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The Senegambian Akonting The Origin of
the Banjo Daniel Laemouahuma Jatta (MBA)
One of the earliest artistic works of the Jola ethnic
group. A possible ancestor to the Southern American folk gourd
banjo. The Leading Banjo-like Lute in the Senegambian region
of West Africa Today. “The lost of the
Southern American folk gourd banjo, which was one of the first artistic work
of humankind both I honestly agree, there is a considerable volume of
work produced by both European and American scholars on the modern commercial
American banjo, but there is still a great imbalance on the amount of work
done on the Southern American folk gourd banjo, which evolved the modern
banjo, by the same scholars. The progress I achieved in the southern American folk
banjo research, over the past 29 years, owes a great deal to the humble work
of my father and mother who taught me my culture and its traditions, the
Akonting players and Akonting historians of Mandinari and Cassamance that I
met in the Senegambian region during the entire course the research, as well
as my sponsors and supporters at Vuxensskolan (Greta Englund and Gaston
Willaman) and the rest of the institutions staff. I am also indebted to my
great friend and banjo scholar Ulf Jagfors who first accepted my research,
help to introduce me to the banjo community, and who continues to share with
me his research interest and keep me informed of all the new developments on
the banjo. According to many banjo historians, especially the
Euro- American scholars, during the turn of the nineteenth century, the early
origins of the American gourd banjo as distinct from the modern commercial
banjo are obscure. There is however, a general consensus, during the last
fifty years among the same scholars that the American banjo came to What is it we are looking for which we don’t see yet? Before I address
these facts, I would like to quote the early descriptions and illustrations
of the instrument as seen by early observers, so that the reader can use this
descriptions to guide him /her to make his/her judgement when he/she finishes
reading the research. In Robert Lloyd Web’s book (Ring the Banjar) numerous
descriptions were given on how the Southern American gourd banjo looked like.
Here are a few of them: The first
American banjos were: ----Made of small gourds fitted with necks, strung with
horsehairs or the peeled stalks of climbing plants or wits..
sometimes made of hollow timber covered with
parchment or other skin wetted having a bow for the neck…
--The “strum-strum” …made with calabash, a slice of which being taken off,
a dried bladder, or skin, is spread across the largest section, and this is
fasten to a handle, which they take great pain in ornamenting with a sort of
a rude, carved work and ribbons… --The “merry
–wang” ...cut lengthwise through the middle of a calabash…they
stretch upon it the skin of a goat which they adjust around the edges with
nails…then a piece of lath or flat wood makes the handle…they then stretch
three cords of pitre (a kind of hemp taken from the agave plant, vulgarly
called pitre) and the instrument is finished.
--The “banza” place not recorded, ca.
1810”. Descriptions of the playing techniques of the banjos
described above Briggs in Banjo
Instructor of 1855 describes playing as follows: “In playing the thumb and first finger only
of the right hand are used, the fifth string is touch by the thumb only; this
string is always played open, the other strings are touched by the thumb and
first finger...The strings are touched by the ball of the thumb and the nail
of the first finger. The first finger should strike the strings with the back
of the nail and then slide to...” Frank Converse in his Banjo Without a Master describes
the style of playing as follows: ”Partly close the
hand, allowing the first finger to project a little in advance of the others.
Hold the fingers firm in this position. Slightly curve the thumb. Strike the strings
with the first finger (nail) and pull with the thumb”. The instrument described here has striking similarities
with the three stringed Senegambian Akonting. Before
using both the methods of construction and the styles of play of the early
banjos to analyse and prove my research, I would like to go to history to
show how the Senegambian Akonting left In the mid 1440s
the diverse population of the Senegambian region faced the most uncivilised
and inhuman disintegration of their people and their rich diverse culture, by
the Portuguese, the first Europeans who set out to seek slaves in From the time of
the arrival of the Portuguese until 1600, about one million Africans were
taken from the West African region, particularly from the The Senegambian region The area mostly
recognised as the Senegambian region, covers the Independent states of Before the
first Europeans (Portuguese) come to this region, which was among their first
stops in the whole of the West African region, Africans then, had already
mastered how to play their these different and wonderful instruments and also
how to build them with different materials. This was why when in the new
world they did not find any problem to build these instruments again in all
these different environments and to build them so fast that they were all
over the Americas within a short period. Again this was possible because of
the natural consequence of the shared ways of culture the Africans had before
the culture was polluted by other elements. For before 1440, these diverse
groups live and intermarriage within themselves. Since the
arrival of the Africans in the Which Instrument or Instruments did they imitate to
construct the banjo, and was it an African instrument? This is the question that all honest banjo researchers
today are trying to resolve and I will do my best to address it. As I mentioned earlier, the Senegambian region has a
lot of varieties of chordophones in the form of lutes, harp and fiddles and
most of the lutes, especially the lutes like, the Ngoni, the Xhalam, the
Kontingo, Buchundu and the Akonting are very much like the Southern American
gourd banjo in construction. But when one looks at them closely one would
start seeing differences in construction, in play style and most important of
all in their social functions of their music and this is what one should look
for if one has to compare any of these instruments, (which are found where
most of the slaves taken to the Americas came from) with the Southern
American gourd banjo. It is now an established fact that the Southern American
gourd banjo was a folk instrument, played with only two fingers (thumb and
index finger (nail) Clawhammer. Its sound box was calabash, and the neck was
a long handle. The stick of the neck passes through the calabash into the
other side. The name “Bangoe” was one of the names given to the instrument.
