Saturday, February 02, 2008
Ulf is off to Africa searching for banjos
Dear banjo lovers
This information is just to update you what we are doing with the banjo community concerning the "Origin of the banjo" investigation. Over the last years we have found a lot of new and challenging facts that have forced us several times to change our theories. One of the latest was the discovery of the Griot five string spike gourd lute the Xhalam Gesere among the Wolofs in Senegambia which was unknown to scholars until that point. This instrumnet gives us a link to drone string banjos in the New World from the Griot side. The discovery of the Kolinko two string, plectrum played gourd lute still in use in the FRA-Fra ethnic group In Northern Ghana gave us a link to the very rich old plectrum played banjo traditions in the Carribien region, something that is still very much alive.
I would also like to point out that there are vacancies for any musicology students/interested to take up more research projects in West Africa. We will be more than happy to share all our new knowledge with any interested students and to help out for an amateur or professional research report, article or dissertation.
The main activity for me presently finalsie detailed plans for this years journey to Africa. I am also writing my second banjo article for the Swedish Musical Instrument Museum's annual booklet about the African predecessors to the banjo. My first article was about the banjo development in the New World, covering everything from the minstrel period to folk music in the 1950-1960´s. I also have endless hours of video recordings from Africa to be edited and published on Youtube.
My trips for 2008 are to North and West Africa. Here are my scheduled activities.
1) Southern Morocco in March:- From March 20th my wife Anneli and I will spend a week in the Atlas mountain region in Southern Morocco. That will hopefully allow me to look for the music cultures of the Berber/Tuaregs in a number of desert towns. We will start in Agadir at the coast and then pay visits to Marrakech, Taroudant, Quarzazate and Zagora. This will be an interesting trip. I hope to video Lotar, Gimbrie, Gunbri and perhaps Sintir/Haj haj lute instruments and players .
2) Senegambia in July:- This my fifth trip to Senegambia and will be in conjunction with the Senegambian "Origin of the Banjo" Conference. Dates will be 8th of July Stockholm-Banjul, 9th of July preparation for the trip in Banjul. Early leave for Southern Senegal and 10th to 18th of July the large round trip. Return to Banjul before the opening ceremony. 19th of to 21st of July will be the conference attendance from my side, 22nd to 24th of July are research activities in Gambia
24th-25th of July, from Banjul to Stockholm
Hopefully a few (a maximum of three) of you would like to join me for an adventure tour of the southwest part of Senegal,
- from Banjul to Zuguinchor
- eventual visit to Jola villages Mlomp and Youtuo depending on time available)
- from Zuguinchor along road N6 to Kolda.
- from Kolda to Velingara and from there
- perhaps a visit to the Niokola Koba National park
- and then up to Thambacounda (crossroad for many ethnic groups in Senegal).
We will then return to Banjul along the Gambia river south road from Basse. That will be a 600-800 km (500 miles) long trip depending on what we will find along the way and take about 7 days with a four wheel drive SUV. The whole idea is to search the following instruments:-
a) The Griot Mandinka Kontingo (same as Xhalam, Huddo etc). According to many sources the Mandika seems to have abandoned the lutes in favor for the Kora, Bolon and Bala. Still, it should be very interesting to interview a Mandika Griot Kontingo player. They could have more to tell us about the origin of the Griot lute than probably has been previously documented.
b) The Mandika folk harp Simbi. Are there any Simbi player (hunters) still around?
c) The Mandinka one string Molo player. Are there any players still around?
d) The (extinct? Mandinka folk harp Kurango. It is a four string harp lute very similar in construction to some of the folk lutes in the West African Savannah region, but the Kurango is a semi-spike harp with just a slightly bowed neck. We have to find out if anyone knows anything about this instrument. There is one rare sample left in the museum in Banjul.
e) All other Akonting like instruments and harps we can find and document.
f) Fiddle traditions among Fulas and Wolofs.
g) Search for the origin of the mystic Bania name.
This is of course an unrealisticly large wish during such a short period of time but if I just could find and document a few of the above point it would be a success.
