For all of you who love the banjo...
Now all you banjo-haters had better put your fingers in your ears right now because I am more than a little excited about a recent discovery vis-a-vis the instrument, and am likely to go on about it at length.
The banjo, as you all will know, was a development of African instruments such as the kora (one maestro of that instrument is Toumani Diabate).
The kora, though it can make wonderful music, is little more, basically, than a gourd covered with skin and gut strings.
It seems that when African slaves on the plantations of the
Over the years, via jazz and jug bands and spasm bands, the banjo came to look more like the instrument we know and love today, both in its five string version, so loved of old-timey and bluegrass musicians, and the four string version played by Irish musicians.
A brilliant CD fell on the mat this morning called Africa to Appalachia by Jayme Stone and Mansa Sissoko.
Stone is a master of the five-string banjo and Sissoko is one of Mali's greatest kora players.
The result is a brilliant synthesis of music from two different cultures in which you can hear echoes and resonances of the journey that the banjo has made in its crossing of the Atlantic.
I've played it over and over since the CD arrived and as soon as I can break the code of the BBC banjo filter I will lay a track or two on you good people. May the Lord have mercy on your ears.
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Several of my favourite folk musicians ARE Banjo players (Paul Downes, Bill Zorn, Chris While & Don McLean).
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The Dark One and The Fair One cheat and play banjo tunes on the Cuatro, so as not to scare the easily disturbed in their audience, as does Seth Lakeman with his Tenor Guitar.
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Now then, one of my favourite banjo players ever is Mac McCulloch. He is brilliant and fantastic.
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Saw Jayme and Mansa in the Bell in Bath yesterday. Absolutely incredible performance of the album. small pub venue...
incredible dexterity, a beautiful sound and suberbly supported by double base and percussion. must see them !
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