The Truth About Banjo History

Banjo Heritage 👉 / cliftonhicks
Clifton Hicks on the banjo's surprising popularity before 1800, plus Old Leatherstocking, Joe Sweeney, and the rise of blackface minstrelsy.
The earliest accounts of what can be positively identified as a "banjo" come from the Caribbean during the 17th century. Recent organological studies of early gourd banjos indicate that they are a hybrid instrument, borrowing heavily from both African and European lutes.* By 1740 the gourd banjo had spread across the east coast of what would become the United States, and by 1780 it occupied a central role in both black and white folk culture--especially in the South. However, it wasn't until the 1830s that blackface minstrels began utilizing it on the commercial stage, and this happened mostly in the urban North. In the South, banjo culture remained relatively uncommercialized until after the American Civil War.
Banjo Roots and Branches (ed. Winans, 2018)
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#CliftonHicks #banjo #OldLeatherstocking #BanjoHeritage

[@dblev2019]

Could you direct me to where I can find and read the accounts of the slaves use of the banjo in the 18th century. I would like to get more clarity on the topic.

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

The best book on the subject is _Banjo_ _Roots_ _and_ _Branches_ by Dena Epstein. You might also watch my short documentary "Introduction to Early Banjo History" here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iXTPqIidq8iNe9Esi=n8Ij9DtpcdyAuwGn

[@librandy77]

I listen to your explanations of Banjo history a lot. For me you are the best source for this subject and your tutorials are brilliant.. Thanks man.

[@NyanCatHerder]

Listening to this as someone with a degree in history, I like his use and interpretation of primary sources. He not only notes how early the first references were, but the significance of the fact that the authors felt no need to explain what they were talking about. That's always significant, because it captures the fact that something was so widespread that no reasonably aware person would have any questions about what a frankly pretty unusual term means ("banjo" is a term that sounds unlikely to be native to the English language). It means something isn't new, and without seeing a transition period where people *did* feel the need to clarify, it means that it became common quietly and without deliberate adoption. Which, with something like the banjo, makes sense. It's not so unusual that it would have ever felt like a bizarre novelty, but it can be used to produce a unique and recognizable sound that people enjoyed just as much in the 18th and 19th centuries as we do today. Unfortunately, prejudice (against Black musicians at first, and against poor artists from Appalachia even now) has delayed its acceptance by "high society". People are only now, and only to a limited extent, coming to embrace the idea than an instrument popular for centuries can be used to produce complex, beautiful, and even haunting musical arrangements. I feel like distribution through online channels is helping in that process, since it can bypass traditional gate keepers like record labels and radio stations, to reach people directly with music that doesn't play into the stereotype of what banjo playing "should" be.

[@bryanlentz7160]

I started playing the banjo a couple years ago, and I try to learn all I can. While there are many good sources, Clifton is one of, if not, the best!

[@allenhughes60]

That short clip of leatherstocking was hilarious 😂

[@m3vm3]

My family were early Carolina and Virginia African Americans. Im trying to learn more about the banjo. Thankful for your videos!

[@victoriarotramel2274]

The American Banjo Museum in Oklahoma City has some incredible banjos from the late 1790s you can see. It's an incredible learning experience I would highly recommend!

[@lairdkilbarchan]

Wherever I go I'm on the hunt for musical gems. I bought a couple of instruments in West Africa that seem to be the banjo's long lost cousins. One is called a "gimbri", a large camel-skinned fretless instrument with gut strings played by the Gnawa people. It's played it in a kind of frailing style, forefinger and thumb, with plenty of hammer-ons. I also picked up a 5 string "sintir" in Morocco, which I immediately tuned it to open (something?) and played a rendition of "Old Joe Clarke" much to the amusement of the aged, dusty storekeeper. It's certainly not too much of a stretch of imagination that the ability to make these instruments travelled and gradually developed with the people from that part of the world as the materials would have been readily available anywhere at the time. Well, apart from the camel skin, I guess :)

[@theoldkid5725]

That is what I always thought, african roots are so obvious(besides all other native storytelling ,from all over the world!)almost disappeared in one way to use it( which I never was interested in ) and is still soo present in the other way(which I love).Whole wide World...