3) Mali in November:- My wife and I have booked a two week adventur trip to Mali starting 5th of November. We will travel along the Niger river from Bamako up to Timbuktu with a two days visit to the Dogon people in the south mountain areas. We will visit and stay in following cities Bamako, Djenne, Mopti and Timbuktu. In Djenne the hotel owner is a Swedish girl Sophie Arin. I have sent her a mail asking for help to trace a number of instruments among the different ethnic groups. I am looking for Griot lutes from different ethnic groups, harps like Donce Nogoni and of course the Dogon Konou lute and the Ginggiru harp. I will also look out for the Diawara Kola Lemme gourd lute mention by Michael Coolen in his African lute articles. Also bowed lutes are of interest to document.
4) On the planning stage for 2009 is a two week trip to South Africa during the spring and the very long overdue research trip to Northern Ghana and Burkina Faso during the fall.
5) For 2010 perhaps visits to Northern Senegal and/or Guinea and/or Sierra Leone can be carried out.
All my new documentations will be published on Myspace and Youtube available for everyone.
Regards to you all and the very best for 2008.
Ulf Jagfors
This information is just to update you what we are doing with the banjo community concerning the "Origin of the banjo" investigation. Over the last years we have found a lot of new and challenging facts that have forced us several times to change our theories. One of the latest was the discovery of the Griot five string spike gourd lute the Xhalam Gesere among the Wolofs in Senegambia which was unknown to scholars until that point. This instrumnet gives us a link to drone string banjos in the New World from the Griot side. The discovery of the Kolinko two string, plectrum played gourd lute still in use in the FRA-Fra ethnic group In Northern Ghana gave us a link to the very rich old plectrum played banjo traditions in the Carribien region, something that is still very much alive.
I would also like to point out that there are vacancies for any musicology students/interested to take up more research projects in West Africa. We will be more than happy to share all our new knowledge with any interested students and to help out for an amateur or professional research report, article or dissertation.
The main activity for me presently finalsie detailed plans for this years journey to Africa. I am also writing my second banjo article for the Swedish Musical Instrument Museum's annual booklet about the African predecessors to the banjo. My first article was about the banjo development in the New World, covering everything from the minstrel period to folk music in the 1950-1960´s. I also have endless hours of video recordings from Africa to be edited and published on Youtube.
My trips for 2008 are to North and West Africa. Here are my scheduled activities.
1) Southern Morocco in March:- From March 20th my wife Anneli and I will spend a week in the Atlas mountain region in Southern Morocco. That will hopefully allow me to look for the music cultures of the Berber/Tuaregs in a number of desert towns. We will start in Agadir at the coast and then pay visits to Marrakech, Taroudant, Quarzazate and Zagora. This will be an interesting trip. I hope to video Lotar, Gimbrie, Gunbri and perhaps Sintir/Haj haj lute instruments and players .
2) Senegambia in July:- This my fifth trip to Senegambia and will be in conjunction with the Senegambian "Origin of the Banjo" Conference. Dates will be 8th of July Stockholm-Banjul, 9th of July preparation for the trip in Banjul. Early leave for Southern Senegal and 10th to 18th of July the large round trip. Return to Banjul before the opening ceremony. 19th of to 21st of July will be the conference attendance from my side, 22nd to 24th of July are research activities in Gambia
24th-25th of July, from Banjul to Stockholm
Hopefully a few (a maximum of three) of you would like to join me for an adventure tour of the southwest part of Senegal,
- from Banjul to Zuguinchor
- eventual visit to Jola villages Mlomp and Youtuo depending on time available)
- from Zuguinchor along road N6 to Kolda.
- from Kolda to Velingara and from there
- perhaps a visit to the Niokola Koba National park
- and then up to Thambacounda (crossroad for many ethnic groups in Senegal).
