Banjo Roots and Branches (Music in American Life) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0252083601 ISBN 13: 9780252083600

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 2018

Synopsis

The story of the banjo's journey from Africa to the western hemisphere blends music, history, and a union of cultures. In Banjo Roots and Branches, Robert B. Winans presents cutting-edge scholarship that covers the instrument's West African origins and its adaptations and circulation in the Caribbean and United States. The contributors provide detailed ethnographic and technical research on gourd lutes and ekonting in Africa and the banza in Haiti while also investigating tuning practices and regional playing styles. Other essays place the instrument within the context of slavery, tell the stories of black banjoists, and shed light on the banjo's introduction into the African- and Anglo-American folk milieus.

Wide-ranging and illustrated with twenty color images, Banjo Roots and Branches offers a wealth of new information to scholars of African American and folk musics as well as the worldwide community of banjo aficionados.

Contributors: Greg C. Adams, Nick Bamber, Jim Dalton, George R. Gibson, Chuck Levy, Shlomo Pestcoe, Pete Ross, Tony Thomas, Saskia Willaert, and Robert B. Winans.

About this title

About the Author

Robert B. Winans is a professor emeritus of American literature and folklore at Gettysburg College.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0252083601
• ISBN 13: 9780252083600
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 360
• Editor: Winans Robert B