PDA

View Full Version : The Banjo: America's African Instrument, by Laurent Dubois



Mike Baker
Apr-10-2016, 5:14am
I just ordered a copy of this book and will post more once I have read it, but until then, has anyone else had a chance to read this? Seems like a good topic for discussion in this section of the forum.

Stuart Elliott
Apr-23-2016, 6:14pm
I haven't read it yet, but it looks like a very important book not only for banjo enthusiasts, but also for everyone interested in American music.

Here's Harvard Univ Press page on the book

(http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674047846)
Bluegrass Today interview with Dubois (http://bluegrasstoday.com/the-banjo-americas-african-instrument/)

On WUNC’s The State of Things, listen to Laurent Dubois discuss the African roots of quintessentially American banjo music, and listen to musician Joe Newberry play some tunes
(http://wunc.org/post/banjo-americas-african-instrument)

I'm also interested in Hidden in the Mix: the African American Presence in Country Music (http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Mix-African-American-Presence/dp/0822351633)

DoctorB
May-05-2016, 11:22am
Ordering!

Mike Baker
Aug-19-2016, 5:04am
I took this book on vacation back in May but only got little bit read. Summer got pretty hectic after that, but I picked it back up the other day and at least finshed the last few pages of chapter one. I will make a point of finishing the book before summer is over (this was the top of my summer reading list but sadly work related reading has bumped it), but I just wanted to post about chapter 1. An amazing account of the banjo's 'ancestors' going back to the earliest music made in the ancient near east and Africa, and a very interesting discussion of banjo-like instruments and their players, and the earliest interactions between western music and music from the middle east and Africa. I won't look at (or hear) my banjo the same way again after reading this. Anyway, maybe I will post again after each chapter, as this book is so rich that I suspect it will be hard to keep it all in my head if I wait to the end.

Banjo Cafe
Aug-19-2016, 8:37am
Some info about the book we posted in a news release back on March 2.

The Banjo: America's African Instrument (http://www.banjocafe.net/forum/content.php?165-The-Banjo-America-s-African-Instrument)

http://www.banjocafe.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=143&d=1456417455 (http://www.banjocafe.net/forum/content.php?165-The-Banjo-America-s-African-Instrument)