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“From Africa to Bluegrass Sound,Let
the Strings of Akonting Resound”
By Steve Levitt
Clarifying Comments
This is
a story we’d like you to know notice
the word 'story'
Story about the history of the banjo
a 'story' about the history, i.e. not exactly a history
Before we begin we need one more thing
A rhythm with your hands to help us sing
audience starts performing a demonstrated hand and body rhythm
Very good, and now my friends
The story of the banjo beginning to end
again 'story'
In Africa, they drum and dance
To
help them work and to enhance
The fabric of their daily lives
music is an essential part of all aspects of traditional life
Birth, marriage, death, for sacred ties
The rhythm, song and dance are one
'one' means always done together, not separately as in the West
Sometimes serious and sometimes fun religious, sacred or
secular
Now that we set the stage
The banjo is on our next page
Way
back in time, who knows when
In Senegambia,
West Africa it did begin Casamance
region of Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau
A stick, skin-headed gourd, 3 strings papyrus
stalk, goat skin, Calabash gourd, palm roots
Akonting, a folk lute with short drone string
a folk instrument used to play secular music
First the back of a finger brushes down
nail of index or middle finder
On the long note string to make its sound
often the only string that is noted, othet strings are drone strings
Followed by thumb-string making back-beat
not always, sometimes thumb comes first
The rhythms sent out are really neat very
much a percussion instrument
You can
dance to those rhythms alone
No need for help
from drums or bones sometimes
played together with drums
From the 1600s and for hundreds of years
doesn't include earlier slave trade involving Spain and Portugal
Africans were enslaved and brought right here
To America where they were sold
No drums allowed, they were told
frequent preferance/attitude/ban, but not always
To keep their spirit and culture alive
survival and maintain ties to cultural roots
They took their rhythms and improvised
'improvised' pertains to substituting body parts for drum
With their voice, body, hands and feet 'took' and 'played' their rhythms implies
maintaining cultural ties
They played their rhythms and kept the beat 'kept
the beat' suggests cultural roots, identity, survival
With little food and not much hope little
or no hope of returning to homeland or freedom
The bone of the ham sometimes flavored their soup
resourcefulness, making do
They passed that bone one family to next
strong sense of community, caring and support for each other
Sharing the flavor that was left
making the best of a terrible situation
They were creative, resourceful and wise
had to be to survive
The bone of the ham helped them survive
not just physical, also self- and cultual identity
The name ‘hambone’ came to mean
The will to survive by creative means think
about this meaning of 'hambone'
The name hambone was later given 'later' meaning
not in the earliest days of slavery
To improvised body
rhythm
body rhythms, including improvisational aspects, have
Because that body rhythm did the same
strong cultutal determinants even as they evolve over time
It helped a people to remain
In touch with their ancestry playing
rhythms keeps strong connections with cultural roots
Saving rhythms to set them free 'free'
represents hope, cultural identity and sense of self
Hambone, patting juba, hand jive
different names applied ove time to similar rhythm method
African tradition it helped survive rhythms
rooted in past helped avoid cultural disconnection
Here’s a sample of that
rhythm slap
You play your body with a pat
You hit your arms, legs and chest
And play a rhythm you like best hambone
routine, both group and solo
Exactly when the Akonting came
focus is on Akonting but other instruments came as well
To this land, a mystery remains 'this
land' = America
Whether brought by slave ship on sea
from Africa directly to America or first to Caribbean
Or created from a memory all
Jola people who came knew about the Akonting
It sowed a seed, a root did grow
'a seed' not the only seed, and 'a root'not the only root
Of a musical tradition that we all know
'musical tradition' symbolizes all musics found in America
Let us all hear that beautiful sound
Let the strings of Akonting resound
Akonnting played
An African treasure it will remain now
appreciated for its historical significance
And American music was never the same Akonting
(African) contribution to banjo and music
And over time it was altered evolution
of early gourd banjos
But its basic uniqueness never faltered short top drone string
combined with playing style
Banjar banjil
banza bangoe symbolizing
banjo evolution in Caribbean over many years
Bangie banshaw it’s been named
Banjo
is the name we know
Its spirit however, remains
unchanged African roots in the
current banjo still alive
From the Akonting
to gourd banjo gourd
banjos have relationship to other lutes as well
Its looks and sounds were about to go evolving
both in the Caribbean and America
The minstrel movement quickened the pace lots
of public interest in the banjo and more changes
Times were a-changing, in this place
Musical change was in
the air the
music was evolving
But that short top string stayed loud and clear short
top drone string maintained on evolving banjo
Played
up high, by thumb, a drone
The Akonting style had found a new home Akonting o'teck
(down stroke) style now prevalant in America
Frailing and clawhammer became its names
new names for essentially the Akonting style of playing
Fingers brushed down, then the thumb came not
always in this order
Syncopated rhythms filled the land
a major and transforming African contribution
Helped create the sound of the old string band
and other types of music
With a
shuffle on the fiddle by a rosined bow
fiddle and banjo often played together
And bones or spoons to keep the rhythm flow
Listen to that sound, hear it ring
Listen
to that fiddle and banjo sing referring
to any and all kinds of music of that time
And then one day it did show
only one of several types of music evolving
Bluegrass picking on the old banjo
in America
Pick that 5-string, bluegrass
style finger
picking, Earl Scruggs and others
Clap your hands and give a smile keep the
beat to music that makes you feel good
And add some dance steps on the floor dancing
and music arose together
Buckdancing,
flatfooting, clogging and more clogging-roots
in Africa, Europe and Native America
Dance that rhythm, keep the
beat
Play that music with your feet the
feet can be a musical instrument if used properly
From Africa, from brown
ground
'brown ground' from title BlueGrass/BrownEarth
All the way to bluegrass sound and
to all types of music similarly influenced
Where it’s going, no one knows for sure
One
thing’s certain, there’ll be more a living, forever evolving, cultural tradition and expression
This is a story we hope you’ll recall what
this story represents is important to remember
Pass it on to one and all
let's all do our part
A part of history
we can’t forget
this legacy is present all around us, but not always obvioius
An African legacy lives on yet
unless we look for it. Don't stop looking.
And
thank you so much for your time
Those rhythms
you played were mighty fine
refers to the rhythms the audience played in the beginning
If you want you can clap and shout
And keep the beat while the music plays out
ending
Copyright ©2007 by Steve Levitt.
All Rights Reserved
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