Now having these points as our guide lines, which instrument are we talking
about in the West African region which is the region most of the slaves taken
to the A detail analysis of how these lutes, fiddles and harps
are constructed and the social functions behind their music As I said before, there are a large number of lute
instruments in the West African region like: 1.
The internal
spike lutes with oval wood body i.e. Xhalam, Ngoni, Kontingo, Molo, and
Gurkel. 2.
The internal
spike lutes with round gourd body i.e. Molo, Konde, and Kabule. 3.
The internal
pass through body dowel stick and with a round gourd body i.e. Akonting
(Jola) Buchundu (Manjago). 4.
Harp lutes
like Kamalen, Ngoni, Kora, etc, which in most cases have a pass through body
dwell stick. As one can see from the descriptions above, all these instruments share some basic structural
components like, a neck, a resonator, a sound table, and a bridge. But this
does not mean that that they are the same or they are played with the same
technique, as many of us tend to believe. Both the internal spike lutes with oval wood bodies and
the internal spike lutes with round gourd bodies are constructed like the
ancient long neck lutes from The music of the internal spike lutes in the
Senegambian region is called griot music (French) Jali music (Mandinka) Gewel
music (wolof) etc. That is music that confers political and economic status
to its patrons. Most of the griot music in the Senegambian region started
growing widely during the thirteenth century during the expansion of the
Manning Empire. The internal spike lutes did not play folk music, which was
the music the Southern American gourd banjo was known for. But there are
theories that stated that before Islam became embraced in the ethnic groups
that played the internal spike lutes instrument, these instruments were used
to play folk music. But these theories are yet to be verified. Who plays the internal spike lutes instruments Today the ethnic groups who play the internal spike
lutes are Mandingos, Fulas, Wolofs, Tukulor, etc. These are the major ethnic
groups in this region who are known to have played these instruments for
generations. These ethnic groups also were among the first in the Senegambian
region to embrace Islam too. This is why according to some theories the old
method of playing these instruments disappeared when these people were
influenced by the Islamic culture of playing music. Again these are theories
yet to be verified. Playing technique of the internal spike lutes Clawhammer, which is the method used with the Southern
American gourd banjo is not used when playing the internal spike lutes.
Instead the playing technique used is that three fingers are used, the thumb,
the index finger and the middle or third finger. I will quote the Wolof
Xhalam to explain how most of the internal spike lutes are played. In playing
the Wolof Xalam, the thumb plucks the first string, the index finger plucks
the second and third string, and the middle finger plucks the forth and fifth
string. This to any one who knows Clawhammer is very far from it. (Article
Michael T. Coolen) Before I describe the method of construction and the
technique of play of the Akonting, I shall first address the political,
social and religious history of the ethnic group (the Jolas) that plays the
instrument (Akonting lute). The Jolas The Jolas are found in great numbers on the Atlantic
coast between the southern banks of the Their communities way of
settlement are based on the extended family settlement, that are normally
large enough to be given names of their own and independence. Names like Jola
Karon, Jola Mlomp, Jola Elinnkin, Jola Caginol, Jola Huluf, Jola Jamat, Jola
Joheyt, Jola Bayot, Jola Brin, Jola Seleky, Jola Kabrouse, Jola Jiwat, and
Jola Foni etc (See article Patience Sonko-Godwin) Although Jolas have a lot of traditional economic
activities like fishing, farming groundnuts, taping palm wine, processing
palm oil, just to name a few, their most intensive economic activity is rice
cultivation. They had this knowledge long before the first European (the
Portuguese) came to their region. This work activity (rice cultivation) is
tied up closely to their religion and their social organisations. They have a
good knowledge of animal husbandry and do raise a lot of different animals
like cows, pigs, goats, chickens, sheep and ducks. In the area of craftsmanship,
the Jolas have a great variety of craft knowledge like weaving baskets,
pottery, and house building. Jolas are also great palm oil manufacturers and
great palm wine tapers in the Senegambian region. They were the last ethnic
group in the Senegambian region to accept Islam. Even though some Jolas
accepted Islam in the end (Soninke-Marabout war), they still honour their
traditional way of using palm wine when performing their important rituals. The Jolas have a concept of one God that they associated
with the natural phenomena like sky and rain. They call this one god Amit
