics described as a conemporary"mninsred show":J Jody Rosen, "Rosen: The 2013 VMAs Were Dominated by Miley's Minstrel Show," Vulture, August 26, 2013, http://www sohuc.con/autyoajalrme-atly--yrasomus-ninuncdbenl 5.THE BANJO MEETS BLACKFACE 1 Kim F. Hall, Things of Darkness: Economies of Race and Gender in Early Modern England (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995), 131; Virginia Mason Vaughan, Performing Blackness on English Stages, 1500-1800 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 65-66. 2 Vaughan, Performing Blackness, 67-69. 3 Hall, Things of Darkness, 6-7. 4 Vaughan, Performing Blackness, 35, 38, 43, 48, 57. 5 Vaughan, Performing Blackness, 75, 81-82. 6 Vaughan, Performing Blackness, chap. 9. 7 Peter P. Reed, Rogue Performances: Staging the Underclasses in Early American Theater Culture (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009), 110; Dale Cockrell, Demons of Disorder: Early Blackface Minstrels and Their World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 32-34; Edward Palmer Thompson, Wligs and Hunters: The Origin of the Black Act (New York: Pantheon Books, 1975). 8 Hans Nathan, "Negro Impersonation in Eighteenth Century England," Notes 2, no. 4 (September 1, 1945): 252-253; W. T. Lhamon Jr., ed., JumpJim Crow: Lost Plays, Lyrics, and Street Prose ofthe First Atlantic Popular Culture (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003), 34-35. 9 Nathan, "Impersonation, 7 251; Hans Nathan, Dan Emmett and the Rise of Early Negro Minstrelsy, 1st ed. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962), 25-28. 10 Cockrell, Demons of Disorder, 15-19; Reed, Rogue Performances, 109-111. 11 Bernard Camier and Laurent Dubois, "Voltaire et Zaire, Ou Le Théâtre Des Lumières Dans L'aire Atlantique Française, " Revue D'histoire Moderne et Contemporaine 54, no. 4 (2007): 39-69; Jean Fouchard, Le théâtre à Saint-Domingue (Portau-Prince: H. Deschamps, 1988), 281, 297-298. For an annotated transcription of the play in the original Creole, see Bernard Camier and Marie-Christine 111. 11 Bernard Camier and Laurent Dubois, "Voltaire et Zaire, Ou Le Théâtre Des Lumières Dans L'aire Atlantique Française, " Revue D'histoire Moderne et Contemporaine 54, no. 4 (2007): 39-69; Jean Fouchard, Le théâtre à Saint-Domingue (Portau-Prince: H. Deschamps, 1988), 281, 297-298. For an annotated transcription of the play in the original Creole, see Bernard Camier and Marie-Christine --- Page 343 --- Notes to Pages 180-185 Hazael-Massieux, "Jeannot et Thérèse un opéra-comique en créole au milieu du XVIIIIème siecle,' 7 Revue de la société haitienne d'Histoire et de Géographie, 215 (2003): 135-166. 12 On Lise and her more famous sister Minette see Fouchard, Théâtre, 310, 322-323, 341. The novelist Marie Vieux Chauvet drew on Fouchard's work in producing a historical novel about these two sisters: Marie Vieux Chauvet, La Danse Sur Le Volcan (Paris: Plon, 1957). For the descriptions of blackface performance, see Affiches Américaines, Port-au-Prince, October 30, 1781; Le Cap,January 28, 1784; Le Cap, May 4, 1785; Le Cap, February 9, 1788. 13 Camier and Dubois, "Voltaire et Zaire"; Fouchard, Théâtre, 67, 72, 180-181, 192; Jean Fouchard, Plaisirs de Saint-Domingue (Port-au-Prince: Impr. de l'État, 1955), 133; M. L. E. Moreau de Saint-Méry, Description Topegraphique, Physique, Civile, Politique et Historique de La Partie Française de L'isle Saint Domingue, Nouv. éd (Paris: Société de l'histoire des colonies françaises et Librairie Larose, 2004), 1:358-362, 2:986-987, 1100. Affiches Américaines, Le Cap, September 1, 1784; Moniteur de la Louisiane, December 20, 1809; on audiences in North America, see Cockrell, Demons of Disorder, 17. 14 Ned Sublette, The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square (Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 2008). On the Louisiana performance ofthe play, see Moniteur de la Louisiane, March 18, 1807 and March 21, 1807. 15 Reed, Rogue Performances, 101-109; for a contemporary novel about Jack, see William Earle, Obi, Or, The History of Three-FingeredJadk, ed. Srinivas Aravamudan (Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2005). 16 Reed, Rogue Perjormances, 121-122;James O'Rourke, "The Revision ofObi; Or, Three-Finger'd Jack and the Jacobin Repudiation of Sentimentality, Niuctecnth-Contury Contexts 28, no. 4 (December 1, 2006): 285-303, P. 288. On Brown's theater, see Marvin Edward McAllister, White People Do Not Know How to Behave at Entertainments Designed for Ladies & Gentlemen of Colour: William Brown's African & American Theater (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003). 17 Reed, Rogue Performances, 115, 122. 18 W. T. Lhamon Jr., Raising Cain: Blackface Performance from Jim Crow to Hip Hop (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998), 22-24; Joseph Roach, Cities of the Dead (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996). 19 Christopher J. Smith, The Creolization of American Culture: William Sidney Mount and the Roots of Blackface Minstrelsy (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2013), 6, 18, 25-28, 33. 20 Reed, Rogue Performances, 127, 130-131, 133. 21 Reed, Rogue Performances, 129-130. Hip Hop (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998), 22-24; Joseph Roach, Cities of the Dead (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996). 19 Christopher J. Smith, The Creolization of American Culture: William Sidney Mount and the Roots of Blackface Minstrelsy (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2013), 6, 18, 25-28, 33. 20 Reed, Rogue Performances, 127, 130-131, 133. 21 Reed, Rogue Performances, 129-130. --- Page 344 --- Notes to Pages 186-192 22 Reed, Rogue Performances, 145; Henry A. Kmen, "Old Corn Meal: A Forgotten Urban Negro Folksinger," The Journal of American Folklore 75, no. 295 (March 1962): 29-31; T. Allston Brown and Charles Day, "Black Musicians and Early Ethiopian Minstrelsy," The Black Perspective in Music 3, no. 1 (April 1, 1975): 78. 23 Kmen, "Old Corn Meal," 29-32; Reed, Rogue Performances, 145. 24 Brown and Day, "Black Musicians, 97 78. 25 Phil Rice, Phil Rice's Method for the Banjo: With or Without a Master (Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co., 1858), 32-33; Philip F. Gura and James F. Bollman, America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999), 268 n. 70; Frank Converse, A History of the Banjo: Frank Converse's Banjo Reminiscences, ed. Paul Heller (Lexington, Kentucky, 2011), 17-18. TonyThomas has done extensive research on the original Picayune Butler as well as the later musician who took his name; see, for instance, his discussion at the Minstrel Banjo website, "Hard Truths About Picayune Butler," October 26, 2013, at htp/minsrelbanjo.ning.comn/forum/opicv/th-hand-trutaths about-picyune-buder, and at the Banjology website at httpe/sites.duke.edu /hanjology/che-banjo-im-new-orleanvpicayune-butler 26 Rice, Method, 33. 27 Théodore Pavie, Souvenirs Atlantiques; Voyage aux Etats-Unis et au Canada, 2 vols. (Paris, 1833), 2:319-320. 28 Joseph Holt Ingraham, The South-West by a Yankee, vol. 1 (New York: Harper, 1835), 162;James R. Creecy, Scenes in the South, and Other Miscellaneous Pieces (Washington: T. McGill, 1860), 19-23. 29 Sam Kinser, Carnival, American Style: Mardi Gras at New Orleans and Mobile (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), 21; Roach, Cities of the Dead, chaps. 5: and 6. 30 Alcée Fortier, "Bits of Louisiana Folk-Lore,' Transactions and Proceedings of the Modern Language Association of America 3 (January 1, 1887): 161-162 offers the original song as published by Cable, translated into more accurate Creole. Maud Cuney-Hare, Six Creole Folk-Songs: With Original Creole and Translated English Text (New York: Carl Fischer, 1921), 7-10. 31 Brown and Day, "Black Musicians,' 78; the article was originally published in Charles H. Day, Fun in Black, Or, Sketches of Minstrel Life (New York: R. M. De Witt, 1874); Kmen, "Old Corn Meal," 32. 32 Lhamon Jr., JumpJim Crow, 36-40. 33 Lhamon Jr., Raising Cain, 58; Lhamon Jr.,, Jump. Jim Crow, vii, 1, 71. 34 Lhamon Jr., Jump Jim Crow, 3-4. . 31 Brown and Day, "Black Musicians,' 78; the article was originally published in Charles H. Day, Fun in Black, Or, Sketches of Minstrel Life (New York: R. M. De Witt, 1874); Kmen, "Old Corn Meal," 32. 32 Lhamon Jr., JumpJim Crow, 36-40. 33 Lhamon Jr., Raising Cain, 58; Lhamon Jr.,, Jump. Jim Crow, vii, 1, 71. 34 Lhamon Jr., Jump Jim Crow, 3-4. --- Page 345 --- Notes to Pages 193-201 35 Lhamon Jr., Jump. Jim Crow, vii-x, 4-5, 8, 11, 37, 65. 36 Lhamon Jr., Jump. Jim Crow, 27, 101, 263. 37 Lhamon Jr., Jump. Jim Crow, 75-82, 88-89. 38 Carlin, Birth of the Banjo, 22-24; Cockrell, Demons of Disorder, 80, 148. 39 Cockrell, Demons of Disorder, 80, 148. 40 Cockrell, Demons of Disorder, 148. 41 Rosa Faulkner Yancey, Lynchburg and Its Neighbors (Richmond, VA: J. W. Fergusson & sons, 1935), 220-221; Gura and Bollman, America's Instrument, 48-49, 161. 42 Cockrell, Demons of Disorder, 148; Nathan, Dan Emmett, 109-110; Howard L. Sacks and Judith Rose Sacks, Way up North in Dixie: A Black Family's Claim to the Confederate Anthem (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993), 84; Carlin, Birth oft the Banjo, 58. 43 Nathan, Dan Emmett, 110-113; Lowell Schreyer, The Banjo Entertainers: Roots to Ragtime, a Banjo History (Mankato, MN: Minnesota Heritage Publishing, 2007), 21-25. 44 Nathan, Dan Emmett, 113-114. 45 Nathan, Dan Emmett, 71, 114-115; Robert C. Toll, Blacking Up: Minstrel Show in Nineteenth-Contury America (London, Oxford, and New York: Oxford University Press, 1974), 45-46; Carlin, Birth of the Banjo, 56, 58. 46 Nathan, Dan Emmett, 116-117; Cockrell, Demons of Disorder, 151. 47 Nathan, Dan Emmett, 118-120; Thomas Riis, "Crossing Boundaries: Black Musicians Who Defied Musical Genres," in Beyond Blackface: African Americans and the Creation of American Popular Culture, 1890-1930 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011), 153. 48 Cockrell, Demons of Disorder, 151-152. 