GLOBAL BANJAR: Politics, Race, & Empire in Antebellum Banjo Music Worldwide [Ordering Info >>]
$15 (+shipping) CD / $12 download
13 tracks / 45:26 / +Booklet (24p)
ISBN#: 700261435770
folk / americana / American history / world history / music history
Delineates the development of diverse national, racial, and class identities in antebellum pop/folk banjo music from various corners of the 19th century globe…
Live program info >>
IN AN AGE OF UPHEAVAL & CHANGE, a BOLD NEW SOUND arises & spreads across the mid-19th century globe — from dusty Southern slave quarters to the polyglot swirl of seaside markets — from California gold fields to the smoldering volcanos of Central America — from the decks of U.S. warships at anchor in Asia to the Duchess’s carriage waiting at Brighton — over it all RINGS THE BANJO & its STARTLING MUSIC, spanning Race, Class, & Geography alike, striking rich chords of Africa, Europe, & America combined in complex CONCERT, heralding the birth of MODERN POP MUSIC & the IMPERFECT EMERGENCE of an audibly MULTICULTURAL AMERICA.
~ { From the album cover >> }
Tracklist:
- Picayune Butler’s Come to Town [about]
- United States it Am de Place [about]
- Ethiopian Cracovienne
- Jim Crow [about]
- Old Folks at Home [about]
- I’m off for California [about]
- I’m off for Brighton
- I’m off for Nicaragua [about]
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin [about]
- Jordan is a Hard Road No.s 4 & 5 [about]
- Oh de Law Gals
- Uncle Sam’s Farm [about]
- Tycoon Jig
Personnel:
Featured Instruments:
- Minstrel banjo kits by Terry Bell: Stichter (1848) / Boucher (1856)
- 4-string gourd “mande banza” by Pete Ross
- Bones by Steve Brown
- Donkey jawbones
- Tamborines by Terry Bell
- Fiddle
- Guitar
- Reed flute
- Accordion

Recorded in New Hampshire @ Loud Sun Studio