(God) or Ata Amit (the Almighty God). (See article J. David Sapir) However,
like any other religion, the Jolas have charms or sacred forests and sacred
lands which they honour and worship as supernatural spirits that can protect
their families, their villages, their rice fields, and even protect them from
conversion to Islam and Christianity. These supernatural spirits are called
Bakin (Mandinka Jalang). Unfortunately people who don't understand how Jolas
pray and relate to their God think that the Jolas have no God but spirits,
because they offer sacrifices to the Bakin. But the Jola knows the difference
between his/her God
(Ata Emit) and the Bakin. Jolas are also able herbal medicine
practitioners. Their high adaptation to the nature and environment made them
to be able to create musical centred civilisation, natural medicine centred
civilisation, and most important of all rice cultivation
centred civilisation which they do effectively by using a locally made
farming tool called the Kajandu. Like most of the indigenous ethnic groups of the
Senegambian region, the Baga, the Serere, the Balanta, the Konyagi etc, the
Jola ethnic group did not develop a political scale that expanded beyond
village level compared to ethnic groups that migrated to the region like the
Sonikes and the Mandingos. But this does not mean they did not develop a
sophisticated political system. The egalitarian nature of their societies,
structured around the limited village environment gave them the possibilities
to develop a political system based on collective consciousness, which they
worked through their initiation rites. In a sense the Jolas political
achievement in the village was socialism. It was totally tied to their
religious belief (Bakin). This political achievement to any one who knows
politics is not easy to reach if the society that runs it does not have well
defined rules of administration and penalties. All Jolas, before the influence of Islam and
Christianity in their ways of beliefs, placed great respect in the proper
observation of funeral ceremony, and still today some do, for they are of the
belief that it enables the dead person’s soul to go to its final destination,
(his or her ancestors). It was and still is strongly accepted by those Jolas
who still practise their ancestral religion that without performing these
funeral sacred rites, the soul is prevented from entering the presence of the
creator (Ata Amit), and the ancestors. Jolas believed strongly in living a
good humanistic life in this world. They believe that if one lives a bad life
in this world when the person dies the soul of the dead person is punished to
become an exile spirit and with no bed to lie on (In Jola Cassa this exile
spirit is called A Holowa). This exile spirit becomes a roaming spirit with
no respect from the other spirits. A description of the internal pass through body dowel
stick with a round gourd body, the Akonting lute Exclusively, the Akonting, which is a three-string
gourd instrument, is a Jola musical instrument. Its sound box is made of a
hemispherical calabash, with a nailed goatskin. Before the invention of nails
palm tree thorns or wood pegs were used as nails. The three strings, which
are attached to a long neck, today are nylon fishing line. Before, they were
made of palm tree roots. (Jola language: Kuhall kata kubekel). The neck is a
bamboo stick (Mandinka language: Bangoe) that passes through the calabash to the
other side. (See diagram) A hole is made in the sound box (calabash) to allow
the sound to escape. The bridge of the Akonting is not fixed to its skin as
many lutes are. It is free, and can be moved back and forth on the skin of
the sound box and it is always held in position by the pressure of the
strings when it is in playing position. Playing Technique The word to play the Akonting in Jola
is called OU TEEK, which means beat, or knock the instruments strings.
This is no difference to the word used in the playing style of the Southern
American gourd banjo, called Clawhammer. In playing the Akonting, only two
fingers (thumb and index), usually of the right hand are used. Most Akontings
are built for the right hand position. The ball of the thumb touches the
short string (drone) and the middle string and the index finger (nail)
touches the third string. Some Akonting players like Ekorna from the
Cassamance uses the thumb and the middle finger instead of the index finger.
The index finger and the third finger of the left hand note the third string
or the long string. The music of the Akonting is short sustained notes that
are played over and over again. Usually they are between two to three notes.
The mechanics involved in playing the Akonting is the regular sounding of the
short string (drone string) when playing any melody. It acts as a drum to add
beauty to the melody. The middle string is also sometimes used as drone
string. All the noting is done on the long string. The music of the Akonting has been and still is folk
music. Akonting players do not play music to confer status to their patrons.