49 Robert B. Winans, "Early Minstrel Show Music, 1843-1852, in Inside the Minstrel Mask: Readings in Nineteath-Century Blackface Minstrelsy, ed. Annemarie Bean, James Vernon Hatch, and Brooks McNamara (Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1996), 142. 50 Nathan, Dan Emmett, 116, 123-134; Winans, "Early Minstrel Show Music," 142. 51 Toll, Blacking Up, 46-47; Nathan, Dan Emmett, 143-145; Russell B. Nye, The Unembarrassed Muse: The Popular Arts in America (New York: Dial Press, 1970), 163-164. 52 Winans, "Early Minstrel Show Music,' 99 141-142. Brooks McNamara (Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1996), 142. 50 Nathan, Dan Emmett, 116, 123-134; Winans, "Early Minstrel Show Music," 142. 51 Toll, Blacking Up, 46-47; Nathan, Dan Emmett, 143-145; Russell B. Nye, The Unembarrassed Muse: The Popular Arts in America (New York: Dial Press, 1970), 163-164. 52 Winans, "Early Minstrel Show Music,' 99 141-142. --- Page 346 --- Notes to Pages 201-205 53 Minstrelsy remains an inescapable reference point in contemporary debates about race and appropriation, music and performance, and braided construction of whiteness and blackness. The scholarship on minstrelsy has taken various twists and turns, some of it celebratory and some condemning, all ofit fascinated but also often befuddled by the layers of contradictory meaning packed within the form. The pioneering work of Nathan, Dan Emmett; and Toll, Blacking Up in the 1960s and 1970s was followed by a burst of rich scholarship in the 1990s; the generative contribution of Eric Lott, Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995) has remained a touchstone; each oft the following works make their own critical and unique contribution to the discussion: Cockrell, Demons ofDisorder; Lhamon Jr., Raising Cain; William J. Mahar, Behind the Burnt Cork Mask: Early Blackface Minstrelsy and Antebellum American Popular Culture (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999); an excellent collection of the major contributions from a range of perspectives 1S Annemarie Bean, James Vernon Hatch, and Brooks McNamara, eds., Inside the Minstrel Mask: Readings in Nineteenth Century Blackface Minstrelsy (Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1996). 54 Paul Ely Smith, "Gottschalk's "The Banjo, Op. 15, and the Banjo in the Nineteenth Century," Current.Musikcology 50 (1992): 47-61 quote P. 57; Nicolas Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo (Paris: Outre Mesure, 2003), 61; on Gottschalk's life and musical career see S. Frederick Starr, BamBoula: The Life and Time of Louis Moreau Gottschalk (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995); Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Notes ofa Pianist: The Chronicles of a New Orleans Music Legend, ed. Jeanne Behrend, new ed. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), XXXV, 9, 13, 23. 55 Mark Twain, "Enthusiastic Eloquence,' San Francisco Dramatic Chronidle, June 23, 1865. 56 George F. Rehin, "The Darker Image: American Negro Minstrelsy through the Historian's Lens," Journal of American Studies 9, no. 3 (December 1, 1975): 369; Nye, The Unembarrassed Muse, 167; Robert Criswell, "Unde Tom's Cabin" Contrasted with Buckingham Hall, the Planter's Home, Or, A Fair View of Both Sides oft the Slavery Question (New York: D. Fanshaw, 1852), 113-114. 57 Daniel Robinson Hundley, Social Relations in Our Southern States (New York: Henry B. Price, 1860), 344-349. 58 Rawick, American Slave, vol. 3, South Carolina Narratives Parts 3 and 4, Part 3, pp. 48-50. 59 Francis Trevelyan Miller, The Photographic History of the Civil War, vol. 6: The Navies (New York: The Review of Reviews Co., 1911), 278, 281. 60 Peter H. Wood and Karen C. C. Dalton, Winslow Homer's Images of Blacks: The Civil War and Reconstruction Years (Austin: Menil Collection, 1988), 48-49. ), 344-349. 58 Rawick, American Slave, vol. 3, South Carolina Narratives Parts 3 and 4, Part 3, pp. 48-50. 59 Francis Trevelyan Miller, The Photographic History of the Civil War, vol. 6: The Navies (New York: The Review of Reviews Co., 1911), 278, 281. 60 Peter H. Wood and Karen C. C. Dalton, Winslow Homer's Images of Blacks: The Civil War and Reconstruction Years (Austin: Menil Collection, 1988), 48-49. --- Page 347 --- Notes to Pages 206-217 61 Wood and Dalton, Winslow Homer's Images of Blacks, 49-50;John Davis, "A Change ofKey: The Banjo During Civil War and Reconstruction, 97 in Picturing the Banjo, ed. Leo G. Mazow (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005), 55-56. 62 Davis, "Change of Key," 55-56; on the Union soldier see Nathan, Dan Emmett, 97. 63 Davis, "Change of Key," 58. 6. RINGS LIKE SILVER, SHINES LIKE GOLD 1 Lafcadio Hearn, Lafcadio Hearn's America: Ethnographic Sketches and Editorials, ed. Simon J. Bronner (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2002), 37, 40, 44. 2 Hearn, Lafcadio Hearn's America, 44-45. 3 Hearn, Lafcadio Hearn's America, 38, 82. 4 Hearn, Lafcadio Hearn's America, 38, 47. 5 Hearn, Lafcadio Hearn's America, 48-49. 6 Bob Carlin, The Birth ofthe Banjo: Joel Walker Sweeney and Early Minstrelsy (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2007), 116, 130; Isaac D. Williams and William Ferguson Goldie, Sunshine and Shadow of Slave Life: Reminiscences (New York: AMS Press, 1975), 62. 7 Thomas Adler, "The Physical Development of the Banjo,' New York Folklore Quarterly 28, no. 3 (September 1972): 192-193. 8 Philip F. Gura and James F. Bollman, America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999), 5564; Adler, "Physical Development, 193; Carlin, Birth of the Banjo, 135-136; Nicolas Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo (Paris: Outre Mesure, 2003), 68-69. 9 Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo, 65-69. 10 Gura and Bollman, America's Instrument, 76; Karen Linn, That Half-Barbaric Twang: The Banjo in American Popular Culture (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991), 8-9. 11 Linn, Half-Barbaric Twang, 3. 12 Gura and Bollman, America's Instrument, 81-82; Phil Rice, Phil Rice's Method for the Banjo: With or Without a Master (Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co., 1858);James Buckley, Buckley's New Banjo Book (Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co., 1860). The issue of what is gained and lost in various forms of musical notation has stirred much debate in musicology and ethnomusicology; my own thoughts on this 1), 8-9. 11 Linn, Half-Barbaric Twang, 3. 12 Gura and Bollman, America's Instrument, 81-82; Phil Rice, Phil Rice's Method for the Banjo: With or Without a Master (Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co., 1858);James Buckley, Buckley's New Banjo Book (Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co., 1860). The issue of what is gained and lost in various forms of musical notation has stirred much debate in musicology and ethnomusicology; my own thoughts on this --- Page 348 --- Notes to Pages 217-227 were shaped through a course taken with Paul Berliner at Duke University; for reflections on this problem, see Paul F. Berliner, The Soul of Mbira: Music and Traditions ofthe Shona People of Zimbabwe (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978). 13 The 1866 dispatch was published in the Boston Daily Evening Voice, signed under the name "Ziska, 99 and is reprinted in Philip Foner and Pete Seeger, eds., "Dobson Banjo: A BNL Reprint, Banjo Newsletter 4, no. 7 (May 1977): 20-21; Gura and Bollman, America's Instrument, 76, 78, 134-135. 14 Gura and Bollman, America's Instrument, 85-87; Frank B. Converse, Frank B. Converse's Banjo Instructor, without a Master: Containing a Choice Collection of Banjo Solos, Jigs, Songs, Reels, Walk Arounds, Etc., Progressively Arranged and Plainly Explained, Enabling the Learner to Become a Proficient Banjoist without the Aid ofa Teacher (New York: Dick and Fitzgerald, 1865); Frank B. Converse, Frank B. Converse's New and Complete Method for the Banjo with or without a Master (New York: S. T. Gordon, 1865). 15 Frank Converse, A History ofthe Banjo: Frank Converse's Banjo Reminiscences, ed. Paul Heller (Lexington, Kentucky, 2011), 16-17. 16 Converse, Reminiscences, 16-17. 17 Converse, Reminiscences, 6-8, 11. 18 Converse, Reminiscences, 17-20. 19 Converse, Reminiscences, 15-16. 20 Converse, Reminiscences, 14-15. 21 Gura and Bollman, America's Instrument, 88. 22 Foner and Seeger, Dobson Banjo' :; Gura and Bollman, America's Instrument, 109-110; p. 275 n. 36. 23 Gura and Bollman, America's Instrument, 116, 119; Rice, Method. 24 Gura and Bollman, America's Instrument, 12; George C. Dobson, Complete Instructor for the Banjo (Boston: White, Smith & Co., 1880), 4. 25 Dobson, Complete Instructor for the Banjo, 4; Gura and Bollman, America's Instrument, 174; Adler, "Physical Development, 199. 26 Gura and Bollman, America's Instrument, 89-90, 92, 110-113, Plate 2-9; Adler, "Physical Development"; Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo, 69. 27 Adler, "Physical Development, ? 192-193. 28 Adler, "Physical Development, 9 192-194; Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo, 68-69. 29 Linn, Half-Barbaric Tivang, 9. Gura and Bollman, America's Instrument, 174; Adler, "Physical Development, 199. 26 Gura and Bollman, America's Instrument, 89-90, 92, 110-113, Plate 2-9; Adler, "Physical Development"; Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo, 69. 27 Adler, "Physical Development, ? 192-193. 28 Adler, "Physical Development, 9 192-194; Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo, 68-69. 29 Linn, Half-Barbaric Tivang, 9. --- Page 349 --- Notes to Pages 227-233 30 Gura and Bollman, America's Instrument, 151, 160-161; Samuel Swaim Stewart, The Banjo Philosophically: Its Construction, Its Capabilities, Its Evolution, Its Place as a Musical Instrument, Its Possibilities and Its Future (Philadelphia: S.S. Stewart, 1886); Samuel Swaim Stewart, The Banjo! A Dissertation (Philadelphia: S.S. Stewart, 1888); Samuel Swaim Stewart, The Complete American Banjo School (Philadelphia: S.S. Stewart, 1887); Samuel Swaim Stewart, An Exposition ofthe Harmonic Tones Used in Banjo Playing and Their Philosophy (Philadelphia: S.S. Stewart, 1887). The entire run of Stewart's Guitar and Banjo Journal has been digitized and made available by the University of Rochester Library: http://hdl handle.net/1802/2596. 