Repertoire advice? Early banjo pieces that show African influence?

[Jared Denhard]

Hi everyone--really enjoying everyone's videos and high level discourse, a relative rarity online these days, it seems!

Anyway, sorry if this has been beaten about somewhere before, but I'm putting together a little lecture/recital on traditional bloodlines of early banjo music, exploring African/ Celtic and European contributions to early repertoire and playing styles.

I wanted to ask if anyone could suggest some pieces that best represent the West African roots of the banjo, that would be good examples to include in this concert.

I was thinking of adapting some Ekonting riffs off of videos, but that seems kind of like extreme reverse engineering, since that music has obviously developed over the last 200 years, and mostly seems to consist of repeated ostinato figures under ornately sung melodies.

I think the argument can be made for "Injun Rubber Overcoat," with its bluesy flat 5th and call and response form, but would appreciate any other ideas or input. 

Thanks!

[Joel Hooks]

I don't recall seeing "Pompey Ran Away" in any book on banjo-- or single sheet banjo music-- from the 19th century.  Have I missed this?

[Al Smitley]

Paul wrote, "Think Pat Boone doing rock 'n' roll." as a possible comparison to European-Americans mimicking African-American music.  That's interesting and seemingly obvious though I hadn't thought of it.  I always thought that Boone's "white bucks" had greater significance than what he put on his feet.....almost seemed like a not-so-secret code for his true intentions.   

[Strumelia]

Joel, as we know Pompey was published in Aird's 1782, with the description of only "Negroe Jig."

http://deriv.nls.uk/dcn30/9455/94559442.30.jpg

But we don't know what instrument was being played by the 'negroe' in question when they supposedly played Pompey originally.  Aird's book contained tunes "adapted to fife, violin and German flute", http://deriv.nls.uk/dcn30/9455/94558746.30.jpg .  That title with 'adapted to' implies that the melodies in the book might not have started out on those instruments.  Unfortunately we cannot know whether the black musician(s) Pompey was gotten from was playing flute, fiddle, or banjo.  I think it's likely they were playing some instrument rather than just singing or percussion, since Aird has a melody for the jig.  (Though it's certainly possible the melody was gotten from singing- I've heard African songs repeated in short phrases, like Pompey's tune.)  We have the description "Negroe Jig", and the African-like tune itself to affirm that it has strong African or African-American lineage.  But alas Aird did not indicate how the jig Pompey was played before he 'adapted' it.

Does anyone have any early written references to anyone actually playing Pompey Ran Away, on any instrument, before 1900? (Aside from Aird's book of tunes)  I wonder if it was popular at all, or not well known or played.

[Strumelia]

Whew, it's a pretty involved and marginal trail from West African tunes and rhythms to Minstrel banjo tunes and rhythms. In any other topic of historical research this would be a red flag, a call to step back and let the evidence guide the conclusions, not to let expectations guide conclusions.  One should at least ask first of all why it's so important to make the connection more significant than quantity of evidence indicates.  It appears there's a bit of a connection, and what's wrong with that?  Is it a disappointment if the connection is minor?  Not insignificant, just minor.

Three tunes out of a hundred Minstrel tunes that show West African influence is ok, isn't it?

You call things 'involved' or 'marginal' that I might call 'obvious' or 'significant'.  I bring up a simple and (I thought) sensible point about a tune's source possibilities and you respond with "Whew"... like it's a preposterous and convoluted concept requiring some misguided twisting of reality.  I get the feeling it wouldn't matter what it was i said...it would be considered implausibly bizarre or stretching reality somehow.  Over such a vast ocean of fundamentally opposed perception, I'm finding it almost impossible to communicate.  

Dan'l, when you say things like: "One should at least ask first of all why it's so important to make the connection more significant than quantity of evidence indicates",  I might instead ask why you find it so 'important' to continually and relentlessly make the African connection to the early banjo and minstrel music less significant.  I wonder why I even bother posting at all sometimes.  Maybe I should leave the discussions to the Learned Banjo Scholars who know everything (or if not, they at least begin their sentences with "We know that...").  If you (or others) think so, just tell me, either privately or plainly.  Really, i won't be offended- I have a tough skin. 

Whew, it's a pretty involved and marginal trail from West African tunes and rhythms to Minstrel banjo tunes and rhythms. In any other topic of historical research this would be a red flag, a call to step back and let the evidence guide the conclusions, not to let expectations guide conclusions.  One should at least ask first of all why it's so important to make the connection more significant than quantity of evidence indicates.  It appears there's a bit of a connection, and what's wrong with that?  Is it a disappointment if the connection is minor?  Not insignificant, just minor.

Three tunes out of a hundred Minstrel tunes that show West African influence is ok, isn't it?

[Strumelia]

Strum - The West African tune connection is neither "less" or "more" significant. It just is what it is. That's ok, isn't it? If three tunes out of a hundred indicate a West African influence, it's just ok.
I'm not understanding what about that might upset someone. In living history settings I always credit African Americans as the originators of the banjo, knowing full well that the easier shorthand is "the Banjo came from Africa." Like anybody, I got social currency from saying that, a good surprise reaction, especially from Country Western fans. But no, the first banjo in Africa was imported there. I won't repeat the shorthand just to gain a little social currency.
And, by the way, saying that something is marginal is not a value judgement, and certainly not a slam. There were more old world tune influences besides West Africa, that's all. Nothing to be disappointed or offended about.
- Dan'l

See it whatever way you like Dan'l, and deposit it in your social currency bank along with my best wishes.

[John Cohen]

Let's not forget the larger contribution that traces all the way back to Africa: stroke-style.

[Jared Denhard]

I think that is a salient point, that the stroke still survives, as rare as we are, and it is the real link.

The rhythmic complexity of West African music is still light years beyond the comprehension of most European papertrained musicians (and listeners), whereas the opposite could be argued where melodic/ harmonic complexity is concerned. 

I don't think it's condescending to suggest that the earliest banjo and it's ancestors were used as highly sophisticated, multi pitched rhythm instruments, and when white players started using them, the focus on chords and melodies and the almost immediate adaptation of everything from Irish jigs to Gilbert and Sullivan hits really swamped what came before.  

[John Cohen]

By fretless fingerboars I assume you mean rounded ones, not the flat ones that developed in the Caribbean, not in West Africa. 

[Jared Denhard]

Agreed, I only meant in the extant repertoire associated with the instrument, sadly disconnecting it for so many generations from its cultural origins.

The Gottschalk truly seems to be a Rosetta Stone in this regard, and I think your work/research here is a fine balance of hard evidence and good artistic intuition. 

[John Cohen]

It's my understanding that banjos acquired flat fingerboards from Spanish instruments like the vihuela/ early guitar. I don't imagine is was quite as haphazard as you suggest.

[John Cohen]

Well, what I mean by less-haphazard is there were plenty of plants with round stalks available in the Caribbean, so I doubt it was lack of materials that drove slaves to make flat fingerboards.

[John Masciale]

There was plenty of cane and sticks in the Caribbean to be found and to make an instrument from.  It was a deliberate innovation, just as the tuning pegs were.  Someone, or some people were bent on making a better instrument.  Adding an additional playing string, changing the finger board around, adding tuning pegs are all innovation and experimentation.  You certainly see evidence of this in the 19th century as well, 5 and 6 string banjos, frets, tension rods, a wooden hoop.  It was an instrument that was evolving.  Some of the innovations did not stick, others did.