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• From Africa to America
• The banjo "passes" in white America
• The American banjo in foreign lands
• White faces in black tuxedos
• The banjo and all that jazz
• Down home on the farm
• "Can't you hear me callin'?"
• "If I had a hammer"
• Sweethearts of the radio
• The banjo today.

The banjo is emblematic of American country music, and it is at the core of other important musical movements, including jazz and ragtime. The instrument has been adopted by many cultures and has been ingrained into many musical traditions, from Mento music in the Caribbean and dance music in Ireland. Virtuosos such as Bela Fleck have played Bach, African music, and Christmas tunes on the five-string banjo, and the instrument has had a resurgence in pop music with such acts a Mumford and Sons and the Avett Brothers. This book offers the first comprehensive, illustrated history of the banjo in its many forms. It traces the story of the instrument from its roots in West Africa to its birth in the Americas, through its coming of age in the Industrial Revolution and beyond. The book profiles the most important players and spotlights key luthiers and manufacturers. It features 100 milestone instruments with in-depth coverage, including model details and beautiful photos. It offers historical context surrounding the banjo through the ages, from its place in Victorian parlours and speakeasies through its role in the folk boom of the 1950s and 1960s to its place in the hands of songwriter John Hartford and comedian Steve Martin. Folk, jazz, bluegrass, country, and rock-the banjo has played an important part in all of these genres. Lavishly illustrated, and thoughtfully written by author, broadcaster, and acclaimed banjoist Bob Carlin, this is a must-have for lovers of fretted instruments, aficionados of roots music, and music history buffs.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Historique
• Le Banjo Primitif
• Le Minstrel Banjo
• Le Banjo Classique
• Le Banjo Ténor
• Le Banjo Bluegrass
• Le Banjo Folk Revival
• Le Banjo Musette
• Lutherie
• Le Manche
• La Touche
• La Tête
• Les Mécaniques
• Le Fût
• La Peau
• Le Chevalet
• Le Cordier
• Le Repose-Bras
• Le Résonateur
• Cordes et Médiators
• Le Choix de l'Instrument et son Entretien
• Tableau de Maintenance.

"Le banjo moderne est américain, mais sa conception et son origine sont ouest africaines. Il a pour ancêtre le Xalam des Wolofs du Sénégal et de la Gambie. Mais c'est aux Etats-Unis qu'il adoptera sa morphologie actuelle et son système de résonance définitif : une peau tendue sur un cercle métallique. L'histoire du banjo peut-être mise en parallèle avec l'évolution sociale, économique et technologique des États-Unis. Elle est un témoignage des différentes époques qui ont façonné le pays. C'est ainsi que le banjo sera associé à deux événements majeurs de l'histoire des États-Unis : La Ruée vers l'Or (1849) et la Guerre de Sécession (1861/1865)."--Page 4 of cover.

The story of the banjo's journey from Africa to the western hemisphere blends music, history, and a union of cultures. In Banjo Roots and Branches, Robert B. Winans presents cutting-edge scholarship that covers the instrument's West African origins and its adaptations and circulation in the Caribbean and United States. The contributors provide detailed ethnographic and technical research on gourd lutes and ekonting in Africa and the banza in Haiti while also investigating tuning practices and regional playing styles. Other essays place the instrument within the context of slavery, tell the stories of black banjoists, and shed light on the banjo's introduction into the African- and Anglo-American folk milieus. Wide-ranging and illustrated with twenty color images, Banjo Roots and Branches offers a wealth of new information to scholars of African American and folk musics as well as the worldwide community of banjo aficionados. Contributors: Greg C. Adams, Nick Bamber, Jim Dalton, George R. Gibson, Chuck Levy, Shlomo Pestcoe, Pete Ross, Tony Thomas, Saskia Willaert, and Robert B. Winans.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Sounding Africa
• The first African instrument
• Three leaves
• The sound of freedom
• The banjo meets blackface
• Rings like silver, shines like gold
• Black banjo
• Sounding America.

