the.com/banjo
the only instrument that sounds like a fistfight and a sunrise at once
means A stringed instrument with a round, drum-like body and a long neck, plucked or strummed to produce a bright, twangy sound central to bluegrass, folk, and old-time American music.
from The word almost certainly traces back to West Africa, carried to the Americas by enslaved people who built early gourd-bodied versions of the instrument. It likely comes from a name like 'banja' or 'mbanza,' and many trace it to the Kimbundu word 'mbanza.' English speakers recorded various spellings — banjar, banjer, banjo — before the modern form settled in. Some have also linked it loosely to 'bandore,' an old European lute-like instrument, but the African roots are the heart of the story.
- african roots
- Descended from West African gourd lutes, not Appalachia
- jefferson noted
- Thomas Jefferson wrote of it in 1781
- drone string
- Fifth string is short, played by the thumb
- resonator power
- Back-mounted bowl punches sound forward for volume
- banjo physics
- A drumhead, not wood, vibrates the bridge
earl scruggs — pioneered three-finger picking technique in bluegrass music, 1945 onwards
clawhammer technique — traditional african-american strumming method on 5-string banjos, predates scruggs by decades
deliverance dueling banjos — 1972 film scene between eric weissberg and steve mandel that defined banjo in pop culture