We will then return to Banjul along the Gambia river south road from Basse. That will be a 600-800 km (500 miles) long trip depending on what we will find along the way and take about 7 days with a four wheel drive SUV. The whole idea is to search the following instruments:-
a) The Griot Mandinka Kontingo (same as Xhalam, Huddo etc). According to many sources the Mandika seems to have abandoned the lutes in favor for the Kora, Bolon and Bala. Still, it should be very interesting to interview a Mandika Griot Kontingo player. They could have more to tell us about the origin of the Griot lute than probably has been previously documented.
b) The Mandika folk harp Simbi. Are there any Simbi player (hunters) still around?
c) The Mandinka one string Molo player. Are there any players still around?
d) The (extinct? Mandinka folk harp Kurango. It is a four string harp lute very similar in construction to some of the folk lutes in the West African Savannah region, but the Kurango is a semi-spike harp with just a slightly bowed neck. We have to find out if anyone knows anything about this instrument. There is one rare sample left in the museum in Banjul.
e) All other Akonting like instruments and harps we can find and document.
f) Fiddle traditions among Fulas and Wolofs.
g) Search for the origin of the mystic Bania name.
This is of course an unrealisticly large wish during such a short period of time but if I just could find and document a few of the above point it would be a success.
3) Mali in November:- My wife and I have booked a two week adventur trip to Mali starting 5th of November. We will travel along the Niger river from Bamako up to Timbuktu with a two days visit to the Dogon people in the south mountain areas. We will visit and stay in following cities Bamako, Djenne, Mopti and Timbuktu. In Djenne the hotel owner is a Swedish girl Sophie Arin. I have sent her a mail asking for help to trace a number of instruments among the different ethnic groups. I am looking for Griot lutes from different ethnic groups, harps like Donce Nogoni and of course the Dogon Konou lute and the Ginggiru harp. I will also look out for the Diawara Kola Lemme gourd lute mention by Michael Coolen in his African lute articles. Also bowed lutes are of interest to document.
4) On the planning stage for 2009 is a two week trip to South Africa during the spring and the very long overdue research trip to Northern Ghana and Burkina Faso during the fall.
5) For 2010 perhaps visits to Northern Senegal and/or Guinea and/or Sierra Leone can be carried out.
All my new documentations will be published on Myspace and Youtube available for everyone.
Regards to you all and the very best for 2008.
Ulf Jagfors
“Banjos Aweigh” with Tim Allan
The 10-day JazzSea Caribbean Cruise, returned to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on January 15, 2008 with many great musical memories, along with photos of some of the prettiest islands in the Caribbean.
It was my pleasure once again to conduct the “Banjos Aweigh” pick-up band, made up of around 40 non-professional musicians and enthusiasts, ready to practice and learn a 45 minute concert repertoire. In the band we had men and women from the U.S.A. and Canada, as well as the Scottish banjo player, Michael Hart, the director of the Edinburgh International Jazz and Blues Festivals.
The band predominantly consists of banjo players, with a tuba or bass player in the mix. We have usually been lucky enough to find a good pianist and horn player or two, as well as fiddlers and harmonica players. To add rhythm and humour to the gathering, we have added washboards, spoons, and sometimes a “gutbucket”. I welcome any level of banjo playing ability, and I will try to include most other instruments into the band.
I never know who our musical surprises will be until we begin the cruise, so I try to make the concert songlist relatively simple, to accommodate various levels of performance. In fact, to further simplify matters, I now have the full concert printed up in booklet form, “The Banjos Aweigh Songbook”, so that participants, who cannot play by ear alone, will be able to read the music during performances. Some prospective band members will even order their songbook well in advance of their cruise, just to be prepared. It ends up being a great learning experience for novices. Just look at their faces in the accompanying photo!
If anyone is interested in cruising while listening to 5 or 6 different jazz bands, or even participating with Banjos Aweigh, just check out www.jazzsea.com for information on upcoming cruises. There is a 7-day Alaskan cruise leaving Seattle on July 25. Another 7-day Caribbean cruise will leave Ft. Lauderdale on January 3, 2009, and I’ll be onboard for both of these, offering lessons and workshops, as well as performing and conducting Banjos Aweigh.
“The Banjos Aweigh Songbook”, is NOT available online, but you can mail your order directly to me at the following address:
Tim Allan, 2513 Lewis Rd., Venice, Florida, USA. Each book will cost $18,00 pp, in North America, and $22.00 pp, overseas.
