Download or read book The Birth of the Banjo written by Bob Carlin and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2007-03-07 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A professional banjo player, Joel Sweeney introduced mainstream America to a music (and musical instrument) which had its roots in the transplanted black culture of the southern slave. Beginning with the banjo's introduction to America and Great Britain, the book provides an overview of early banjo music. An appendix contains a performance chronology"--Note de l'éditeur.
Download or read book The Banjo written by Laurent Dubois and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2016-03-14 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The banjo has been called by many names over its history, but they all refer to the same sound—strings humming over skin—that has eased souls and electrified crowds for centuries. The Banjo invites us to hear that sound afresh in a biography of one of America’s iconic folk instruments. Attuned to a rich heritage spanning continents and cultures, Laurent Dubois traces the banjo from humble origins, revealing how it became one of the great stars of American musical life. In the seventeenth century, enslaved people in the Caribbean and North America drew on their memories of varied African musical traditions to construct instruments from carved-out gourds covered with animal skin. Providing a much-needed sense of rootedness, solidarity, and consolation, banjo picking became an essential part of black plantation life. White musicians took up the banjo in the nineteenth century, when it became the foundation of the minstrel show and began to be produced industrially on a large scale. Even as this instrument found its way into rural white communities, however, the banjo remained central to African American musical performance. Twentieth-century musicians incorporated the instrument into styles ranging from ragtime and jazz to Dixieland, bluegrass, reggae, and pop. Versatile and enduring, the banjo combines rhythm and melody into a single unmistakable sound that resonates with strength and purpose. From the earliest days of American history, the banjo’s sound has allowed folk musicians to create community and joy even while protesting oppression and injustice.
Download or read book Banjo written by Bob Carlin and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2023-10-03 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The banjo is emblematic of American country music, and it is at the core of other important musical movements, including jazz and ragtime. The instrument has been adopted by many cultures and has been ingrained into many musical traditions, from Mento music in the Caribbean and dance music in Ireland. Virtuosos such as Béla Fleck have played Bach, African music, and Christmas tunes on the five-string banjo, and the instrument has had a resurgence in pop music with such acts a Mumford and Sons and the Avett Brothers. This book offers the first comprehensive, illustrated history of the banjo in its many forms. It traces the story of the instrument from its roots in West Africa to its birth in the Americas, through its coming of age in the Industrial Revolution and beyond. The book profiles the most important players and spotlights key luthiers and manufacturers. It features 100 “milestone instruments” with in-depth coverage, including model details and beautiful photos. It offers historical context surrounding the banjo through the ages, from its place in Victorian parlors and speakeasies through its role in the folk boom of the 1950s and 1960s to its place in the hands of songwriter John Hartford and comedian Steve Martin. Folk, jazz, bluegrass, country, and rock – the banjo has played an important part in all of these genres. Lavishly illustrated, and thoughtfully written by author, broadcaster, and acclaimed banjoist Bob Carlin, this is a must-have for lovers of fretted instruments, aficionados of roots music, and music history buffs.
Download or read book Early American Classics for Banjo written by ROB MACKILLOP and published by Mel Bay Publications. This book was released on 2016-07-07 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is the Forgotten Heritage: Great Banjo Music! Discover the birth of the American fingerstyle banjo in this collection of 28 of the finest tunes culled from banjo publications between 1860 and 1887. Learn amazing banjo music by some of the early leading players, James Buckley, Albert Baur, and the great Frank B. Converse, the greatest virtuoso of his day. from folk-style dances to parlor dances such as the Polka, Mazurka and Schottische, to advanced Romantic-period classical-style solos. Can be played on modern banjos or period-style instruments. the CD recording by Rob MacKillop features a gut-strung banjo, and is played with the flesh of the fingertips, in the old American tuning. for modern instrument players, Rob has provided TAB and a Standard Notation stave at modern banjo pitch. Clawhammer players will find many of the pieces in the book suitable for their technique, and bluegrass/fingerstyle players will be able to play all the pieces. Rob MacKillop provides a fascinating introductory essay, placing the music in its historical context, while his CD of performances can be viewed as a stand-alone recording by a leading player in the revival of this great American banjo heritage.
