The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-10-25
THE STORY OF TnE BANJO

Its Origin, History, Makers, Music and
Opponents, Past and Present-Old Band
Joe Sweeney, who Added tho Fifth
Strlng-The First Negro Minstrels--The
Banjo ON the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. of
Frank b. Converse and Ruby Brooks
~ Negro Players-Horace weston's Stroke
Playing--Tournaments in New York-A
Modern Up-to-Date Banjo Program,
["Scolopax" In the New York SUM-
He was indeed a cynio, with no poetry
In his nature, no gladness in his heart,
no music in his soul, no jigs in his heels
and toes, who said that the banjo, like
religion and cholera, came from Asia.
Paleontologists differ as to its origin
and nationality; its evolution has, Of
course, been gradual, while the lapse Of
centuries, and American genius finally,
have ministered to it's present advance
ment and popularity.
The voice is generally conceded to
have been the first appreciated agent Of
musical sounds, and the noise of falling
footsteps to have primarily suggested
the idea of an accompaniment thereto;
this was succeeded by the stamping Of
feet and the clapping OF hands in
rhythm; then, as the notion gained
strength, there followed the beating to-
gether of sonorous substances, such as
wood, stone, or metal.
The germ of stringed instruments, as
tho form of the earliest known ones at
test, undoubtedly lay in the twanging
of the huntingdon string and in the
vibrations of the runners of creeping
plants, and those of strings made Of the
fbrous roots of plants and certain trees,
and of the twisted hair and sinews Of
animals.
The most primitive stringed instru-
ment was the musical bow, mere
piece of resonant wood, from the ends
of which was strained string made as
aforesaid. Later on a gourd was affixed
to this bow as a sounding board. BY
degrees the idea of stretching these
strings over the sounding board OBJ
tanned, and calabashes or hollow wood
were used for the purpose. The next
step was to attach the sounding board
Ito the musical bow. The covering of
The sounding boards with the skins Of
animals and even of snakes, the use Of
pegs for regulating the tension of the
strings, and the striking of them with a
plectrum of bone wood, shell, quill or
metal, or, as in some instances, with a
stem of wood or bamboo, were but mat
tiers of time, ingenuity and proficiency.
At first sEinged instruments seem to
have been used for accompaniment
only, but by degrees came to be played
for the music itself that could be pro-
duced from them.
~ inv
varieties of musical instruments appear
Ito have been nearly Identical among all
nations; the different notifications and
transitions being the result of special
national requirement and habit, and va
rying in Improvement with the respec-
tive advances made in civilization and
intercourse with other nations.
The negroes undoubtedly brought the
banjo ir some of it's primitive forms to
America, its early and varied shapes
with them, in this country particular
ly, being an admixture of ideas original
and derivative.
In mentioning it's Asiatic parenta ge,
our cynic, who spoke so derogatively Of
what has now become the national in
strument of the United States, unques-
tlonably had in mind the tamboura,
which was in general use, from the ear
Hest days among the Assyrians, Per-
SLAMS, Arabians and Egyptians. The
tamboura, by conquest and by trade,
was transmitted to other nations and
appeared in Turkey as the tambour, in
Italy as the pandora, in Spain and Por-
tugal as the bandolon while among the
English it was called the pandore; to
such of the negroes as were brought in
contact with these people it is said to
have been known as the banjon; hence,
possibly, the word banjo. The appear
ance of rough limitations thereof on
American soil, and among the slaves,
must have been due, to some extent, to
association with these aforementioned
nations through commerce and the
slave trade. The syncope so noticeable
lin italian, Spanish and Mexican music
has its marked peculiarities in negro
songs and banjo music, and may be fur
tiler evidence that musical influences
were brought to bear upon the slaves
through these people.
The ideas involved in certain
stringed instrument from Senegambia,
called the bania, are supposed to have
been furnished by the Arabs to the
western coast of Africa, and Sperhaps
this instrument may be the parent of
the banjo and of its name. 1t is worthy
of note that Arabian influences were
likewise brought to bear in early days
upon the music and musical instru-
ments of Spain
The Egyptians, in trafficking with the
savage tribes of Africa, supplied sug-
gestions that appeared in many of the
crude stringed instruments found
among the negroes. Certain it is that
almost all these tribes possess some
form thereof, and In the history of all
people the presence of stringed instru-
ments denotes a relatively high stage
of musical advancement
The musical bow is spoken of as being
the instrument in commonest use
among the Africans, and is described
by Chapman as of bamboo, having one
string tightly strained across it, which
Us struck, in playing, with a slender tip
of bamboo.
Brown says it is popular among the
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