• African American roots
• The origins of black face minstrelsy
• The birth of a banjoist
• On the road in Great Britain
• Back in the United States : touring with a minstrel band and final days
• The Virginia minstrels and the dawn of the minstrel show
• Ethiopian serenaders : British minstrelsy after Sweeney
• The banjo in Australia
• Minstrel touring in the American south
• P.T. Barnum's black face adventures
• Sweeney's repertoire
• Joel Walker Sweeney and the "invention" of the 5-string banjo
• Sweeney's influence
• Sam Sweeney : war years with J.E.B. Stuart.

Joel Walker Sweeney was, in essence, the Elvis Presley of the 1840s. A professional banjo player, Sweeney introduced mainstream America to a music (and musical instrument) which had its roots in the transplanted black culture of the southern slave. Sweeney, an Irish-American born midway between Richmond and Lynchburg, Virginia, sampled African American music at a young age. He then added more traditional southern sounds to the music he heard, in essence creating a new musical form. The only avenue available to a professional banjo player was that of traveling minstrelsy shows and it was this route which Sweeney used to bring his music to the attention of the public. Beginning with the banjo's introduction to America and Great Britain, the book provides an overview of early banjo music. The volume then discusses the evolution of American minstrelsy (i.e., black face) and the opportunities it provided for artists such as Sweeney. Correcting previous fallacies and misconceptions (such as Sweeney's supposed development of the five-string banjo), the work discusses Sweeney's roots, his music and his contribution to the physical development of the instrument. An appendix contains a performance chronology. The work is also indexed.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Banjo roots research: changing perspectives on the banjo's African American origins and West African heritage / Shlomo Pestcoe and Greg C. Adams
• Banjo ancestors: West African plucked spike lutes / Shlomo Pestcoe
• List of West African plucked spike lutes / Shlomo Pestcoe and Greg C. Adams
• Searching for gourd lutes in the Bijago Islands of Guinea-Bissau / Nick Bamber
• Interviews with Ekona Diatta and Sana Ndiaye, master musicians playing within traditional and contemporary commercial contexts / Chuck Levy
• The down-stroke connection: comparing techniques between the Jola Ekonting and the five-string banjo / Greg C. Adams and Chuck Levy
• "Strum strumps" and "sheepskin" guitars: the early gourd banjo and clues to its West African roots in the seventeenth-century circum-Caribbean / Shlomo Pestcoe
• "Finding" the Haitian Banza / Saskia Willaert
• The Haitian Banza and the American banjo lineage / Pete Ross
• Zenger's "banger": contextualizing the banjo in early New York City, 1736 / Shlomo Pestcoe and Greg C. Adams
• The banjar pictured: the depiction of the African American early gourd banjo in The old plantation, South Carolina, 1780s / Shlomo Pestcoe
• Black musicians in eighteenth-century America: evidence from runaway slave advertisements / Robert B. Winans
• Mapping eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century citations of banjo playing, 1736-1840 / Robert B. Winans
• Black banjo, fiddle, and dance in Kentucky and the amalgamation of African American and Anglo-American folk music / George R. Gibson
• The changing intonational practice of mid-nineteenth-century banjo / Jim Dalton
• Gus Cannon
• "The colored champion banjo pugilist of the world" and the big world of the banjo / Tony Thomas
• Defining a regional banjo style: "old country style" banjo or Piedmont two-finger picking / Robert B. Winans.

The story of the banjo's journey from Africa to the western hemisphere blends music, history, and a union of cultures. In Banjo Roots and Branches, Robert B. Winans presents cutting-edge scholarship that covers the instrument's West African origins and its adaptations and circulation in the Caribbean and United States. The contributors provide detailed ethnographic and technical research on gourd lutes and ekonting in Africa and the banza in Haiti while also investigating tuning practices and regional playing styles. Other essays place the instrument within the context of slavery, tell the stories of black banjoists, and shed light on the banjo's introduction into the African- and Anglo-American folk milieus. Wide-ranging and illustrated with twenty color images, Banjo Roots and Branches offers a wealth of new information to scholars of African American and folk musics as well as the worldwide community of banjo aficionados. Contributors: Greg C. Adams, Nick Bamber, Jim Dalton, George R. Gibson, Chuck Levy, Shlomo Pestcoe, Pete Ross, Tony Thomas, Saskia Willaert, and Robert B. Winans.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)