Download or read book Banjo Roots and Branches written by Robert B Winans and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2018-07-30 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Banjo Eyes written by Herbert G. Goldman and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1997 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Entertainer Eddie Cantor (1892-1964) shared the stage with the likes of W.C. Fields and Fanny Price, founded the March of Dimes, and was the only American entertainer to reign successively as the biggest star on Broadway, in the movies, and on radio. This biography recreates Cantor's extraordinary journey from New York's Lower East Side to the glorious era of Broadway and Hollywood in the 1930s. A few bandw photographs. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Download or read book That Half barbaric Twang written by Karen Linn and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long a symbol of American culture, the banjo actually originated in Africa before European-Americans adopted it. Karen Linn shows how the banjo--despite design innovations and several modernizing agendas--has failed to escape its image as a "half-barbaric" instrument symbolic of antimodernism and sentimentalism. Caught in the morass of American racial attitudes and often used to express ambivalence toward modern industrial society, the banjo stood in opposition to the "official" values of rationalism, modernism, and belief in the beneficence of material progress. Linn uses popular literature, visual arts, advertisements, film, performance practices, instrument construction and decoration, and song lyrics to illustrate how notions about the banjo have changed. Linn also traces the instrument from its African origins through the 1980s, alternating between themes of urban modernization and rural nostalgia. She examines the banjo fad of bourgeois Northerners during the late nineteenth century; the African-American banjo tradition and the commercially popular cultural image of the southern black banjo player; the banjo's use in ragtime and early jazz; and the image of the white Southerner and mountaineer as banjo player.
Download or read book The Birth of the Banjo written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Art of the Mountain Banjo written by ART ROSENBAUM and published by Mel Bay Publications. This book was released on 2015-10-08 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A complete survey of traditional banjo styles complete with tunings, playing tips, and the author's deft drawings. Progresses from easy tunes for the beginner to more difficult pieces. The styles include up-picking or Pete Seeger's basic strum; two-finger picking; three-finger picking; and what had variously been called frailing, clawhammer, knocking, rapping, overhand, fram-style, flayin' hand, andother Appalachian names, here called down-picking. Audio download available online
Download or read book Wisdom Man written by Camilla Chance and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2012-08-06 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Life should be looked upon as a sacred thing, to be handled carefully. If something terrible happens, you stop for a while and have a think, and then you work around the next big problem coming up. Like water around a rock. And you still help people when you can, even your worst enemy. Some lives, like that of Banjo Clarke, are so special they touch countless others without trying. Banjo was born in the early 1920s in the Framlingham Forest near Warrnambool, Victoria, and by the time he passed away he was known and loved by thousands for his wisdom and kindness. He carried a swag during the Great Depression, fought with Jimmy Sharman's famous boxing troupe, built roads for the army in World War II, and had 67 great-grandchildren. Despite the great hardships he faced in his life, Banjo was renowned for espousing love and forgiveness, sustained by his deep connection to his land, his ancient culture and its spiritual beliefs. His conviction that these could prove the saving of the world was his motivation for telling his story.
Download or read book Well of Souls Uncovering the Banjo s Hidden History written by Kristina R. Gaddy and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2022-10-04 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of The New Yorker’s Best Books of the Year Named one of the Most Memorable Music Books of the Year by No Depression: The Journal of Roots Music “Compelling.… [R]eveals [an instrument] intimately rooted in the African diaspora and capable of expressing flights of sorrow and joy.” —David Yezzi, Wall Street Journal An illuminating history of the banjo, revealing its origins at the crossroads of slavery, religion, and music. In an extraordinary story unfolding across two hundred years, Kristina Gaddy uncovers the banjo’s key role in Black spirituality, ritual, and rebellion. Through meticulous research in diaries, letters, archives, and art, she traces the banjo’s beginnings from the seventeenth century, when enslaved people of African descent created it from gourds or calabashes and wood. Gaddy shows how the enslaved carried this unique instrument as they were transported and sold by slaveowners throughout the Americas, to Suriname, the Caribbean, and the colonies that became U.S. states, including Louisiana, South Carolina, Maryland, and New York. African Americans came together at rituals where the banjo played an essential part. White governments, rightfully afraid that the gatherings could instigate revolt, outlawed them without success. In the mid-nineteenth century, Blackface minstrels appropriated the instrument for their bands, spawning a craze. Eventually the banjo became part of jazz, bluegrass, and country, its deepest history forgotten.