31 Joel Chandler Harris, "Plantation Music,' in The Negro and His Folklore in Ninctecnth-Century Periodicals, ed. Bruce Jackson (Austin: Published for the American Folklore Society by the University of Texas Press, 1969), 178-179; BruceJackson, ed., "Banjo and Bones," in The Negro and His Folklore in NineteenthCentury Periodicals (Austin: Published for the American Folklore Society by the University of Texas Press, 1969), 183. 32 Linn, Half-Barbaric Twang, 33-34; Lowell H. Schreyer, The Banjo Entertainers: Roots to Ragtime, a Banjo History (Mankato, MN: Minnesota Heritage Pub, 2007), 133-134; Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo, 96; Sarah Burns, "Whiteface: Art, Women, and the Banjo in Late-Nindteoath-Comtury America,' in Picturing the Banjo, ed. Leo G. Mazow (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005), 71-90. 33 Linn, Half-Barbaric Tivang, 34-35; Rudyard Kipling, A Choice of Kipling's Verse, ed. T.S. Eliot (Garden City: Doubleday, 1962), 55-59; the poem was originally published as Rudyard Kipling, "The Song of the Banjo, The New Review, June 1895. 34 Tony Thomas, "Why African Americans Put the Banjo Down," in Hidden in the Mix: The African American Presence in Country Music, ed. Diane Pecknold (Durham: Duke University Press, 2013), 143-170, P. 148. 35 Scott Reynolds Nelson, Steel Drivin' Man: John Henry, the Untold Story of an American Legend (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 103-105; Fred Fussell and Steve Kruger, Blue Ridge Music Trails ofl North Carolina: A Guide to Music Sites, Artists, and Traditions ofthe Mountains and Foothills (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013), 144-145. 36 Greil Marcus, The Old, Weird America: The World of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes (New York: Picador, 2011), 112-113; Nelson, Steel Drivin' Man, 95-96. 37 Roscoe Holcomb, "Swanno Mountain," was recorded in New York City 1964 and is available on Roscoe Holcomb: An Untamed Sense of Control (Smithsonian Folkways Records, 2003). He explained he had learned it at a lumber camp in Hazard, North Carolina. In the version sung by Lunsford it is not a banjo but the The Old, Weird America: The World of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes (New York: Picador, 2011), 112-113; Nelson, Steel Drivin' Man, 95-96. 37 Roscoe Holcomb, "Swanno Mountain," was recorded in New York City 1964 and is available on Roscoe Holcomb: An Untamed Sense of Control (Smithsonian Folkways Records, 2003). He explained he had learned it at a lumber camp in Hazard, North Carolina. In the version sung by Lunsford it is not a banjo but the --- Page 350 --- Notes to Pages 234-239 hammer that rings out: "This old hammer rings like silver, / Shines like gold, shines like gold / Take this hammer, throw it in the river, / It rings right on, baby shines right on." Fussell and Kruger, Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina, 145. 38 Gene Bluestein, "America's Folk Instrument: Notes on the Banjo, ? Western Folklore 23, no. 4 (October 1964): 243, 246;John A. (John Five-String Avery) Lomax et al., Folk Song U.S.A.: The 111 Best American Ballads (New York: New American Library, 1966), 78; Jay Bailey, "Historical Origin and Stylistic Developments of the Five-String Banjo, The Journal of American Folklore 85, no. 335 (1972): 62-63; William Tallmadge, "The Folk Banjo and Clawhammer Performance Practice in the Upper South: A Study of Origins, '7 in The. Appalachian Experience: Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Appalachian Studies Conference (Boone, NC: Appalachian Consortium Press, 1983), 174-175; Robert Winans, "The Folk, the Stage, and the Five-String Banjo in the Nineteenth Century," Journal of American Folklore 89, no. 354 (1976): 407-437. 39 Cherrill P. Heaton, "The 5-String Banjo in North Carolina, Southern Folklore Quarterly 35, no. 1 (March 1971): 65-68. 40 Bailey, "Historical Origin, 77 62-63; Heaton, "The 5-String Banjo in North Carolina," 68-69. 41 Marcus, The Old, WeirdAmerica, 112-114, 121. 42 David Garnerstranscriptions and analysis of different versions of"The Coo Coo Bird" are available at stm.dukc-edu/hanplogy, 43 Robert Cantwell, Bluegrass Breakdoun: The Making ofthe Old Southern Sound (Urbana: University ofIllinois Press, 1984), 78-79; Archie Green, Torching the Fink Books and Other Essays on Vernacular Culture (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001), 8-46, esp. 26; Karl Hagstrom Miller, Segregating Sound: Inventing Folk and Pop Music in the Age ofJim Crow (Durham: Duke University Press, 2010), 102-103; Elijah Wald, Escaping the Delta: RobertJolnson and the Invention of the Blues (New York: Amistad, 2004), 49. 44 Joe Newberry's version 1S on Two Hands (5-String Productions, 2005). 45 Thomas Washington Talley, Thomas W. Talley's Negro Folk Rhymes, ed. Charles K. Wolfe (Knoxville: University ofTennessee Press, 1991), 193-194. 7. BLACK BANJO 1 Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff, Out of Sight: The Rise ofAfrican American Popular Music, 1889-1895, American Made Music Series (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2002), 52. , 2004), 49. 44 Joe Newberry's version 1S on Two Hands (5-String Productions, 2005). 45 Thomas Washington Talley, Thomas W. Talley's Negro Folk Rhymes, ed. Charles K. Wolfe (Knoxville: University ofTennessee Press, 1991), 193-194. 7. BLACK BANJO 1 Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff, Out of Sight: The Rise ofAfrican American Popular Music, 1889-1895, American Made Music Series (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2002), 52. --- Page 351 --- Notes to Pages 240-245 2 George P. Rawick, The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography (Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., 1972), Volume 13, Georgia Narratives Parts 3 & 4, Part 1, P. 124, 196, 224. Abbott and Seroff, Out of Sight, 56. On the earlier Pinkster celebration, see Chapter 2. 3 David M. Lubin, Picturing a Nation: Art and Social Change in Ninetecnuth-Contury America (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994), 140; On the context surrounding Tanner's composition of this painting, see Naurice Frank Woods, "Henry Ossawa Tanner's Negotiation of Race and Art: >3 Challenging "The Unknown Tanner," Journal of Black Studies 42, no. 6 (September 1, 2011): 894-896. 4 Jas. S. Evans, "A New Religion in Mississippi," The Daily Picayune, tember 18, 1887 no. 237, P. 12; Randy J. Sparks, On Jordan's Stormy Banks: SepEvangelicalism in Mississippi, 1773-1876 (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1994), 197. 5 For the postcard, see Philip F. Gura and James F. Bollman, America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999), 154; Karl Hagstrom Miller, Segregating Sound: Inventing Folk and Pop Music in the Age ofJim Crow (Durham: Duke University Press, 2010), 81;John F. Szwed, Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded the World (New York: Viking Penguin, 2010), 318. The recordings by Lomax of Sid Hemphill playing "John Henry" and "Devil's Dream" are available on Black Appalachia: String Bands, Songsters and Hoedowns (Rounder Records, 1999); "Strayhorn Mob" was released on Rock Me, Shake Me: Field Recordings Vol 15, Mississippi 1941-1942 (Document Records, 2002). On fife-and-drum music, see the profile of Otha Turner in Steve Winick, "Tossing Out the Fish: In Memoriam-Othar Turner," Dirty Linen, August 2003. 6 Elijah Wald, Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues (New York: Amistad, 2004), 52; Cecelia Conway, African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia: A Study of Folk Traditions (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995). 7 Thomas Goldsmith, ed., Bluegrass Reader (Urbana: University ofIllinois Press, 2004), 36-42; Conway, African Banjo Echoes. 8 Nicolas Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo (Paris: Outre Mesure, 2003), 197-198; on the banjo in Medicine shows, see Brooks McNamara, Step Right Up (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1995), esp. chap. 9. 9 Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo, 198-199; I have sought here to synthesize the careful analysis of the move from banjo to guitar offered in Tony Thomas, "Why African Americans Put the Banjo Down," in Hidden in the Mix: The African American Presence in Country Music, ed. Diane Pecknold (Durham: Duke University Press, 2013), 155-161. ; on the banjo in Medicine shows, see Brooks McNamara, Step Right Up (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1995), esp. chap. 9. 9 Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo, 198-199; I have sought here to synthesize the careful analysis of the move from banjo to guitar offered in Tony Thomas, "Why African Americans Put the Banjo Down," in Hidden in the Mix: The African American Presence in Country Music, ed. Diane Pecknold (Durham: Duke University Press, 2013), 155-161. --- Page 352 --- Notes to Pages 246-253 10 Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo, 199. 11 James Weldon Johnson, Black:Manhattan (New York: Da Capo Press, 1991), 87-89; on the broader debates about the place of music in African-American history and culture during the Harlem Renaissance, see Paul Allen Anderson, Deep River: Music and Memory in Harlem Renaissance Thought (Durham: Duke University Press, 2001); Abbott and Seroff, Out of Sight, 60. 12 Yuval Taylor and Jake Austen, Darkest America: Black.Miustredsy./om Slavery to Hip-Hop (New York: W. W. Norton, 2012),, 21. 13 Abbott and Seroff, Out of Sight; Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff, Ragged but Right: Black Traveling Shows, "Coon Songs, ) and the Dark Pathay to Blues andJazz (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2007); Ike Simond, Old Slack's Reminiscence and Pocket History of the Colored Profession from 1865 to 1891 (Bowling Green: Popular Press, 1974); Thomas, "Why African Americans Put the Banjo Down," 143-144. 