The banjo has a history stretching back thousands of years and its origins lie in Africa: among the griots of Mali, the spiked lute known as the ngoni is regarded as the banjo’s ancestor; in Senegal, it was called the akonting. Eventually, these instruments found their way to the Caribbean via the slave trade from the 17th century onwards, where they became known as the »banjar«, with the materials used changing from wood and calabash to metal.
Exploring these surprising connections lies at the very heart of Rhiannon Giddens’s musical career. With her quartet, she opens up unexpected perspectives on an instrument that is all too often dismissed. When Giddens traces the roots of early banjo music in her project »Juba Zinga Jubilee – Bringing Early Banjo Music Back Home«, this rich history always resonates. Giddens has put together an intimate revue for the the »Reflektor« week she has curated.
With banjo, vocals, guitar, accordion and percussion, the quartet – which also includes her long-standing Italian partner Francesco Turrisi and the Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu – shatters a number of clichés, such as the notion of the banjo as a light-hearted country instrument or the idea of white dominance in this genre. Giddens has here transformed her fascinating research into the interconnections of African music in the USA into an exciting, melodious form.
PERFORMERS
Rhiannon Giddens banjo, vocals
Niwel Tsumbu guitar
Éamonn Cagney percussion
Francesco Turrisi percussion, accordion
PROGRAM
»Juba Zinga Jubilee« – Bringing Early Banjo Music Back Home
