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The Banjo

America’s African Instrument
  • Laurent Dubois
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2016
View more publications by Harvard University Press

About this book

American slaves drew on memories of African musical traditions to construct instruments from carved-out gourds covered with animal skin. Providing a sense of rootedness, solidarity, and consolation, banjo picking became an essential part of black plantation life, and its unmistakable sound remains versatile and enduring today, Laurent Dubois shows.

Author / Editor information

Dubois Laurent :

Laurent Dubois is Marcello Lotti Professor of Romance Studies and History at Duke University.

Reviews

Vincent Brown, author of The Reaper’s Garden: Death and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery:
Dubois reveals the banjo as a vital medium for the ideas and struggles of the people who make it, play it, and hear it. Combining storytelling and scholarship as seamlessly as the banjo condenses rhythm and melody, this special book is a melodious read by an extraordinary writer of Atlantic history.

Ira Berlin, author of Generations of Captivity: A History of African American Slaves:
Following the strings of the banjo from Africa across the Atlantic to the Caribbean and then to the United States, Laurent Dubois provides a new perspective on the African diaspora. Banjo: America's African Instrument is a rich, original view of our sonic landscape. It is impossible to follow Dubois's trail without a smile and the satisfaction of hearing the world anew.

Béla Fleck, Banjoist:
A wonderful offering, and a fascinating and illuminating read. This is the most comprehensive book yet about the history of the banjo. The instrument's story is told here with such depth and detail that it comes alive. I loved reading this.


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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
March 14, 2016
eBook ISBN:
9780674968813
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
384
Other:
20 halftones
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