14 See Robert Toll, "Introduction,". and Francis Lee Utley and Robert Toll, "Major Dates in Black Minstrelsy," in Simond, Old Slack's Reminiscence, XX, 43, 45; on Hicks see Abbott and Seroff, Out of Sight, 60-61; Johnson, Black Manhattan, 89, 15 Toll, "Introduction"; to Simond, Old Slack's Reminiscence, XXV, xxvii. The Fisk Jubilee Singers have been the subject of excellent work beginning with). B. T. Marsh, The Story of the Jubilee Singers; with Their Songs (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1881); on their tour in South Africa, see Veit Erlmann, African Stars: Studies in Black South African Performance (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), chap 2. 16 Abbott and Seroff, Out of Sight, 61-62. 17 Simond, Old Slack's Reminiscence, 24, 11;Johnson, Black Manhattan, 92-93; Gura and Bollman, America's Instrument, 153; Karen Linn, That Half-Barbaric Tivang: The Banjo in American Popular Culture (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991), 45-46; Abbott and Seroff, Out of Sight, 95-97. 18 Frances Lee Utley and Robert Toll, "Preface," and Robert Toll, "Introduction," in Simond, Old Slack's Reminiscence, viii-x, xvii, xxiii see also Simond's own reflections, esp. P. 18; Abbott and Seroff, Out ofSight, 193. 19 Simond, Old Slack's Reminiscence, 5-6, 10-11. 20 Simond, Old Slack's Reminiscence, 9 and 36 n. 13; Abbott and Seroff, Out of Sight, 148-149. 21 Toll, "Introduction" to Simond, Old Slack's Reminiscence, xxiii-xxiv; Taylor and Austen, Darkest America, 63-64; Abbott and Seroff, Out of Sight, 110-112. . 18; Abbott and Seroff, Out ofSight, 193. 19 Simond, Old Slack's Reminiscence, 5-6, 10-11. 20 Simond, Old Slack's Reminiscence, 9 and 36 n. 13; Abbott and Seroff, Out of Sight, 148-149. 21 Toll, "Introduction" to Simond, Old Slack's Reminiscence, xxiii-xxiv; Taylor and Austen, Darkest America, 63-64; Abbott and Seroff, Out of Sight, 110-112. --- Page 353 --- Notes to Pages 254-261 22 Miller, Segregating Sound, 98-101, 129-130; Taylor and Austen, Darkest America, 64-65; Abbott and Seroff, Ragged but Right, 69-70, 81-87; Francis Lee Utley and Robert Toll, "Major Dates in Black Minstrelsy," in Simond, Old Slack's Reminiscence, 49-50. 23 Abbott and Seroff, Out of Sight, 251-252. 24 Abbott and Seroff, Out of Sight, 254, 273-274; Miller, Segregating Sound, 109-110. 25 Miller, Segregating Sound, 112-117; W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (New York: Library of America, 1990); for a deep and sustained analysis ofDu Bois's interpretation of music, see Anderson, Deep River chap. 1. 26 Reid Badger, A Life in Ragtime: A Biography ofJames Reese Europe (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 10-16, 20, 54. 27 Badger, A Life in Ragtime, 29-31. 28 Badger, A Life in Ragtime, 29-31, 51, 96; Linn, Half-Barbaric Tivang, 91. 29 Badger, A Life in Ragtime, 54, 68, 95-96. 30 Badger, A Life in Ragtime, 61, 65-67. 31 Badger, A Life in Ragtime, 66-67. 32 Badger, A Life in Ragtime, 74-76, 86. 33 Nathan Huggins evokes the impact of Europe's military band in Nathan Irvin Huggins, Harlem Renaissance, updated ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), 55-56; Charles Hersch, Subversive Sounds: Race and the Birth ofJazz in New Orleans (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007), 16; Thomas David Brothers, Louis Armstrong's New Orleans (New York: W. W. Norton, 2006), 101; Lawrence Gushee, "The Ninetenth-Century Origins ofJazz, Black Music Research Journal 22 (2002): 65-66. The history of early jazz-and the place of New Orleans within it-has been the subject of a great deal ofexcellent work and also much debate. For an excellent analysis of the ways in which New Orleans has figured in jazz scholarship, see Bruce Boyd Raeburn, New Orleans Style and the Writing of American Jazz History (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2009). 34 Lawrence Marrero interviews, April 10, 1958 and January 2, 1959, Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University; George Guesnon interview, June 10, 1960, Hogan Jazz Archive; on the Jelly Roll Morton cover, see Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo, 128-129. 35 Johnny St. Cyrinterview, August 27, 1958, PP. 1-2, Hogan Jazz Archive. Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo, 137; Brothers, Louis Armstrong's New Orleans, 229. 2009). 34 Lawrence Marrero interviews, April 10, 1958 and January 2, 1959, Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University; George Guesnon interview, June 10, 1960, Hogan Jazz Archive; on the Jelly Roll Morton cover, see Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo, 128-129. 35 Johnny St. Cyrinterview, August 27, 1958, PP. 1-2, Hogan Jazz Archive. Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo, 137; Brothers, Louis Armstrong's New Orleans, 229. --- Page 354 --- Notes to Pages 262-267 36 Brothers, Louis Armstrong's New Orleans, 251-254; William Howland Kenney, Jazz on the River (Chicago: University ofChicago Press, 2005), 46-47, 51, 57-58; Hersch, Subversive Sounds, 20. Johnny St. Cyri interview, August 27, 1958, PP. 4, 15, Hogan Jazz Archive. 37 Brothers, Louis Armstrong's New Orleans, 276; Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo, 137, 157. 38 Al Rose and Edmond Souchon, New Orleans Jazz: A Family Album (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1984), 16; Al Rose, "Emmanuel Sayles: Playing Plectrum Banjo in Jazz Band," Pickin' 1, no. 6 July 1979): 35-37; Brothers, Louis Armstrong's New Orleans, 222-223; for detailed studies ofNew Orleans groups in which the banjo played an important role, see Sally Newhart, The Original Tuxedo Jazz Band: More than a Century of a New Orleans Icon (Charleston, SC: History Press, 2013);J John McCusker, Creole Trombone: Kid Ory and the Early Years ofJazz (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2012). 39 George Guesnon interview, June 10, 1960, Hogan Jazz Archive; Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo, 158-159. 40 Danny Barker interview, June 18, 1959 and June 30, 1959, Hogan Jazz Archive. Rose and Souchon, New Orleans Jazz, 9, 51; Sidney Bechet, Treat It Gentle: AnAutobiography (Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2002), 187. 41 Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo, 160-162; Danny Barker, A Life in Jazz, ed. Alyn Shipton (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986); on the influence of Cuban music in New Orleans, see Ned Sublette, The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square (Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 2008), esp. chap. 11. 42 Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo, 165, 169-170; Barker, A Life in Jazz, 113-114. 43 Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo, 152-153. 44 Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo, 166, 180. Lawrence Marrero interviews, April 10, 1958 and January 2, 1959, Hogan Jazz Archive. 45 Bardinet, Une histoire du banjo, 144, 149, 179; for photographs of banjos in various European bands, as well as in the 1936 strike, see the photographic insert in Francois Billard and Didier Roussin, Histoires de L'accordéon (Castelnaule-Lez: [Paris]: Climats-I.N.A., 1991), 184 ff; several of these photographs are from the private collection ofRobert Santiago. 46 Brent Hayes Edwards, The Practice of Diaspora: Literature, Translation, and the Rise of Black Internationalism (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003), 172-173; Jean Pierre Meunier and Brigitte Léardée, La Biguine de 1936 strike, see the photographic insert in Francois Billard and Didier Roussin, Histoires de L'accordéon (Castelnaule-Lez: [Paris]: Climats-I.N.A., 1991), 184 ff; several of these photographs are from the private collection ofRobert Santiago. 46 Brent Hayes Edwards, The Practice of Diaspora: Literature, Translation, and the Rise of Black Internationalism (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003), 172-173; Jean Pierre Meunier and Brigitte Léardée, La Biguine de --- Page 355 --- Notes to Pages 268-270 l'oncle Ben's: Ernest Léardée raconte (Paris: Editions caribéennes, 1989), 101, 111, 115, 119, and for photos ofbands 144, 177, 186; on music and dance in late nineteenth-century Antilles, see Jacqueline Rosemain, La Danse aux Antilles: Des rythmes sacrés au Zouk (Paris: L'Harmattan, 1990), chap. 6; for the image from Réunion see Billard and Roussin, Histoires de Laccordéon, photographic insert PP. 184 ff. 47 On the history of mento, see Daniel Tannehill Neely, "*Mento, Jamaica's Original Music": Development, Tourism and the Nationalist Frame" (PhD. diss, New York University, 2007). The information on the link between the banjo and reggae comes from conversations with Kenneth Bilby, who interviewed a number of musicians involved in the early days of reggae during his fieldwork in Jamaica. 48 Richard Roe, "AJamaican Troubadour," Daily Gleaner, April 14, 1934. My thanks to Joy Lumsden for sharing this source with me. The banjo from Kingston is now held in the Museum ofHistory, Anthropology and Art at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Pedras. I gathered details about the banjo in the museum in Puerto Rico from Sidney Mintz during an interview at Duke University on April, 2012. My thanks to Kenneth Bilby for sharing his images ofbanjo players from the Caribbean region with me. 49 On the phenomenon of"coon songs," see James H. Dormon, "Shaping the Popular Image of Post-Reconstruction American Blacks: The 'Coon Song' Phenomenon of the Gilded Age," American Quarterly 40, no. 4 (December 1, 1988): 450-471; and Abbott and Seroff, Ragged but Right; on the "Coon Carnival" see Denis Martin, Coon Carnival: New Year in Cape Town, Past to Present (Cape Town: David Philip Publishers, 1999); and Denis- Constant Martin, "Le métissage en musique: Un mouvement perpétuel (Amérique du Nord et Afrique du Sud)," Cahiers de musiques traditionnelles 13 (January 1, 2000): 11-13; on U.S. nineteenthcentury music in South Africa, see Dale Cockrell, "OfGospel Hymns, Minstrel Shows, and Jubilee Singers: Toward Some Black South African Musics," American Music 5, no. 4 (Winter 1987): 417-432, dot10.23073051450; Erlmann, African Stars, chap 1. 