[@j.reu.s9540]

For sure, the first time I saw a Gnawa band playing I thought ... wow, that looks a lot like clawhammer banjo playing from the United States. There's a lot of reason to suspect that banjo-like instrument designs (stringed lutes with a stretched skin head) came into West Africa from Arabic traders in the north. In coastal areas like Ghana and Nigeria most of the really traditional music focuses around different kinds of drums and polyrhythmic music, but as you go farther north into the Sahel region (for example, Mali, but also north Ghana) where the Arabic/Islamic influence is much stronger, you start to see a bigger diversity of skin-head stringed instruments. For sure some of the earliest lutes came out of north/northeast Africa, Iran, Turkey, etc.. that then came to influence Southern Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa.. I've even seen some Egyptian art with images of banjo-looking instruments.

[@daisbumflea9070]

I'm glad to have read this! It's awesome you're clearly interested in the instruments origins and have a passion for it

[@mayorjoshua]

The Gnawa people are descendants of enslaved West Africans who were brought to Morocco via the Trans-Sahara slave trade. If the parallels to Afro-Americans aren't striking enough, the Stambeli music of Tunisia, played by a related West-African descended group in Tunisia, employs a "gombri" (a variation of "gombri" or "guembri") that is built with a (deep) drum body rather than a more traditionally Sub-saharan African gourd body. They also play it with that clawhammer style. It's uncanny that a similar adaptation to the West African lute occured with Afro-descendants in the Americas.

[@DerSchleier]

​@@theoldkid5725African roots? Aryan roots... not African per se. The Aryan/Blanc has long existed all across North Africa (from today's Morroco all the way through Egypt). The origination of stringed instrumemtation emanated from Europe/Aryans.

[@carylynngrimes5691]

Thank you for sitting down with us and sharing your knowledge

[@8wheeledassassins.]

I had such a great time plucking away and listening to this live stream! Thanks Clifton.

[@PepperDarlington]

That same woodburner heats our home. When the harvest is done and the grasses lay dormant, I may be fortunate enough to sit in my chair, watching your catalogue of moving pictures alongside it's warmth. If I don't procrastinate half my summer chores, that is 😂

[@MoM-nx3sh]

Thanks cliff - bruh I saw you on TV in an itaq war panel talking about your experiences like in the 2000s or something lol then I saw you on YT playing musical styles I was diving into myself. Was really trippy tbh. Much love to you dude.

[@fastheartmartvideos]

Thanks for explaining this history Clifton! Very interesting :)

[@markdietrichcochran2274]

Thanks to your inspiration I'm ordering a fretless, open back, nylgut, minstrel style banjo. I'm so excited for this new musical adventure!

[@ephialtesjackson3620]

Thank you sir for the information. Banjo is in my daily instrument rotation since 2 years ago.

[@bryanlentz7160]

I started playing the banjo a couple years ago, and I’m trying to learn all I can about the history as well as playing. While there ARE many good sources, Clifton IS one of, if not, the best!

[@toadeepants]

Love your history lessons so much, Clifton!!

[@veroldaley1]

Thank you sir, enjoy your lessons regarding the playing and the history of this wonderful instrument

[@invinciblecheng7844]

You have a lot of great content and have helped me tremendously in my banjo playing. Thank you.

[@dAvrilthebear]

The 1790s were crazy, we all listened to Old Letherstocking and the likes, we knew all the words and tried to learn the chords, the parties were amazing, the dancing, and the booze was great too. Ah, good times, good times!

[@jpf77302]

College was the best.

[@Ginlock45]

Leatherstockings is the second only to Dio in the heavy metal hall of fame

[@daisbumflea9070]

P r e a c h

[@actualsurfer]

As a banjo player I am very happy that the banjo came to America. Also happy that the banjo transcended race so early on. You can be sure that Irish slaves learned the art from black slaves. The banjo is truly the instrument of the people. Uniting our cultures. I endeavor to get better at it and I encourage others to do the same.

[@ronaldwellman4046]

Enjoyed this along with my children. History is important. Thank you hopefully more to come

[@farnorthpicker56]

Well you just answered my question about “ Old Leatherstocking” ! Thanks for the history!

