Embracing the Banjo as an indigenous instrument in The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean

The Banjo is an instrument that was introduced to the New World by enslaved Africans to continue their musical traditions from Africa in the new lands in which they inhabited. In the present day, the instrument has lost it's association to enslaved Africans in North America and the Caribbean and is associated more with being an American(USA) instrument.

 

The purpose of this post is to show why the Bahamas should embrace the Banjo as an indigenous Instrument in Bahamian history alongside that of the Goombay Drum. 

          I will start with Johann David Schoepf: Travels in the Confederation 1783-1784

                                      

Schoepf's is mentioning the instruments being used by Africans on a slave ship headed to New Providence in The Bahamas. The other instrument he mentioned was a Gambee, which I will not get into for this post.

                                             

Nassau Guardian 1886



This is taken from Sketches of Summerland by George J H . Northcroft, published in 1902


                           Bahamas Isles of June by Major H. Mac Lachan Bell, published in 1934. 


Major H. Mac Lachan Bell is describing Black life on Andros.



Alan Lomax in 1935 mentions the tenor Banjo, which is a 4 string Banjo as was described by Schoepf in Travels in the Confederation. This 4 string Banjo usage would be a continuation of the old methods of playing on self made banjos in the 17th and 18th centuries.




The late Piccolo Pete, nine seconds into the video is playing a 4 stringed Banjo in the documentary At the end of the world released in 2010.





Blind Blake Alphonso Higgs also played the 4 string Banjo in most of his recordings although he was skilled at many string instruments. 

The Banjo is an instrument that has an historical significance to preserving that connection of Africa to New World Blacks. A continuation of a tradition that doesn't begin with our enslavement. The interaction the Banjo had with White Americans is also an important story that shows further stripping away of the identity of an oppressed people to appropriate for their own self identity. 

 It is an important tale in history of the Americas.



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