They play their music, usually in the evenings after work to relax and have a
nice time before going to bed. Also when in their rice field bars (Jola, Hu
Waa) they play the Akonting in the evening after working in their rice fields
and drink their palm wine that they are expert in tapping from the palm tree.
The music of the Akonting deals with all matters of life and does not need to
be augmented by any other instrument to be danceable. It is rhythmic enough
to enable one to dance. The Buchundu The Buchundu is a Manjago three-string instrument. It
is constructed exactly just like the Akonting. In fact, according to Sagari
Sambo, an Akonting player living at Mandinari Playing technique of the Buchundu According to Sang Gomez of Jewswang, the Buchundu can
be played by using only the thumb finger or by using the thumb, the index and
the middle finger. When using the thumb only style, the thumb touches all the
strings but in a downward stroke motion all the time. Them the index finger
of the left hand notes the two long strings. The short string is always
played open. When using the three-finger style, which he said is not
the original style, the thumb touches the short string while the index finger
and the middle finger touches the middle and third string respectively. The music of the Buchundu is folk music just like the
Akonting music. Its music has short verses and is mostly music to inspire
bravery to hunters especially those who hunt dangerous animals like leopards,
wolves, lions etc in those days when the world did not place a band on
killing some of these animals. Is the research for the history of the origin of the
southern American gourd folk banjo interminable or not? Is the progenitor of
the southern American gourd banjo lost to posterity or is it the Senegambian Akonting
lute? Before I conclude I would like to seize the opportunity
to explain who I am and what made me involved in the search for the origin of
The Southern American Gourd Banjo, the instrument that all the new world
music scholars, historians, and researchers, know today as the one that
created jazz, blues and even rock music. Yes I am an African, born in the
Gambia West Africa. At the age of nineteen I obtained a scholarship from an
African American family living in I concluded my University programme at Atlanta
University, in 1981, and up to that time I did not read or see any instrument
both in the New world or Old that has been identified with the banjo that all
these students were talking about. But some research showed very powerful
theoretical models. It was these theoretical models (like Pete Seegers 1954
model) and the terminologies like, Bang, Bangelo, Sambo, Gambra River,
Bangoe, that made me know that the Instrument that the New World called Banjo
has some connections with the Senegambian languages and culture, because I
could interpret the words. What I did not know then was what instrument was
it in the Senegambian region and which ethnic group played it or still plays
it. Although my introduction to the history of the New
world banjo was in 1974, it was not until fourteen years ago since I started
intensively to research the origin of the instrument and all the other
information connected to the instrument. The task was not easy since I had no
sponsors at the beginning. All my desk, field, video, and music research
information depicted the The search for the The lack of documentation and diffusion of information
of blacks playing the instrument in the 17th and 18th
centuries, plus the lack of pictures of the gourd banjo in the plantations made
the search for the origin of the Southern American gourd banjo so difficult
of some of us, but gave fundamental opportunity to some subjective
researchers to formulate theories that exclude blacks from the instrument. Despite the numerous stereotypes of both the pro slaves writers of the Before the Akonting lute was introduced to the banjo
research community in year 2000, the leading string instrument within the
banjo community was the Malian Ngoni or the Senegalese Xhalam. Basically
these two instruments are the same both in construction, in play style and in
the social functions of their music. The difference between them is their
names. I respect both the Ngoni and the Xhalam and their cultural
contributions to the Senegambian griot culture. But I found it hard to accept
them as the progenitor of the gourd banjo. The constant facts we have in our
hands are far from these two instruments, and all the honest researchers on
the banjo know this. Today, after the introduction of the Akonting, a new
perspective has developed on the way we looked at the constant facts that the
Among all the banjo like instrument I studied in the
Senegambian region, which is Africa’s most characterised stringed instruments
region, I found the Akonting lute and the Buchundu lute as the closest in
similarities to the New World banjo, and when I finally concluded my research
in year 2000, I found the Akonting lute the leading Instrument because of the
following: Conclusion The Akonting is the most banjo-like known instrument
from the Senegambian region. The Akonting is the only string instrument found in the
Senegambian region that is played with the Clawhammer technique. The name “Bangoe” (Mandinka language spoken only in the
Senegambian region) of Most Akonting musicians used to play and still splay
along the banks of the Instruments with Akonting like constructions were found
in the A theoretical model of a Senegambian lute, very similar
in construction with the Akonting lute, was depicted by Pete Seeger in 1954. Sambo and Jibba (names associated with the banjo
culture in the New world) are common last names (family names) among the Jola
ethnic who are the only ethnic group in the Senegambian region that play the
Akonting Instrument. In the search for the origin of the banjo, Contact: |