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BlackBanjo · Black Banjo Then and Now

Group Information

  • Members: 505
  • Category: Banjo
  • Founded: Mar 30, 2004
  • Language: English
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Activity within 7 days:

2 New Members - 18 New Messages - New Questions

Description

The release of this new CD shows that Black banjo is not just a tradition of the past to be honored or revived, but a living form of Black expression for now and the future. The Black Banjoists on this CD Otis Taylor, Guy Davis, Corey Harris, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Keb' Mo' and Don Vappie - are an impressive array of GRAMMY Awards, Handy Awards, Blues Music Awards, a MacArthur Fellowship and numerous other accolades. At Black banjo we have long been in the vanguard of this resurgents of African American banjo playing.

"The banjo has become so closely associated with folk singers and bluegrass players," says Taylor. "Over the years, the instrument just lost touch with its roots, and I'm just trying to re-establish that connection."

We aim to reunite the African musics with the African American string band music they inspired, to bring traditional Black string music back home to the Black community, to showcase it for the world, to privilege Black voices and Black ownership of this music.

Sule Greg Wilson explained what we represent in these words:

Since banjo is a New World version of multiple African antecedents, it is a multi-ethnic African instrument. Therefore, playing styles, be they stroke, rappin', thumb-lead, up-pickin', Murphy Gribble-type three-finger rolls, or whatever, must be considered part of the African tradition. Hence, mention of the "African influences" in banjo playing and history starts from a false supposition that the thing ain't All-African to begin with.

* We can talk about Euro-influences with cheese boxes (has that been proven to be a Euro-American adaptation?) Euro-style necks, racist lyric content and Irish melody lines and rhythm structure, and the like. All these aspects are just grafts onto an already-existing tree. Tie an apple branch on a peach, the tree ain't gonna turn apple. It's gonna stay fuzzy, juicy fruit. And I love the taste.

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OOOOPS, My BADDD! Here's my Real new email address: lauralovemusic@
Wow, Moron ALERT!!!! I immediately got buyer's remorse when I signed up for yahoo email so I switched to gmail. ... and so I really really really and I mean
Posted - Sun Nov 22, 2009 6:20 pm
lauraluv@...
lauralove1960
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Laura Love's new email address is: lauralovemusic@...
Hey Y'all, Laura Love here-- So I'm finally weaning myself from AOL and my brand spankin' new email address is: _lauralovemusic@..._
Posted - Sun Nov 22, 2009 8:57 am
lauraluv@...
lauralove1960
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Re: Unlikely African American Banjo Historian
Look in the archives here there was a lot more about this stuff a year or two ago when the Polk Miller reissue and I think an associated book came out. Not
Posted - Thu Nov 19, 2009 10:18 pm
TonyW
writerrad
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"Earwig Music Presents: Six Generations of the Blues"
http://frontrowmusic.tv/ "Earwig Music Presents: Six Generations of the Blues" -- Television program preview with Big Jack Johnson and the Oilers. To see where
Posted - Thu Nov 19, 2009 10:11 pm
trimlon
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Unlikely African American Banjo Historian
Unlikely African American Banjo Historian - Check this out from NPR. PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS AND LETS TALK ABOUT IT OPENLY AND HONESTLY! Here's the link:
Posted - Thu Nov 19, 2009 5:09 pm
shannon oliver
shannonoliver19
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Message History

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2009 54 34 32 5 37 30 9 26 33 8 42
2008 87 142 31 66 125 62 25 30 54 66 20 56
2007 256 129 200 125 145 144 53 106 99 101 133 142
2006 357 203 189 155 340 92 400 324 202 202 288 113
2005 240 275 311 507 440 328 850 437 322 239 233 170
2004 30 397 211 477 501 442 306 223 122 217
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