KRISTINA R. GADDY
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What is an Early Banjo?

9/28/2022

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What is an Early Banjo? An Exploration of an Instrument’s Relationship to Organology and Ethnomusicology

Pete Ross and I presented this at the 2022 American Musical Instrument Society Conference at Studio Bell: The National Canadian Music Centre in Calgary, Canada. ​

It presentation outlines the organological characteristics (how an instrument is made) of early banjos—pre-industrial gourd- and calabash-bodied instruments. It also analyzes whether organology alone can determine if an instrument is a banjo or to what extent we must consider an instrument’s provenance, usage, and cultural context. Using seven images of early banjos and the three confirmed extant instruments, we outline the organological characteristics shared across early banjos, and how those characteristics differ from known African instruments. We also discuss the known cultural context of the banjo, which was created by people of African descent in the Americas and used as accompaniment for ritual dance. Finally, we introduce a newly rediscovered instrument from a collection at the Musée des Confluences in Lyon, a watercolor at the British Museum of an instrument once held at the Leverian Museum, and a watercolor from St. Domingue, and we explore whether by using organological characteristics alone we can conclusively say that these three newly discovered sources can be called early banjos.

You can view more of the presentations from AMIS here. 

This is part of Banya Obbligato, a series of blog posts relating to my book Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo’s Hidden History. While integrally related to Well of Souls, these posts are editorially and financially separate from the book (i.e., I’m researching, writing, and editing them myself and no one is paying me for it). So, if you want to financially support the blog or my writing and research you can do so here. ​
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Music in Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo's Hidden History

9/26/2022

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The sheet music cover for A.P. Heinrich's The Log House, with a Black man holding a gourd banjo or fiddle peaking out from the house as Heinrich plays violin, 1826. Lester Levy Sheet Music Collection/ Johns Hopkins University Libraries.
Unfortunately, all of the music illustrations got cut from Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo's Hidden History. Here are some of the songs referenced, musical examples of early American music, and other musical transcriptions I've come across recently.

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Images in Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo's Hidden History

9/16/2022

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Du dance from P.J. Benoit's Voyage a Suriname / John Carter Brown Library
     Every time I came across an interesting image during my research, I saved it in case I would need it again, in case I would be able to use it for the book. When it came to discussing which illustrations would make it, I had way too many. As much as I would have liked to basically make Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo's Hidden History an illustrated book, that wasn't what the book was and wasn't what we could do with it.  
    And again, I thought, well, the internet can provide. For one, many of the images that I mention in the book are digitized and available for folks to access. But interesting images that I came across in the public domain I could also put here on the blog, in color and higher resolution. (The ones that are available online but that I do not believe I have permission to share are linked below.)

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Maps for Well of Souls: Uncovering the Banjo's Hidden History

9/14/2022

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World map / Nova totius terrarum orbis tabula / Amstelodami : Ex officina F. de Wit, [1680?] / Library of Congress
     A good map almost seems necessary for a book of historical nonfiction. Unfortunately for me, the other illustrations in Well of Souls were more important than any map I wanted to include. But, that’s why I have this blog. As easy as it might be to pull up Google Maps, some place names and even landscapes have changed over the last 400+ years. Here are some maps that I came across in my research that helped me understand the places and time periods I was writing about. (Also a quick note: they are not geographically organized, but organized by the chapters to which they correspond.)

These are all in the public domain, and while some are available at the Library of Congress's website (and I've linked to them), others are from books at the James Ford Bell Library/ University of Minnesota Libraries I was able to access while there.


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When is a calabash not a calabash?

9/7/2022

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     When is a calabash not a calabash? It sounds like the beginning to a botanist joke, one that I’m not sure I could find the right pun for. It is also the title of a paper by anthropolgist Sally Price, where she explores the implications of conflating calabashes and gourds on African American and Indian American art and culture. And the answer to the question actually seems to be all the time. I’ve heard calabashes called treegourds and gourds called calabash gourds. Price has an excellent table of the differences between the two fruits, but most simply put, a gourd is Lagenaria siceraria and the fruit of a vine. A calabash is Crescentia cujete, and the fruit of a tree. They are not only totally different plants, they diverge at the taxonomic classification of angiosperm, or flower plant (meaning they have a different order and family). 
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Engraving of Le Calebassier, a calabash tree / University of Minnesota, James Ford Bell Library
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Color engraving of Curcurbita longa (with calebasse mentioned in the caption) / New York Public Library / Public Domain
Why does this matter?

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    Come in, the stacks are open. 

    Away from prying eyes, damaging light, and pilfering hands, the most special collections are kept in closed stacks.  You need an appointment to view the objects, letters, and books that open a door to the past. 

    Here, pieces of material culture are examined in the light. The stacks are open. ​Read the stories behind objects and ephemera found in private collections, archives, and museums. 

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