Black Banjo Songsters of North Carolina and Virginia (liner notes) — Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Claims

1. black-banjo-decline
   Black banjo playing began to decline in the first decade of the twentieth century, amid minstrel stereotyping, memories of slavery, urbanization, industrialization and Jim Crow laws; Black musicians increasingly accompanied their songs on the inexpensive mail-order guitar. There were few commercial recordings of Black banjo players in the 1920s and 1930s, and by the 1970s the tradition in North Carolina had nearly died out.

   "Black banjo playing began to decline in the first decade of the twentieth century. In the context of minstrel stereotyping, memories of slavery, urbanization, industrialization, increasingly restrictive Jim Crow laws, and other political and economic pressures, Black singers refashioned their lyric songs into an assertive social commentary that laid the foundation for the emergence of the Blues. Black banjo players hung their banjos on the wall and began to accompany their songs on the now inexpensive and readily available mail-order guitar. There were few commercial recordings of Black banjo made in the 1920s and 1930s, and by the 1970s when Cece met the North Carolina musicians, the tradition had all but died out."

   Locator: page: 3 · Quote language: en
2. downstroke-origins
   Africans brought the gourd ancestor of the banjo to the New World in the 17th century. Early accounts describe a three- or four-string gourd banjar with a skin head and a short thumb-string drone, played in a style similar to downstroking clawhammer, which Conway and Odell call the oldest style used by both Black and white players. The banjo and the African American "knocking-on" or "thumping" playing style began to take hold among white players by the 1830s, and the fretless, short-drone-string banjo with its thumping downstroke style, special tunings and repertory of lyric songs survived among both white and Black southerners.

   "Many are still unaware that Africans brought the gourd ancestor of the banjo with them, in their minds and sometimes in their hands, to the New World in the seventeenth century. ... The fretless, short-drone-string banjo with its “thumping,” downstroke playing style, its special tunings, and its repertory of lyric banjo songs, can still be found among both Southern Whites and Blacks. ... Early accounts show Blacks sang lyric improvisatory songs and played for dances on a three- or four-string gourd banjar covered with a skin head, and strung with horsehair, hemp, or catgut. It had a short thumb-string drone and was played in a style similar to downstroking “clawhammer”—the oldest style used by both Whites and Blacks. ... The banjo and the African American “knocking-on” or “thumping” playing style began to take hold among Whites by the 1830s."

   Locator: page: 1-2 · Quote language: en