African Banjo Echoes In Appalachia by Cecelia Conway

These materials and the dimensions of these banjos were similar to predecessors in Africa of the banjo.

These were almost always homemade instruments. Three, four, or five strings of various materials such as catgut or wire were connected to one side ofthe gourd and pulled across it up a fretless neck to tuning pegs. The early banjos were most often made of hollow gourds with an animal skin stretched across an opening on the gourd. Sliding is the process of moving a finger from one fretted note up or down to other notes without lifting it from the string. Downstroking is the process ofhitting strings with the fingernail as the hand moves downward across from where it is fretted. Downstroking is also a characteristic distinctive to African-American banjo playing, as well as the sliding and bending of notes on what was usually a fretless instrument. The propulsive rhythm of African American banjo playing is one of its distinctive characteristics. The banjo was often accompanied by percussive instruments such as bones or drum in the early slave and African-American communities in the South. 'Blacks introduced the African banjo to this country before the middle of the 18th century and more than a hundred years later they began to pass it on to whites,' wrote Cecilia Conway in her book, African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia: A Study of Folk Traditions. Both instruments were used to accompany dances in their respective ethnic communities before they merged in the Southern mountains. The fiddle was brought to Southern Appalachia courtesy of the European settlers, who also brought with them numerous styles of playing and types of tunes.

The banjo is an African American instrument, and the African Americans who have played it have helped shape the styles ofbanjo playing in SouthernAppalachia. It Don't Mean a Thang if It Ain't Got That Twang: Banjo and Fiddle Dance Music of Southern Appalachia_ Joseph Dinwiddie Banjo and fiddle music has long provided the accompaniment for Southern Appalachian folk dancing. In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

African Banjo Echoes In Appalachia by Cecelia Conway