50 For the banjo music from East and Central Africa, see the album Colonial Dance Bands: Kenya, Tanganyika, Portuguese East Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Belgian Congo, 1950 & 1952 (International Library of African Music, South Africa), 2006. 51 Iam indebted to Hisham Aidi for all these details about the banjo in North Africa. On the recent circulation and political meaning of North African music, see Hisham Aidi, Rebel Music: Race, Empire, and the New Muslim Youth Culture (New York: Pantheon Books, 2014). The 2011 documentary film El Gusto explores the history of the banjo in chaabi music. , Tanganyika, Portuguese East Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Belgian Congo, 1950 & 1952 (International Library of African Music, South Africa), 2006. 51 Iam indebted to Hisham Aidi for all these details about the banjo in North Africa. On the recent circulation and political meaning of North African music, see Hisham Aidi, Rebel Music: Race, Empire, and the New Muslim Youth Culture (New York: Pantheon Books, 2014). The 2011 documentary film El Gusto explores the history of the banjo in chaabi music. --- Page 356 --- Notes to Pages 271-277 8. SOUNDING AMERICA 1 Pete Seeger, Pete Seeger: In His Own Words, ed. Rob Rosenthal and Sam Rosenthal (Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2012), 8-9. 2 Ken Perlman, "Pete Seeger: Father of the 5-String Banjo Revival," Banjo Newsletter 27, no. 11 (September 2000): 16-23, P. 17. 3 Perlman, "Pete Seeger: Father of the 5-String Banjo Revival," 17. 4 Robert Cantwell, When We Were Good: The Folk Revival (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996), 241-245. 5 Allan M. Winkler, "To Everything There Is a Season": Pete Seeger and the Power of Song (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 4-5; Bill C. Malone, Music From the True Vine: Mike Seeger's Life & MusicalJourney (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011), 12-13. 6 Malone, True Vine, 13-14; Winkler, Seeger, 5. 7 Ronald D. Cohen and James Capaldi, eds., The Pete Seeger Reader (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 46. 8 Malone, True Vine, 14-15. 9 Malone, True Vine, 15-20. 10 Cohen and Capaldi, Seeger Reader, 49; Winkler, Seeger, 2-3; Cantwell, When We Were Good, 249; Malone, True Vine, 12-13; Sceger, In His Own Words, 8-9. 11 Robert Cantwell, "Smith's Memory Theater: The Folkways Anthology of American Folk Music," New England Review (1990-) 13, no. 3/4 (April 1, 1991): 26;John F. Szwed, Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded the World (New York: Viking Penguin, 2010), 118-119; Winkler, Seeger, 8-9; Alec Wilkinson, The Protest Singer: An Intimate Portrait of Pete Seeger (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009), 50-51; Lunsford had a very particular vision of what constituted "Appalachian" music, and African-American performers were excluded from the festival. He was politically conservative, and when in 1953 Folkways records released an album of Lunsford tunes recorded for the Library of Congress and he saw that the leftist Pete Seeger had written the notes he "almost choked on his coffee. >9 Cohen and Capaldi, Seeger Reader, 55, 6465, 114. 12 Winkler, Sceger, 9, 15-16; Cohen and Capaldi, Seeger Reader, 58-61; Seeger, In His Own Words, 11-13. 13 Wilkinson, The Protest Singer, 50, 59; Szwed, Alan Lomax, 144-145; Seeger, In His Own Words, 13; Cohen and Capaldi, Seeger Reader, 49, 65. notes he "almost choked on his coffee. >9 Cohen and Capaldi, Seeger Reader, 55, 6465, 114. 12 Winkler, Sceger, 9, 15-16; Cohen and Capaldi, Seeger Reader, 58-61; Seeger, In His Own Words, 11-13. 13 Wilkinson, The Protest Singer, 50, 59; Szwed, Alan Lomax, 144-145; Seeger, In His Own Words, 13; Cohen and Capaldi, Seeger Reader, 49, 65. --- Page 357 --- Notes to Pages 277-289 14 Winkler, Seeger, 15-16. 15 Seeger, In His Own Words, 13-14; Winkler, Seeger, 18-19. 16 Winkler, Seeger, 21-24; Seeger, In His Own Words, 49; Cohen and Capaldi, Seeger Reader, 114. 17 Winkler, Seeger, 17, 28; Seeger, In His Own Words, 25-26; Cohen and Capaldi, Seeger Reader, 69. 18 Winkler, Sceger, 28-31; Seeger, In His Own Words, 23. 19 Winkler, Seeger, 30-31; Seeger, In His Own Words, 23-25. 20 Seeger, In His Own Words, 21, 27. 21 Winkler, Seeger, 33-34,52. 22 Seeger, In His Own Words, 29, 31, 33, 37. 23 Cohen and Capaldi, Seeger Reader, 81-82, 84, 114. 24 Seeger, In His Own Words, 39-40. 25 Winkler, Seeger, 56-63; Cohen and Capaldi, Seeger Reader, 17-19. 26 Cohen and Capaldi, Sceger Reader, 113. 27 Greil Marcus, The Old, Weird America: The World of Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes (New York: Picador, 2011), 85, 89, 94, 120-121; Marcus's reading of the anthology draws deeply from Cantwell, "Smith's Memory Theater." 28 Cohen and Capaldi, Seeger Reader, 111-112. 29 Cohen and Capaldi, Seeger Reader, 34, 95, 114; Pete Seeger, How to Play the 5-String Banjo, 3rd ed. (Beacon, New York, 2002); Seeger, In His Own Words, 75. 30 Wilkinson, Protest Singer, 12-13; Cohen and Capaldi, Seeger Reader, 5, 13, 177; Cantwell, When We Were Good, 241-242. 31 Seeger, In His Own Words, 41-42. 32 Seeger, In His Oun Words, 41-42, 67-69. 33 Cantwell, When We Were Good, 243; Cohen and Capaldi, Seeger Reader, 26. 34 Cohen and Capaldi, Seeger Reader, 177. 35 Bill Simon, "Rash of Banjo Fever Breaks Out in U.S." Billboard, June 25, 1955, in Southern Folklife Collection, Subject Files, Folder 32, No. 7. Ishmael Reed, Mumbo Jumbo (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1972). 36 Simon, "Rash of Banjo Fever." 37 Cantwell, When We Were Good, 244-245. Were Good, 243; Cohen and Capaldi, Seeger Reader, 26. 34 Cohen and Capaldi, Seeger Reader, 177. 35 Bill Simon, "Rash of Banjo Fever Breaks Out in U.S." Billboard, June 25, 1955, in Southern Folklife Collection, Subject Files, Folder 32, No. 7. Ishmael Reed, Mumbo Jumbo (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1972). 36 Simon, "Rash of Banjo Fever." 37 Cantwell, When We Were Good, 244-245. --- Page 358 --- Notes to Pages 289-302 38 Thomas Goldsmith, ed., The Bluegrass Reader (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004), 36-42; Neil V. Rosenberg, Bluegrass: A History, Music in American Life (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2005), 34, 56-58; on the phenomenon of"hillbilly music," see Archie Green, Torching the Fink Books and Other Essays on Vernacular Culture (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001), 8-46. 39 Rosenberg, Bluegrass, 56-58. 40 Rosenberg, Bluegrass, 32-34; Robert Cantwell, Bluegrass Breakdown: The Making of the Old Southern Sound (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1984), 53-54, 102-104. 41 Rosenberg, Bluegrass, 70-77, 152. 42 Cantwell, Bluegrass Breakdown, 102-105. 43 Goldsmith, Bluegrass Reader, 97-99; Rosenberg, Bluegrass, 147-148. 44 Goldsmith, Bluegrass Reader, 101-103; Rosenberg, Bluegrass, 158. 45 Karl Hagstrom Miller, Segregating Sound: Inventing Folk and Pop Music in the Age ofJim Crow (Durham: Duke University Press, 2010). 46 The Kid Mero, "The Dixie Chicks Greatest Hits Reminds Me That Banjos Are Always Racist," Noisey, December 4, 2012, hutg./moiseyvice.com /Heghhe-dise-chii-greatechine-remind-me-tbuaciugn-ire-adeson -racist. 47 Steve Martin, Born Standing Up (New York: Scribner, 2007), 53, 62, 83. 48 Wilkinson, Protest Singer, 75-76, 125. 49 Wilkinson, Protest Singer, 73-75; Winkler, Seeger, 76-78. 50 Winkler, Seeger, 54-55, 62, 66-69. 51 Cohen and Capaldi, Seeger Reader, 26. 52 Wilkinson, Protest Singer, 127-130. 53 Wilkinson, Protest Singer, 79, 132-137, 147. 54 Winkler, Seeger, 83-86. 55 Seeger, In His Own Words, 116-117. 56 Seeger, In His Own Words, 117; Wilkinson, Protest Singer, 89-90. 57 Wilkinson, Protest Singer, 95-97. 58 Wilkinson, Protest Singer, 97-101. 59 Wilkinson, Protest Singer, 101-102. 60 Seeger, In His Own Words, 52-53. --- Page 359 --- Note to Page 302 61 These memories were shared with me via email on February 1, 2014, by Jane Jordan of Boynton Beach, Florida, in response to an homage to Seeger I wrote that was published in the South Florida newspaper the Sun-Sentinel. I use them here with her permission. For my piece, published on January 30, 2014, see httpe/articlessun-sentinel.com/2014-01-30/news/f-opinion2-pete-secger -remember-20140130_1_banjo-pete-seeger-lincoln-memorial. These memories were shared with me via email on February 1, 2014, by Jane Jordan of Boynton Beach, Florida, in response to an homage to Seeger I wrote that was published in the South Florida newspaper the Sun-Sentinel. I use them here with her permission. For my piece, published on January 30, 2014, see httpe/articlessun-sentinel.com/2014-01-30/news/f-opinion2-pete-secger -remember-20140130_1_banjo-pete-seeger-lincoln-memorial. --- Page 360 --- --- Page 361 --- Acknoseledgments This book began one day in Lansing, Michigan, when, enraptured by the sounds of Taj Mahal's banjo playing on his song "Colored Aristocracy," I drove over from my home in East Lansing to nearby Elderly Music. That store is as close to a church for guitars and banjos as you'll come by, and though my intent was just to buy a few CDs, I soon ended up on the way home with a beautiful Mike Ramsey banjo in the back of my car. The child ofl Belgian immigrants to the United States, I remember feeling vividly that-many years after having been naturalized formally as a citizen-I had, in that moment, finally become fully American. That was about a decade ago. Since then, I've embarked on a spiral ofjourneys (both physical and imaginary) that have led me to Haiti and Senegal, Paris and Brussels, to ancient Egypt and Muslim Iberia, out and about in New Orleans, and through the alleys of Washington, DC. Along the way, as one does on such a journey, I depended on the generosity of strangers who became friends and wandered my way down plenty of winding paths that led me back where I started. The story laid out in the preceding pages is what it is thanks to those who, at a few key moments, gave me energizing and luminous suggestions that brightened the way forward. This book was possible only because of the work of a collective of people, bigger than you might think, as obsessed as I am-or, actually, to be honest, in a lot of cases even more