There is one week left for BIB readers to take advantage of the discount offered to them (see the BIB's sidebar) on purchase of Kristina R. Gaddy's book Well of souls: uncovering the banjo's hidden history, published by W.W. Norton & Company. The book sets out to be thought-provoking and succeeds. Some of my own thoughts will appear on the BIB in the next few days; but in short, anyone interested in how the banjo evolved and its history up to the mid nineteenth century should read it.
Note: the tenor banjo, as used in Irish music, does not appear in this story, and does not belong there. The tenor has no historic connection with the banjo's African ancestors. It dates from about 1900 (give or take a few years) and in tuning and playing style it is essentially a member of the mandolin family which has been given - for the sake of volume and tone - a sound chamber that was developed for the banjo over fifty years earlier by European-American instrument-makers, making use of European drum-tightening methods.
© Richard Hawkins
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