[@reneeboissett2772]

Love your content Clifton, keep doing what you do Il keep being grateful for it ❤️❤️❤️

[@quintinpace2627]

Cool channel. Very interesting

[@duncansmith6696]

I'd like to see a leather Stocking and Amigo the Devil colab. Please.

[@Spencer-vq7se]

What tuning are you using in your old leather stocking songs? very curious

[@writer4peace]

Thank you for this history and for sharing your songs.

[@jackorbit7258]

Thanks, Clifton for the fill in history. Good onfo.

[@cdreery7304]

You are a fountain of knowledge!

[@salinagrrrl69]

In the filming of, "The Blue & The Grey" Fayetteville Ark 1981 film makers hired a local banjo artist w/ a repro CW era banjo & a knowledge of tunes that era. A tune be played at the campfire went, "If Ah had some liquor Ida get drunkr than a dicker."

[@montedogfish2626]

Thanks for sharing awesome channel

[@savedbyjesus9403]

More banjo history/ Old Leatherstocking videos please. ☺️❤️💯

[@frozemoments7873]

Your one of a kind . The knowledge and unknown wisdom of the banjo and music in general is something that needs preserved. Season In the Abyss ... my friend we are. God Bless. LIVE Is Awsome. 🎯👍🏼 If OldLeatherStocking made his strings from anything els besides intestines from a large wild and wise mammal....I would be disappointed and the World wouldn’t be the same. Haha

[@DaisyHead666]

Is that a Slayer reference? maybe not.. But truth nonetheless

[@WieldingEminator]

See, this is why we need to stop tearing down and banning history! Here, I learned something I never knew before, and I learned more about history in these few minutes than many kids today get in their semesters.

[@mississippijohnfahey7175]

Yeah, dumb ass kids and their dumb ass colleges. This is a whole year's education in ten minutes 🤘🤘 screw those lazy youngsters Real talk though, this history isn't banned. You can take a course on Appalachian history at many colleges in the region

[@allank8497]

Old Leatherstocking could play a dark rendition of Rosin the Beau

[@jakeglanville6835]

Once again, you've got it spot on, Clifton. Thanks. Don't forget, as I've mentioned elsewhere, the banjo was very popular in England, and that was well before the American Civil War, because we had a great slave Empire, and those from Africa brought the banjo with them. In fact, as you may already know, slavers were instructed to make sure they grabbed a banjo player or two to keep the other slaves happy. Black Jake.

[@Blenduu]

Wow. Thank you for this info. I'd love to know your resource .

[@jeffhildreth9244]

Nonsense.

[@jakeglanville6835]

@@Blenduu Thanks. Not quite sure what you mean by 'resource'. If a keen interest in the history of the banjo going back to my distant relative Alfred Glanville Vance aka 'The Great Vance (d.1888) is a resource, then I certainly have that. Clifton Hicks, Rhiannon Giddens and Jim Carrier are good sources, and well worth looking at. BJ.

[@jakeglanville6835]

@@jeffhildreth9244 Ah, clearly a gentleman and a scholar. Thanks. Can you be a little more specific?

[@aaronkelley8909]

Awesome work!

[@robgarnes]

I appreciate your wisdom my king.

[@themanhimself1229]

The fact you mention Anglo-America at 3:57 has me wondering two things. One, did the Gaelic immigrants to the Mountains really have a distinct identity In the late 1700s, or did that come later. IE, did they consider themselves 'Anglo-Americans'. Two, when did playing banjos get fully associated with Gaelo-America Appalachians, rather than the Black Appalachians?

[@MitchMb14]

My great-great-great-great-great grandfather who fought in the Revolutionary War had at least one slave whom he left to my great-great-great-great grandfather's brother and then my branch of the family had no more slaves. Now you've got me wondering if that slave had a banjo.

[@bryanlentz7160]

Like to see more of Old Leatherstocking!

[@anthonylakey9735]

this is the kind of teachings they are trying to keep out of schools, so we as a people have to teach our own kids

[@BRedFilms]

I love this.

[@markvandyke3026]

Speaking of subscribers, look at your numbers Clif!

[@banjoman123]

I’d be curious to know who was steaming wood in or around Lynchburg in the 1830’s. I always though Thonet innovated that technology around the same time in Europe. I suppose someone could’ve been making drums in the area. Maybe that information is already out there. It’s been a minute since I chatted with the Appomattox / Sweeney people.