obsessed than I am-with the banjo and its history. They wander and lurk in various places, notably the yearly Banjo Collectors Gathering, but also in the many banjo camps and --- Page 362 --- Acknoseledgments 352 dot the land in summertime, creating the terrifying workshops that carrying around the instrument, ofliterally hundreds of people end. spectacle hum and buzz into the heavens for days on sending an endless Tony Thomas, Iwas drawn into this world by the endlessly energetic and Cece Conway, who organized with his Black Banjo discussion group, State University in 2005. the first Black Banjo Gathering at Appalachian levels, for out of memorable and even epochal on many It was an event Drops (best thing to ever emerge from it came the Carolina Chocolate It also there, during a presenacademic conference, I'd hazard). was an that had been unearthed in France a few tation about a Haitian banza write this book. Whether that earlier, that I decided that I should years need to decide for yourself; but ultiwas a good or a bad thing, you'll the sense that as a historian ofthe mately what followed was driven by to add to the Haiti, I might have something Caribbean, and particularly about the instrument. already rich conversation that was underway interlocuIn Boone I also met several people who became constant oft the Greg Adams (creator tors as I worked on this project, particularly Pete Ross, with whom I Sightings database) and the banjo maker Banjo we'd from DC punk kids to banjopleasingly shared the fact that gone sense when you that actually makes perfect loving adults, a transition but within a few years I'd end think about it. Haiti, I might have something Caribbean, and particularly about the instrument. already rich conversation that was underway interlocuIn Boone I also met several people who became constant oft the Greg Adams (creator tors as I worked on this project, particularly Pete Ross, with whom I Sightings database) and the banjo maker Banjo we'd from DC punk kids to banjopleasingly shared the fact that gone sense when you that actually makes perfect loving adults, a transition but within a few years I'd end think about it. I didn't know it in 2005, which North Carolina my home, moving to Duke University, up making far from the University of North Carolina at happily happens to be not a bit of a basketball rivalry, Chapel Hill-a fact that, besides nourishing scholars of Amerthat I lived in a place where some ofthe greatest meant conversations with Phil Gura, ican musical history sauntered about. My and shaped Cantwell, and Bill Ferris over the years were inspiring Bob my thoughts here. the time I left Michigan, I supposeI was an ok banjo player by the Midwest Banjo Camp, attendance at thanks in part to my enjoyable dorms at Michigan State Ken Perlman, held in the project-like run by I had the privilege there to take workshops University, where I taught. scholars of Amerthat I lived in a place where some ofthe greatest meant conversations with Phil Gura, ican musical history sauntered about. My and shaped Cantwell, and Bill Ferris over the years were inspiring Bob my thoughts here. the time I left Michigan, I supposeI was an ok banjo player by the Midwest Banjo Camp, attendance at thanks in part to my enjoyable dorms at Michigan State Ken Perlman, held in the project-like run by I had the privilege there to take workshops University, where I taught. brilliance and deep knowledge of with Mike Seeger, whose grace and demonstrations and and whose the instrument were awe-inspiring, Carolina, of course, I beelate me still. When I got to North teachings because this is the kind came a much worse banjo player in comparison, play a little, sure, ) and then bring you to tears of place where people say"I --- Page 363 --- 353 Acknostedgments with a haunting mountain tune or set their grass tune as ifit were banjos on fire with a bluehe nothing. As Taj Mahal himself played here one night at the Durham announced when lina is one of the few baseball stadium, North Caroaway-when places where people clap- --rather than you pull out a banjo. It has been the running this book. perfect place to write I was lucky enough to get generous different sources. Shortly support for my work from a few after arriving here in a fellowship at the National North Carolina, I received Humanities Center and a Fellowship to support the project. And Guggenheim muliyear Mellon New a few years later I received a Directions which to go back to school, studying Fellowship, gave me the chance with David Garcia musicology and Classes at UNC ethnomusicology. and Louise and at Duke were Meintjes Paul Berliner here which mind-cxpanding-and. in the case we learned to play the mbira, ofPaul's class, during thumb Anthony Lewis was patient (if strengthening too -and his music bemused) while I floundered theory class, holding back the infinitely through year students as I tried to understand more advanced firstBut the time signatures and such. teaching assistant for that class, David poser and music theorist Garner, a brilliant comhimself, also for the banjo. We happened to have a weakness began a collaboration that has working to create a website called shaped my work here, hour "Banjology" and listening to recordings, playing spending many an of how, songs, and discussing the precisely, one should account for a question scription. Mary Caton banjo tune in musical tranLingold, another brilliant Duke doctoral studying early American and Atlantic student and her insights have music, worked with us on the site, shaped this book as well. And years before graduate student Julia Gaffield gathered that, my liographical materials, together my already scattered bibteaching me that you can in a nifty software actually put references program on your computer, rather than your office looking for a book or a rooting around New Orleans, that ultimate photocopy every time. North America, has been crossroads between the Caribbean and central to this guided me generously in book'sjourney. Bruce Raeburn my research at the Hogan Jazz Archive Tulane-perhaps the only, or at least one of the at piano in it-giving me a complete list of few, archives that has a the city on the day Iarrived. Other every banjo player he knew ofin friends and colleagues at Tulane, Emily your office looking for a book or a rooting around New Orleans, that ultimate photocopy every time. North America, has been crossroads between the Caribbean and central to this guided me generously in book'sjourney. Bruce Raeburn my research at the Hogan Jazz Archive Tulane-perhaps the only, or at least one of the at piano in it-giving me a complete list of few, archives that has a the city on the day Iarrived. Other every banjo player he knew ofin friends and colleagues at Tulane, Emily --- Page 364 --- Acknoxeledgments 354 hosted me with their trademark unparalleled Clark and Randy Sparks, enabled me to organize an event, suphospitality. These connections in collaboration with ported by the Mellon New Directions Fellowship, oft the GulfSouth at director oft the Center for the Study Joel Dinerstein, with a conference on the Tulane, in April 2013. Planned to coincide revolved around an links between Senegal and Louisiana, the event Dia-five brothers, between the Senegalese group Demma encounter the New Orleans banjo players fishermen all, who play the ngoni-and the with no common and Carl LeBlanc. They took to stage Don Vappie for each other, and then began to play tolanguage but music, played that culminated in audience gether, creating a moment of communion Cherise Harrisonmembers-including Mardi Gras Indian Queen back feet, and then to the stage. I've thought Nelson-taking to their which as historian Lawrence often to that magic, evanescent moment, history." I'm deeply Powell told me that day was a moment of"restorative of all the many for all those who made that event, a reminder grateful before and are still to come, possible. The event crossroads that have come Adams, Kenneth Bilby, also included a workshop and panel with Greg Ned Bruce Raeburn, Matt Sakakeeny, Jean Hebrard, Sarah Le Menestrel, those events and our days Sublette, and Tal Tamari. Their insights during me to gather the shaped this book, helping in New Orleans profoundly here. strands and pull them together into the argument and works in progress with Many scholars generously shared sources historian friends Vinthis book. My Caribbeanist me as I was researching and Ada Ferrer, having heard probably too cent Brown, Randy Browne, kindly by telling me when much about the banjo from me, responded work on Hans Sloane they came across one during their research. My shared from a in touch with James Delbourgo, who pieces brought me and contextualize the first forthcoming book and helped me untangle image ofthe New World banjo. different venues and to parts ofthis work in many I have presented and learned a lot from the questions and commany different audiences, the first Black Banjo Gathering, the Banjo ments I got. These included of History at the University of Collectors Gathering, the Departments the University of South Carolina and Florida International University, invited by the Triangle Early American History Workshop Memphis, and which featured a long and entertaining argument Kathleen Duval, brought me and contextualize the first forthcoming book and helped me untangle image ofthe New World banjo. different venues and to parts ofthis work in many I have presented and learned a lot from the questions and commany different audiences, the first Black Banjo Gathering, the Banjo ments I got. These included of History at the University of Collectors Gathering, the Departments the University of South Carolina and Florida International University, invited by the Triangle Early American History Workshop Memphis, and which featured a long and entertaining argument Kathleen Duval, --- Page 365 --- 355 I Acknoseledgments and Peter Wood-and the Chicago Humanities between Jack Greene best introduction I'll ever get in my Festival, where I got probably the a banjo song Sheila Simon performed life, when Lieutenant-Goveror of times when I composed for the occasion. It was