Download or read book Earl Scruggs written by Gordon Castelnero and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-03-17 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As Earl Scruggs picked his banjo with machine gun precision at his 1945 debut at the Ryman Auditorium, he set in motion a successful career and enduring legacy that would eclipse anything the humble farm boy from North Carolina could have imagined. Scruggs’s revolutionary three-finger roll patterns electrified audiences and transformed the banjo into a mainstream solo instrument pursued by innumerable musicians. In Earl Scruggs: Banjo Icon, Gordon Castelnero and David L. Russell chronicle the life and legacy of the man who single-handedly reinvigorated the five-string banjo and left an indelible mark on bluegrass and folk music. After his tenure with the father of bluegrass music, Bill Monroe, Scruggs formed (with Lester Flatt) the Foggy Mountain Boys, also known as Flatt and Scruggs; the Earl Scruggs Revue with his sons; and finally his Family & Friends band. Scruggs released more than forty albums and reached millions of fans through performances on The Beverly Hillbillies and his music’s inclusion in the 1967 movie Bonnie and Clyde. Over his long career, Scruggs received numerous accolades and collaborated with stars such as Billy Joel, Elton John, Sting, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Vince Gill, Travis Tritt, the Byrds, and Steve Martin. Through interwoven interviews with the Scruggs family and more than sixty notable musicians and entertainers, Castelnero and Russell reveal that, despite the fame Scruggs achieved, he never lost his humility and integrity. This biography testifies to Scruggs’s enduring influence and sheds light on the history of bluegrass for musicians, students, and anyone entranced by Scruggs’s unmistakable sound.
Download or read book America s Instrument written by Philip F. Gura and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 1999 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handsome illustrated history traces the transformation of the banjo from primitive folk instrument to sophisticated musical machine and, in the process, offers a unique view of the music business in nineteenth-century America. Philip Gura and Jame
Download or read book Banjo written by Claude McKay and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 1929 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Lincoln Agrippa Daily, known on the 1920s Marseilles waterfront as 'Banjo,' prowls the rough waterfront bistros with his drifter friends drinking, looking for women, playing music, fighting, loving, and talking--about their homes in Africa, the West Indies, or the American South, and about being black"--Publisher marketin
Download or read book How to Play the 5 string Banjo written by Pete Seeger and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Melodic Banjo written by Tony Trischka and published by Oak Publications. This book was released on 2005-03-17 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tony Trischka presents his groundbreaking guide to the melodic (chromatic) Banjo style, made famous by the great Bill Keith. The technique allows the Banjo player to create complex note-for-note renditions of Bluegrass fiddle tunes, as well as ornamenting solos with melodic fragments and motives. Along with a full step-by-step guide to developing the skills of the melodic style, this book also featuresBill Keith's personal explanation of how he developed his formidable technique, in his own words and music.37 tunes in tablature, including a section of fiddle tunes.Interviews with the stars of te melodic style including Bobby Thompson, Eric Weissberg, Ben Eldridge and Alan Munde.
Download or read book Lost Sounds written by Tim Brooks and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2010-10-01 with total page 656 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking history of African Americans in the early recording industry, Lost Sounds examines the first three decades of sound recording in the United States, charting the surprising roles black artists played in the period leading up to the Jazz Age and the remarkably wide range of black music and culture they preserved. Drawing on more than thirty years of scholarship, Tim Brooks identifies key black recording artists and profiles forty audio pioneers. Brooks assesses the careers and recordings of George W. Johnson, Bert Williams, George Walker, Noble Sissle, Eubie Blake, the Fisk Jubilee Singers, W. C. Handy, James Reese Europe, Wilbur Sweatman, Harry T. Burleigh, Roland Hayes, Booker T. Washington, and boxing champion Jack Johnson, plus a host of lesser-known voices. Many of these pioneers struggled to be heard in an era of rampant discrimination. Their stories detail the forces––black and white––that gradually allowed African Americans to enter the mainstream entertainment industry. Lost Sounds includes Brooks's selected discography of CD reissues and an appendix by Dick Spottswood describing early recordings by black artists in the Caribbean and South America.
