[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-155914-105":59,"doc-detail-155914-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","banjo-history-and-construction","Banjo - History and Construction","","Examining the banjo’s origins, development, and construction, this paper traces how West African plucked lutes influenced the instrument’s later American forms through the transatlantic slave trade and cultural blending. It reviews primary written and visual sources and surviving instruments to connect African ancestors with later, more modern designs associated with James Ashborn. A central focus is the debated relationship among the xalam, n’goni, and early banjo, comparing instrument construction, playing technique, and the social roles of griot performers.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/banjo-history-and-construction/155914/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/banjo-history-and-construction/155914.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Theodore","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-21","2026-08-28",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":39},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What are the proposed African roots of the banjo discussed in the paper?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The paper argues the banjo’s early form is influenced by plucked lutes in West Africa, especially the xalam (khalam/kalamb/halam) and the akonting (ekonting).","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How did the banjo evolve after arriving in America?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"In the new world, especially in Antebellum America, the instrument changed as performances, tastes, and techniques evolved, eventually expanding into a distinctly American instrument supported by skilled craftsmen.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Why is the xalam-to-banjo link considered uncertain?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The paper outlines problems with the distinction based on three areas: instrument construction, playing style, and cultural use, noting that evidence and performance contexts challenge a simple direct precursor relationship.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},155914,1787941077,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":39,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":144},7971461740886,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","The Roots of the Banjo in Africa and Antebellum America:  \nHistory and Construction  \nJosh Rieck  \nHistory of Musical Instruments: Technical Aspects  \nMay 4, 2013  \nThe banjo as we know it today both physically and in its style of performance has its roots in the plucked lutes of West Africa. It was brought first to the West Indies and later to America as a byproduct of the transatlantic slave trade. As cultures intermingled in the new world the instrument began to evolve into something uniquely American.  \nEarly incarnations ofthe banjo were made by those who played it from available materials, as tastes and techniques of the performers changed over time, the banjo underwent a significant makeover. White adopters of the banjo in Antebellum America created a new market for the instrument leading to skilled craftsmen, most prominently John Boucher, Jr. and James Ashborn, beginning the production of an updated type of banjo, more suited to stage performance.  \nBy reviewing available primary documents including written and visual accounts along with extant instruments, it is possible to trace the development from its African ancestors to the more or less modern instruments of James Ashborn. The developments made in banjo construction and performance prior to the Civil War set the stage for a vast array of innovations and an explosion of banjo culture in Victorian America.  \nThere are two main types of African lutes that are thought to have influenced the creation of the early banjo, the xalam (khalam, kalam or halam) and the akonting (ekonting) . Paul Oliver, a British architectural historian and blues scholar, first identified the xalam as the most likely predecessor to the banjo in his 1970 book titled Savannah Syncopators: African Retentions in the Blues. This assertion remained essentially unchallenged for two decades until the banjo scholars Ed Britt and Bob Winans began to  \nquestion the distinction during a concert by Basaiku Basekon Kouyate, a n’goni1 master, performing at the Tennessee Banjo Institute in 1990.  \nAs Peter Szego points out, the problems with the distinction ofthe xalam as the immediate precursor to the banjo are of three types, the instruments construction, playing style and cultural use.2 Firstly the xalam is typically constructed of a long, narrow, oval shaped piece of wood, hollowed out with a skin head stretched over it. The instrument is a short necked, semi-spiked lute, meaning that the neck does not extend all of the way through the body. The neck is secured to the body by penetrating the head of the instrument at the top of the body, it then exits and reenters the head toward the base of the instrument where a hole is cut in the head to expose the end of the dowel, which is the extension of the neck. The fan-shaped bridge supports four to six strings and rests on the end of the dowel; the strings are affixed over grooves in the bridge to the dowel by means of cotton thread. At the neck of the instrument, the strings are tied by leather strips that can be moved up or down the neck to adjust the tuning. The instrument typically has two main melody strings and two or three drone strings.  \nThree examples of this type of instrument may found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments. Where they are labeled as  \n1. The n’goni, xalam and are two of a type of very similar instruments 1 played by the griot musicians West Africa. A griot is a hereditary praise singer and storyteller responsible for oral history of their people. They are found among many peoples of West Africa. Xalam is the term used by the Wolof peoples of West Africa while the term n’goni is used by the Mande peoples. There is also another instrument in West Africa referred to as the molo which may refer to either a griot or non-griot instrument depending on the location. For further information on griot lutes see Shlomo Pestcoe’s “Griot Lutes” at [http://www.shlomomusic.com/banjoancestors_griotlute","cbCaivtHeYdjJBcj","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaivtHeYdjJBcj","pdf",781168,29,"English","# Roots of the Banjo in Africa and Antebellum America\n## Origins and Cultural Transfer\n## Tracing Development Through Evidence\n## African Influences: Xalam and Akonting\n## Construction Details of the Xalam\n## Playing Methods and Performance Practice\n## Cultural Role of Griot Performers","[{\"question\":\"What are the proposed African roots of the banjo discussed in the paper?\",\"answer\":\"The paper argues the banjo’s early form is influenced by plucked lutes in West Africa, especially the xalam (khalam/kalamb/halam) and the akonting (ekonting).\"},{\"question\":\"How did the banjo evolve after arriving in America?\",\"answer\":\"In the new world, especially in Antebellum America, the instrument changed as performances, tastes, and techniques evolved, eventually expanding into a distinctly American instrument supported by skilled craftsmen.\"},{\"question\":\"Why is the xalam-to-banjo link considered uncertain?\",\"answer\":\"The paper outlines problems with the distinction based on three areas: instrument construction, playing style, and cultural use, noting that evidence and performance contexts challenge a simple direct precursor relationship.\"}]","Banjo - History and Construction | PDF",73]