one many specially the main argument of this book: banjos experienced what is, ultimately, in laughter and song. to bring people together, have an amazing capacity and often overstretched academics What would we scattered, verbose, to get us to finish do without the amazing editors who somehow manage Press, all odds? Joyce Seltzer of Harvard University our projects against lit up when I second book on the Haitian Revolution, who edited my she has been endlessly patient as it took told her about this project; and other the ups and time, by various projects, more and more interrupted complex oflife, and the fact that it turns out to be fascinatingly downs I should have known before starting). to write about music (as I guess telling me "that's not fundamental in shaping the final project, She was "this is it!" when it was. Also at Harit!" when it wasn't, and then saying the provided invaluable help shepherding vard Press, Brian Distelberg Wendy Strothman, who got And it was my agent, book to publication. and has been calmly enthe project to the right place in the beginning couraging all along the way. and supportive ofthis proMy family has been endlessly encouraging tidbit I'd attentively when I describe one more super-cool cess, listening with-and at times even discovered about the banjo and putting up wife, at odd hours. My sudden bursts ofbanjo playing enjoying-many: of and writing her own stories, Katharine, always in the midst weaving and tell this one. And helped me see how to understand has constantly crossed my mind to call him Anton-who knows that it actually my son, before he was born-has grown up with a "Banjo Dubois" at one point his He has althe wall and its hum surrounding many steps. banjo on this book ultimately offers: that to been a reminder of what I hope a ways even in the midst of great difficulty, be human is ultimately to find, way to sing out and move forward. --- Page 366 --- --- Page 367 --- Index Abernathy, Ralph, 299 Bahamas, 268 Abolitionism, 97-98, 104-105, 113-117, Bala, 33, 82, 125 125, 145-147, 182, 203. See also Bal Nègre, 267 Clarkson, Thomas; Grégoire, Abbé Baltimore, 197, 212-214, 248, 265 Henri; Thornton, Henry Banjo Lesson (painting), 241. See also Abrahams, Roger, 286 Tanner, Henry Ossawa Adams, John Quincy, 193 The Banjo Lesson (pastel), 228, 230. Africa: 1n music theory, 9-10; idea of, See also Cassatt, Mary 52, 90-91 Baptiste, 62-64 Akan, 44, 63-64, 75 Barbados, 58, 70, 76, 108, 111 Akeman, David, a.k.a. "Stringbean, ** 290 Barker, Danny, 261, 263-264 Alabama Slave Minstrels, 248 Barnum, P. Banjo Lesson (pastel), 228, 230. Africa: 1n music theory, 9-10; idea of, See also Cassatt, Mary 52, 90-91 Baptiste, 62-64 Akan, 44, 63-64, 75 Barbados, 58, 70, 76, 108, 111 Akeman, David, a.k.a. "Stringbean, ** 290 Barker, Danny, 261, 263-264 Alabama Slave Minstrels, 248 Barnum, P. T., 195, 197 Albany, 71 Barrett, Percy, 268 Almanac Singers, 278-280, 282 Barthelemy, Mimi, 137-138 Andalusia, 26-29 Bascom, Louise Rand, 234 Anderson, Marian, 304 Bayley, Frederick, 112 Ansokko bania, 82 Beaufort, South Carolina, 117, 142 Antigua, 91, 109 Bebop, 265 Appalachians, 231-237 Bechet, Sidney, 264 Arbery, Kate, 160 Beckford, William, 103-104 Armstrong, Louis, 260-262, 264 Beguine, 267 Armstrong, Orlando Kay, 142 Behn, Aphra, 176 Ashe, Thomas, 106-107 Benin, 31-32, 49, 63 Asheville, 156, 231,275 Berbice, 84-85 Ashley, Clarence, 235, 283 Beyonce, 302 Ashley, Edgar A., 234 Big Four String Band, 260 A Trip to Coontown (play), 254 Bilby, Kenneth, 88-90, 268 Attmore, William, 106 Black Act, 176 Austen, Jake, 247 Black America (play), 253-254 Avery, Elijah, 245 Black Bill, 146-147 --- Page 368 --- Index Blackface Performance: in European Carnegie Hall, 257-260, 299 theater, 173-178; in Saint-Domingue, Carolina Chocolate Drops, 234, 306 178-180; in Minstrelsy, 172 Carter, Sidney, 285 Blake, or the Huts of America, 153-155. Black Act, 176 Austen, Jake, 247 Black America (play), 253-254 Avery, Elijah, 245 Black Bill, 146-147 --- Page 368 --- Index Blackface Performance: in European Carnegie Hall, 257-260, 299 theater, 173-178; in Saint-Domingue, Carolina Chocolate Drops, 234, 306 178-180; in Minstrelsy, 172 Carter, Sidney, 285 Blake, or the Huts of America, 153-155. See Cash,Johnny, 300 also Delany, Martin R. Cassatt, Mary, 228, 230 Bland, Henry, 161 Castle, Irene, 259 Blind Blake (Bahamian musician), 268 Castle, Susan, 161 Blind Blake (U.S. blues musician), 245 Castle, Vernon, 259 Blind Tom, 263 Chambers, Douglas, 77 Bluegrass, 289-294 Charivari, 176 Blythe, David Gilmore, 207 Chickasaw, 106-107 Bohee, James, 248 Chippy'sDance Band, 269 Bollman,James, 10 Christy, Edwin Pearce, 200 Bombardopolis, 128-129 Christy's Minstrels, 144, 166, 168, 200 Boucher family, 213-214, 224, 306 Cincinnati, 191, 196, 209-210, 251 Bowery, 194, 197-198, 216 Civil Rights Movement, 296, 299, 302 Brer Rabbit (folk character), 249 Civil War, 147, 158-160, 162, 188, British Museum, 24, 60, 69 203-207, 210-212; and AfricanBrooke, Richard Norris, 241 American performers, 249-250 Brooks, Garth, 302 Clapisson, Louis, 98-99 Broonzy, Big Bill, 286 Clarkson, Thomas, 104-105, 125 Brower, Frank, 197-198 Clay, Berry, 161 Brown, Lewis, 160 ClefClub, 256-258 Brown, Mary, 211 Clément, 178-181 Buckley,James, 217 Cockrell, Dale, 195 Buckley's Minstrels, 250 Cody, Pierce, 156 Bucktown, 209-212 Cole, Bob, 254 Buffalo Soldiers, 253 Comeddia dell'Arte, 174 Buffon (theatrical character), 174 Communist Party, 278-279, 282, 295-296 Butler, Marshal, 161 Congo Square, 93-96, 132, 189, 200, 202 Butler, Picayune (New Orleans musiConverse, Frank, 215, 217-224 cian), 15, 187-194, 261 Conway, Cece, 10, 170-171 Butler, Picayune (ninetcenth-century Coon Carnival (South Africa), 269 minstrel), 216, 219-220 Cooper,James Fenimore, 72 Byrd, Sarah, 161-162 Corn Meal, 185-187 Corn Shuckings, 239-240, 292 Cable, George Washington, 190 Cotton, Ben, 170-171 Cahouet, 124 Crabtree, Lotta, 228 Calabashes, comparison to Gourds, 67-68 Crawford, Ruth, 274 Calenda, 53-57, 126, 128 Creole-bania, 82-83 Callithumpian bands, 176 Creoles, 79, 84-85, 128 Calloway, Cab, 264 Creolization, 50, 62, 77, 88-89 Calypso, 267, 284 Crisp, Rufus, 276 Cannon, Gus, 244-246 Crockett, David, 164 Cantwell, Bob, 272-273, 285-286 Cross, as Kongo cosmogram, 68-69, 119 Carlin, Bob, 170 Crowder, Bill (stage character), 196 , 79, 84-85, 128 Calloway, Cab, 264 Creolization, 50, 62, 77, 88-89 Calypso, 267, 284 Crisp, Rufus, 276 Cannon, Gus, 244-246 Crockett, David, 164 Cantwell, Bob, 272-273, 285-286 Cross, as Kongo cosmogram, 68-69, 119 Carlin, Bob, 170 Crowder, Bill (stage character), 196 --- Page 369 --- Index Cuba, 4, 94-95, 124-125, 154, 202, 264, Ferguson, Archibald, 196, 199 Finch, John, 153 Cubba (stage character), 178 Fisk Jubilee Singers, 248-249, 255, 299 Cuney-Hare, Maud, 190 Fleck, Bela, 294, 305 Cunningham, Baily, 157 Fleming, Renée, 302 Curlett, Betty, 161 Flemons, Dom, 306 Flight to America (play), 193 Dabney, W. P., 254 Flood, Joel Walker, 169 Dar-es-Salam Jazz Band, 269 Folk Revival, 283-289, 291-292 Davis,Jim, 160 Foote, William, 252 Davis,John (musician), 158-159 Foster, Morrison, 144 Davis, John (writer), 86-87 Foster, Stephen, 144-146 Delany, Martin R., 153-155 Foster String Band, 289 Deliverance (film), 293 Franklin, Benjamin, 113 Descourtilz, Michel-Etienne, 127-128 Franklin, Marie, 121-122 De Tussac, Richard, 125-126 Franklyn, Gilbert, 105 Le Devin du Village (play), 178-179 Frog (as symbol), 120-121, 136 Diamond,John, 195 Fugitive Slave Law, 146-147 Dibdin, Charles, 177-178, 181 Dickson, William, 108 Gabriel's Revolt, 165-168 DiFranco, Ani, 305 Gambia, 35, 46, 54,61 Disneyland, 266 Garey, Elisha Doc, 162 Dixie Chicks, 293 Garner, David, 235-236 Dobson, George, 223-224 Gédé, 134 Dobson, Henry, 222, 224-225, 229 Genuine Colored Minstrels, 251 Drums, and banjo construction, 30, 214 Georgia Colored Minstrels, 250 Du Bois, W.E.B., 13-15, 255, 259 Georgia Minstrel Troupe, 248 Dvorak, Antonin, 254-255 Georgia Sea Islands, 161 German Minstrels, 199 Edson, Constance de Clyver, 273-274 Gibson Company, 225, 265, 288 Edwards, Bryan, 110-111 Giddens, Rhiannon, 306 Egypt, 7, 23, 25, 44, 98 Gillam, Cora, 156 El Harrachi, Dahmane, 270 Gnawa, 44-45, 270 Ellington, Duke, 264 Gottschalk, Louis Moreau, 202 Emmett, Dan, 196-199 Gourds, comparison to Calabashes, Equiano, Olaudah, 40 67-68 Ethiopian Minstrels, 166 Grainger, Thomas, 103, 125 Ethiopian Opera House, 224 Grand-Bwa, 122 Eubanks, Norman, 168, 170 Grand Old Opry, 236 Europe,James Reese, 255-260, 267 Grand Simone, 130, 135 Ewe, 149 Great Migration, 239-240, 252 Greene, Isaiah, 156 Fairbanks Whyte Ladie banjo, 265, 271 Greenwich Village, 270, 280, 282 Fairfax, Thomas, 106 Grégoire, Abbé Henri, 125-126, 255 Falconbridge, Alexander, 85 Griots, 32-37, 40-43, 56 Featherstonhaugh, George, 139-140 Guadeloupe, 53-57, 69-70, 98 Great Migration, 239-240, 252 Greene, Isaiah, 156 Fairbanks Whyte Ladie banjo, 265, 271 Greenwich Village, 270, 280, 282 Fairfax, Thomas, 106 Grégoire, Abbé Henri, 125-126, 255 Falconbridge, Alexander, 85 Griots, 32-37, 40-43, 56 Featherstonhaugh, George, 139-140 Guadeloupe, 53-57, 69-70, 98 --- Page 370 --- Index Guesnon, George, 263-264 Jackson, Cordelia Anderson, 156 Gumbe Drum, 88-90 Jackson,John, 17, 236 Gura, Philip, 10 Jacobs, Harriet, 151 Guthrie, Woody, 277-282, 284, 301, 304 Jamaica, 3, 13, 50, 77, 79; Junkanoo in, Guy, Fred, 264 148-150; plantation life and music in, 57-71, 88-90; mento music in, Haiti, 97-102, 123-138 267-268 Hamet, Muly, 175 James River, 153, 155 Harlem Renaissance, 3, 342n11, Japan, 188, 305 343n33 Java, 251 Harris, Jocl Chandler, 227-228 Jazz, 95, 260-270, 271, 288,305 Hartman, Saidiya, 143, 159 Jeannot et Thérèse (play), 181-183 Hayes, Lee, 278, 297 Jefferson, Thomas, 107, 109 Heard, Emmaline, 162 Jelly Roll Morton, 260 Hearn, Lafcadio, 209-212, 261, 267 Jenkins, Snuffy, 290-291 Hector, Richard, 135 Jennings, Samuel, 113-116 Hemphill, Sid, 242-243 Jim Crow (stage character), 144, 165, Henderson, Charles C., 260 191-194 Henry,John, 231-232 Jobson, Richard,35-36, 77 Henson, Josiah, 146 John Canoc. SeeJunkanoo Hero (musician), 84-85 Johnson,James Weldon, 246 Heyward, Lucretia, 142 Johnson, Lyndon, 301 Hicks, Charles, 