Well of souls Uncovering the banjo's hidden history

As the brilliant musician Rhiannon Giddens asks in her foreword, how can the banjo, an instrument "so integral to American culture," be so "badly understood" and "misrepresented"? Fortunately, historian Gaddy brings the rich and complicated history of this seemingly humble instrument to light in this well-researched and equally well-written volume. Exploring the African American roots of the banjo, Gaddy goes further by insisting that its history has been "willfully hidden and distorted." She embarks on a musical journey and a musical detective story that takes her around the world, from slave ships to the former Dutch colony of Suriname to South Carolina to New Orleans to New York. She also discusses the myths surrounding Joel Walker Sweeney, the white man often said to have introduced the banjo to American audiences. The point that Gaddy wants to emphasize is that the banjo is not an African instrument. Rather it is, she asserts, a uniquely American instrument, made by people of African descent. "It is structurally different from any African instrument." Well of Souls is a sometimes sad but more often rousing history illustrated with evocative artwork portraying people, often enslaved, playing the banjo in its many incarnations. This is a glorious and invaluable chronicle for music lovers and everyone interested in American culture.

Though the banjo has a uniquely jaunty sound, underneath the bluegrass playfulness is an often painful history. Gaddy traces the instrument's origin to the rituals of enslaved Blacks in the American South, the Caribbean, and South America. Regardless of its exact form, the instrument played a crucial role in religious and ceremonial dances, and Gaddy tracks its early history through Suriname and Haiti. Some slave owners sought to suppress it, while others tolerated it. In fact, one of the first depictions of a banjo is in a painting of a spiritual dance performed by enslaved people on an 18th-century North Carolina plantation. The author shows how the arrival of Christianity among enslaved people was a setback for the banjo. "For hundreds of years, drums, fiddles, banjos, and wind instruments were part of religious dances," she writes. "Now, as a result of conversion to Christianity, there were none. The banjo and Christianity didn't seem to mix." The next step in the evolution of the banjo came from an odd place: a White musician named Joel Sweeney (1810-1860), who was taught to play by an enslaved man. Sweeney did much to popularize the sound, as did the minstrel shows popular at the time. In the 1840s, William Boucher, an instrument maker, began constructing and selling banjos, defining the pattern of construction along the way. Eventually, the banjo would return to Black communities, but it would take several decades. Though Gaddy weaves an undeniably interesting tale, the focus often remains on the history of slavery rather than the banjo. While she demonstrates how the two are intertwined, there are long sections of the book that do not connect to the instrument's story. This is not a fatal flaw, but rigorous editorial streamlining would have resulted in a more focused, coherent book. Grammy-winning musician Rhiannon Giddens provides the foreword. A deep dive into the social history of the banjo. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.