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

I think people were using heat and water to bend wood long before Thonet; for example, the Windsor chair was developed before 1800. I'm guessing that Thonet merely perfected the process. Either way, it's apparent that virtually all banjos described in the historical record before Sweeney/Boucher are gourd-bodied instruments, and that gourds all but disappear after circa 1840; replaced by wooden, steam-bent sound chambers.

[@rosafalls8068]

I know little on this subject, but I looked up history of old baskets, since I inherited a single basket as my grandma's dying request....no inheritance to leave, but she kept saying I had to have the basket. I looked up old baskets and found it was as common if not more common in some places to make wooden baskets than reed baskets, and nearly everyone knew how to make baskets, choose wood, soak, bend and weave until about the 1940's. The more common competence and knowledge base in older days, even of making baskets would possibly, have contributed to making banjos at a very early stage, methinks. Edit: barrel making was also common and could easily have contributed to the early banjo. Anyone that could make a wood basket or barrel could have made an early banjo too.

[@1truemoose]

@@CliftonHicksbanjo Foxfire 3 has a section on traditional methods of constructing banjos and dulcimers. One uses a bent hickory hoop, others use rings cut from hardwood.

[@bearshield7138]

thank you you should do a reading list

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

Banjo History Reading List 👉 kzbin.info/www/bejne/iYjdoWyql7dpas0

[@bearshield7138]

@@CliftonHicksbanjo Thank you I will

[@larryphillips8101]

So that's where you got Old Leatherstocking.

[@RevelleeTN]

Enjoyed these words of truth from an empathetic and ignorant perspective of our hurman strggle. Thank You Sir Clif!

[@KyleMillerMusic315]

My opinion is that all those came from some kimd of celtic instrument in turkey. Back when all of europe was celtic, the fact that the fiddle and banjo both sound similar to the bagpipes which are a celtic isntrument that originated in anatolia meaning theybwere all good for the type of muscle they liked

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

You may be right. The more I look into history, the more I become convinced that everything originated in the Caucasus and Anatolia.

[@MrJbold25]

Fascinating stuff

[@EvilJesus33]

Fire

[@VeridicusMaximus]

I'm not so sure Sweeney did not 'invent' the 5 string frame drum banjo. Most of Sweeney's contemporaries say he did. I guess they could be mistaken or lying. Not sure if Sweeney ever claimed he did? But I also don't know anything that would suggest he did not. It is interesting as you say that no mention of the 5 string frame banjo was around until Sweeney!

[@Celticman197]

The banjo today is really a totally different instrument, especially the 5 string resonator banjo used for 3 finger style. It really is even separate from a modern open back used for frailing. Even the tuning in many instances is different. Those 18th and 19th century banjos were mostly fretless, and used only for beating out a foot stomping rythym, almost like a drum beat. They have very little if anything in common with 20th century banjos, or the Musicians, and even less in common than the banjos today in the hands of the skilled virtuoso, modern banjo Players.

[@antmothirteen6540]

Thank you

[@NemoNepersonne]

Elsewhere, you mention a Portuguese reference from around 1620 to Africans playing guitar-like instruments. A large percentage of the Africans sold into slavery were sold by Muslims who originally came from Arabia, Egypt, etc. The first stringed instrument from that region was the Rebab, which has existed in many forms and is still played in many countries. It was usually bowed, but not always. It was originally a gourd with a skin head and a long neck. It could have varying numbers of strings, including sometimes strings on the side of the neck. It was made in many sizes. The musical traditions of the Middle East and Egypt would likely be carried into Muslim Africa, and it would be expected that non-Muslim Africans would see these and make their own. Thus, the idea of the banjo carried to the Americas was very possibly a memory of folk instruments derived from middle eastern instruments.

[@jakeglanville6835]

Too right, mate!

[@shakazulu9763]

O death. Great one.

[@randalclarke5487]

You look like a young Jon Voigt lol

[@plethoraofpinatas.]

The Drone Abides!

[@ducktapepilot]

Is it just me or does this guy look and sound a lot like Old Leatherstocking?

[@gringogreen4719]

What about Celtic music? Wouldn't this be around the same time or earlier?