248-251 Johnson, William Eastman, 162-164 Highlander Folk School, 299 Jola, 46-47 Hillbilly Music, 236, 243, 289, 294 Jonson, Ben, 173 Hines, Marriah, 157 Josué, Erol, 135 Holcomb, Roscoe, 232,3 300 Juba, 153, 190-191, 209, 211-212. Homer, Winslow, 205-207 See also Lane, William Henry Hootenanny, 280 Jug Bands, 245 House Un-American Activities ComJunkanoo, 89, 140, 148-151, 183, 189 mittee (HUAC), 294-298,302 Hovey, Sylvester, 112-113 Kaye, Sammy, 288 Hudson, Carric, 161 Keith, Bill, 294 Huff, Easter, 161 Kham, Imrat, 284 Hundley, D. R., 203-204 Kickius, Everhardus, 65-66 Kid Mero, 293 Igbo, 40, 77 KingJr., Martin Luther, 299,304 In Dahomey (play), 254 Kingston, Jamaica, 148, 183, 268 Ingraham, Joseph Holt, 189 Kingston Trio, 283 Inviting a Shot Before Petersburg Kipling, Rudyard, 229 (painting), 205-207. See also Knoxville, 107 Homer, Winslow Kongo, 37-38, 68, 77, 119, 122 Irish musicians, and Minstrelsy, 210-211; Kora, 22, 46 and banjo, 266 Koromanti (song), 63-64. See also Islam, 26-28, 39-49 Akan Ives, Burl, 295 Ku Klux Klan, 159, 293, 295 (painting), 205-207. See also Knoxville, 107 Homer, Winslow Kongo, 37-38, 68, 77, 119, 122 Irish musicians, and Minstrelsy, 210-211; Kora, 22, 46 and banjo, 266 Koromanti (song), 63-64. See also Islam, 26-28, 39-49 Akan Ives, Burl, 295 Ku Klux Klan, 159, 293, 295 --- Page 371 --- Index Labat, Jean-Baptiste, 53-57, 69-70, 91, Maroons, in Jamaica, 58, 61, 88; in 126, 202, 267 Suriname, 79 Laborde, Jean Benjamin, 77 Marrero,. John, 260 Lane, William Henry ("Master Juba") "), 247 Marrero, Lawrence, 260, 266 Langley, Elizabeth, 61 Martin, Steve, 294 Latrobe, Henry, 93-96, 132, 189 Martinique, 53-57, 69-70, 90-91, 98, Lead Belly (Huddie William Ledbetter), 126, 202, 267 277, 283 Masque of Blackness, The, 173-174 Le Cap, 124, 179 Matlock,J. R., 249-250 L'Enfant, Picrre, 163 Matthews, John, 85 Lewis, Matthew, 150 Mbanza, 77 Lhamon Jr., W. T., 184, 192 Mbira, 82, 127, 269 Liberty Displaying the Sciences andArts, McCalla, Leyla, 306 113-117, 136. See also Jennings, McKay, Claude, 2-3, 270 Samuel McLain, Billy, 253 Library Company of Philadelphia, McPherson, Charles, 110 113-115 Medicine Shows, 235-236, 244-245 Life in New Orleans (play), 185 Melody, in Music Theory, 9-10, 14 Lignum Vitae, 272 Melville, Herman, 141 Lincoln Memorial, 302-304 Memphis Students, 256 Loango, 79-80, 82-83 Mento, 267-268 Lomax, Alan, 242-243, 273, 276-277, Miller, Karl Hagstrom, 293 282-284 Milton, John, 115, 118 Long, Edward, 149 Minstrelsy, 141, 143-144, 166, 205-206, Lorenzo, 125 210-211, 233, 266; development of, Lott, Eric, 172 195-203; and African-Americam Lucas, Sam, 252 performers, 246-255 Luffiman,John, 109-110 Mintz, Sidney, 50-51, 268 Lunsford, Bascom Lamar, 231, 237, 275, Mississippi River, 93, 171, 209-210, 241; 283-284 music on riverboats on, 251-252, Lwa, 122, 124, 130-131, 134-135 261-263 Lynching, 239, 242-243 Mississippi Sheiks, 243 Mitchell, Sam, 142 Mack, Cresa, 159 Mollien, Gaspard-Théodore, 128, 130 Mackay, Alex, 141 Monroe, Bill, 243, 289-292 Macon, Uncle Dave, 236, 237, 277, Montgomery Bus Boycott, 299 284-285 Moon, Billy, 170 Madden, Nicholas, 111 Mooney, Art, 288 Makandal, 179, 182 Moore, George, 211 Mali, 31-32, 46 Moreau de Saint-Méry, Louis Médéric, Malice (or Ti-Malice), Haitian folk 126-127 character, 137-138 Mount, William Sidney, 184 Manuals, for banjo playing, 216-217, 284 Mumford & Sons, 305 Marable, Fate, 261-263 Mungo (stage character), 177-178 Marcus, Greil, 231-232, 235 Music School Settlement for Colored Mardi Gras, 189-190 People, 257 -32, 46 Moreau de Saint-Méry, Louis Médéric, Malice (or Ti-Malice), Haitian folk 126-127 character, 137-138 Mount, William Sidney, 184 Manuals, for banjo playing, 216-217, 284 Mumford & Sons, 305 Marable, Fate, 261-263 Mungo (stage character), 177-178 Marcus, Greil, 231-232, 235 Music School Settlement for Colored Mardi Gras, 189-190 People, 257 --- Page 372 --- Index Naming, of Banjo, 1, 76-79 People's Songs, 282-283, 299 Napoleon, Louis, 156 Persimmon Tree, 152-153 Nashville, 236, 290-291 Petersburg (battle of), 205-207 Natchez, 139 Phillippo.James, 149 Native Americans, 8, 61, 66-68, 107, Pinckard, George, 111 174, 219, 274 Pinkster, 71-72, 183, 240 Negro Life at the South (painting), 162-164. Piron, A.J., 261 See also Johnson, William Eastman Pise, Olivia, 144 Nelson, Scott Reynolds, 232 Plummer, Charles, 216 Newberry, Joc, 237 Polite, Sam, 142 New Orleans, 93-96, 144, 211, 216, 202, Pompée, 123 241; Minstrels and, 185-194, 200, Ponce, Nicolas, 128 251;Jazz in, 260-266 Poole, Charlie, 290-292 New River, 139 Preservation Hall, 265, 305 Northrup, Solomon, 147-148, 155 Proffitt, Frank, 234 Nugent, Mary, 150 Nun, Anna, 211 Quadrille, 91, 111, 211 Quakers, 113, 116, 146 Obama, Barack, 302 Queen Anne (ofDenmark), 173-174. See Oberlin College, 254 also Masque ef Blackness, The Obi, or Three-FingeredJack (play), 181-183 "Oh! Susanna," 144-146. See also Foster, Rabelais, François, 278 Stephen Radio, 16, 233, 279, 289-290, 295, 298, Old Crow Medicine Show, 305 Oldmixon.John, 76 Ragtime, 256, 266-268, 287, 290-291 The Old Plantation (painting), 113, Rainbow Quest (television show), 116-123, 131, 134, 136, 306. See also 299-300 Rose,John Randolph, Fanny, 239 Old Virginia Home (painting), 207. See Rath, Richard, 70, 74 also Blythe, David Gilmore Reagon, Bernice Johnson, 299 Orchestra El Gusto, 270 Recording Technology, influence of, Original Tuxedo Jazz Band, 262 262, 265 Oronooko (play), 176 Reed, Ishmael, 287 Ortiz, Fernando, 4 Reels, 91, 160, 211, 216, 220 Ory, Edward "Kid," 262-263 Reeves, James, 160 Osborne, Harve, 156-157 Reggae, 268 Othello (play), 175-176 Reinhardt, Django, 266 Ouanaminthe, 123 Renaissance, 22, 29-30 Renny, Robert, 110-111 The Padlock (play), 177-179, 181 Reunion Island, 267 Pakèt Kongo, 122 Rhythm, in Music Theory, 9-10 Papa Simon (stage character), 179-180 Rhythm Club, 264 Park, Mungo, 40, 46, 139 Rice, Phil, 187, 217 Parnell, Austen Pen, 159 Rice, Thomas Dartmouth, 144, 169, Paulding, James, 107-108 191-194, 200 Pavie, Théodore, 188-189 Rich, Penelope, 174 Pakèt Kongo, 122 Rhythm, in Music Theory, 9-10 Papa Simon (stage character), 179-180 Rhythm Club, 264 Park, Mungo, 40, 46, 139 Rice, Phil, 187, 217 Parnell, Austen Pen, 159 Rice, Thomas Dartmouth, 144, 169, Paulding, James, 107-108 191-194, 200 Pavie, Théodore, 188-189 Rich, Penelope, 174 --- Page 373 --- Index Richmond Guitar and Banjo Club, 254 Sierra Leone, 47, 85, 88-90, 115 Rijksmuseum, 83 Simond, Ike, 247-248, 250-251 Roberts, Dink, 244 Slave Auction, 142-143 Robeson, Paul, 295 Slave Patrols, 155, 157, 159 Robinson, Harriet, 158 Sloane, Hans, 59-71, 77, 83, 88, 90, 116, Rodgers, Henry, 239-240 118, 306 Rodriguez- Seeger, Tao, 302 Smith, Billy, 242 Roof Top Singers, 245 Smith, Harry, 283-284 Roosevelt, Eleanor, 279 Smith, Henry Christopher, 184-185 Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 279 Smith, Lucius, 244 Rose,Al, 263 Smith, Matthew, 149 Rose,John, 113, 116-119, 121 Smith, William, 151-153 Rose, William, 204 Snowden, Elmer, 264 Rouwcas.jeanjacque musical theories Solomon, Job Ben, 61 of, 8-9; theaterby, 178-179 Songs, as archive, 231-232, 235, 277, 283 Roustabouts, 209-211, 241, 261 Sousa,, John Philip, 256 Royal Society, 60 South Africa, 201, 249, 269, 296 Runaway Slave Advertisements, 74-75 Southern, Thomas, 176 Russell, Billy, 242 Spirituals, 248-249, 253 Russell, Old Sum, 244 Springsteen, Bruce, 302-303 Stanley Brothers, 300 Saint-Croix, 112 Stax Records, 246 Saint-Thomas (musician), 264 St. Cyr,Johnny, 260-263, 266 Sambo (stage character), 178 Stedman,John Gabriel, 79-83, 88, 125 Sandburg, Carl, 298 Stellio, 267 Sanford, James, 169 Stellio, Alexandre, 267 Santiago, Willie, 264 Stern, Arthur, 278 Saunders, Nathaniel, 268 Stewart, Samuel Swaim, 215, 226-227, Schoelcher, Victor, 97-99 229, 250, 261, 271, 290 Schulz, Arnold, 244 Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 146, 203 Scinda, 241-242 St. Thomas, 202 Scruggs, Earl, 265, 284, 290-294 Stuart, Lady Arabella, 174 Seeger, Charles, 273-274, 282, 295 Student Nonviolent Coordinating Seeger, Mike, 274, 292 Committee, 299 Seeger, Pete, 271-289, 292, 294-304 Sumner, Charles, 163 Seeger, Toshi-Aline Ohta, 280-281, 295, Suriname, 50, 77-84, 90, 132 298-300 Sutphin, P. C., 169 Seminole (musician), 265 Swallow Barn, 153 Senegal, 2, 34, 36-37, 44, 61 Swannanoa Tunnel, 231-232, 3 237 Shakespeare, William, 115, 150, 175, Sweeney,Joel Walker, 16, 168-170, 172, 193-194 194-197, 199,213 Shaw, Violet, 162 Swift, Taylor, 305 Shegureh, 118 Sheridan, Francis, 185-186 Tagore, Sourindro Mohun, 98-99 Shiloh, battle of, 209-210, 249 Tanner, Henry Ossawa, 241 Shona, 82, 269 Tavenner, Frank, 293-294 150, 175, Sweeney,Joel Walker, 16, 168-170, 172, 193-194 194-197, 199,213 Shaw, Violet, 162 Swift, Taylor, 305 Shegureh, 118 Sheridan, Francis, 185-186 Tagore, Sourindro Mohun, 98-99 Shiloh, battle of, 209-210, 249 Tanner, Henry Ossawa, 241 Shona, 82, 269 Tavenner, Frank, 293-294 --- Page 374 --- Index Taylor, Yuval, 247 Vagabond Puppetters, 276 Thomas, Tony, 248 Vandiver, Pen, 289 Thompson,Joe, 244 Van Eps, Fred, 290 Thornton, Henry, 115 Vega Company, 272, 288 Ti-Coca, 130-131, 135 Vietnam War, 301, 304 Titus, 165-168 Virginia Minstrels, 196-201 Titus Andronicus (play), 175 Vodou, 122, 124, 130-131, 134-135 Tom andJerry, or Life in London (play), 184-186 Weavers, the, 282-283, 286, 295, Transculturation. 4 297-298 Trischka, Tony, 294,305 "We Shall Overcome" (song), 299 Trois-Feuilles (musician), 130-131, 133, Western Electric, 265 Weston, Alice, 250 Trotter,J James Monroe, 255 Weston, Horace, 250-251 Troubadour Music, 135 White,Josh, 295 Troupe Fallone, 266 Whitlock, William, 197-199 Turner, Cecelia, 159 Whitman, Walt, 215 Turner, Henry, 159 Wilkinson, Alec, 284-285 "Twa Fey," (song), 130-131 Williams, Nancy, 159-160 Twain, Mark, 141, 202-203, 266 Williams, Robert, 156 Tyrolese Minstrels, 199 Williams, Robert (musician), 159 Winterbottom, Thomas, 85 Uncle Dave Macon, 236-237, 277, Works Progress Administration, slave narratives collected by, 142, 155-162 Uncle Tom's Cabin, 146, 203, 250, 252, World War II, 265, 270, 281, 292, 301 Underground Railroad, 147, 154 Young, Edward, 176 Utopia, 71 U2, 302 Ziryab, 26-27