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

I am by no means an expert on traditional Celtic music. My guess would be that, like American trad, most of the stuff one hears at festivals or on recordings probably stems from the 1960s folk music revival. That being said, various forms of flutes, violins, drums, and bagpipes have been played continuously in Britain and Ireland for thousands of years. I think most folk music in that area wasn't documented until the 18th century, whereas American folk music went largely undocumented until the late 19th century.

[@FFGG22E]

The black banjo had no strings though. It was a drum.

[@cragslist8987]

I've only just begun diving into your channel. You are a fountain of knowledge. I appreciate your more nuanced take as opposed to the typical reductionist takes.

[@smokey121979]

Guess what I'm Democrat and I don't even hate your music. In fact I love it

[@wanicki3579]

Thanks for the info I appreciate you

[@DerSchleier]

The Roman Catholic slaves (from Wales, Scotland and Ireland) brought the stringed instrument knowledge with them as they were deposited in the Caribbean and North America.

[@michaelharvey5138]

Very interesting !... You live and learn...I'd always thought the 19nth century was the earliest white men played banjo..I'm still playing now in the 21st !!....

[@blackdeeplake]

Hey clifton check out.luke kelly of the dubliners

[@Doylemcfarlane369]

The banjo came from Africa it was a pumpkin or a gourd I think is the fruits name is.So in africa it was a stick in a fruit with a animal skin stretched over it with 3 strings how amazing and Cumberland gaps a tune 😊

[@fredd5046]

Man can make anytging

[@ChrisThompson-nn2pv]

👍👍

[@bryandovbergman5654]

Well if he always had a Banjo with him, so much so he couldn't even escape without one, the master should have been happy he ran away lol

[@landonshanerthebanjokid5906]

Beware dont look into the eyes of Ol Leatherstocking He will steal your soul and sell it to the Devil😂

[@porkchop803scwilliams9]

Are you leatherstockings?

[@daisbumflea9070]

"hiii yeah I mean I know you're kind of like my property and all and your human rights are non existent but what's that cool soundin thing ya got there and also can you teach me how to use it :) ???"

[@bull419]

The Spanish already had a guitar in the Middle Ages and brought to the Americas in the 1400s .!!

[@actualsurfer]

What about the Chinese? dont they get any credit for their Qinqin they developed over 5000 years ago and that they brought to India and North Africa via ancient trade routes?

[@Rackhamish]

The banjo originated from West Africa, and was brought to the americas through the enslaved Africans in the Caribbean carrying on their tradition. It was in the early to mid 1800s (pre civil war) that it gained popularity with white americans. Though I'm sure it was played earlier as well, it became more established with the american 'white' population in the early-mid 1800s.

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

The earliest accounts of what can be positively identified as a "banjo" come from the Caribbean--not West Africa. Recent organological studies of early gourd banjos indicate that they are a hybrid instrument, borrowing heavily from both African and European lutes. By 1740 the gourd banjo had spread across the east coast of what would become the United States, and by 1780 it occupied a central role in both black and white folk culture--especially in the South.

[@Rackhamish]

@@CliftonHicksbanjo Thanks for the reply! I'll look more into the origins.

[@maxxvaxtor8501]

If it was brought to America by the Africans how come it's part of Irish folk music?

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

I was raised hearing that the banjo came from Ireland, but this isn't the case. The earliest known banjos (dating to the late 1600s/early 1800s) were played in the Caribbean--places like Haiti and Jamaica. My understanding is that the banjo was later popularized in Britain during the 1840s by entertainers from the United States. As far as I know, the 4-string Irish banjo did not emerge until circa 1900.

[@religionisatragedy8537]

3:35 Wtf? 😂😂

[@connorgerman8374]

Soooo.... a towns van sant cover with cliton hicks and nick shoulder

[@anonymoususer6683]

Are banjos going to be racist now?

[@PermacultureAppalachia]

"... from my cold, dead fingers."

[@mikebobson2768]

“CuLtUrAl ApRoPiATiOn”

[@jackieblue787]

Propaganda are us

[@toraimanchester4658]

the banjo came into your culture via irish travellers...

[@CliftonHicksbanjo]

🤣 Thanks, I hadn't heard that one.

[@toraimanchester4658]

@@CliftonHicksbanjo do you even realise how america was founded