Mission: Music of West Africa

There is something beautifully haunting about the sound of an old plunky banjo. Its profoundly deep yet and gentle weeping combined with the often joyous melodies played on it speak a language unique in the world of tone and timbre. Its as if its sound wants to communicate a history filled with triumph and tragedy, joy and sorrow, struggle and victory, as well as defeat. As an “old time” clawhammer banjo player and American history teacher, I have made it my mission to explore the origins of the banjo in American history. This exploration has allowed me the privilege to meet some of the most amazing musicologists and musicians in the world, and opened up many unique opportunities to teach, travel, and learn about the history of folk music from around the world. Nevertheless, there is still a large hole in my understanding about the history of my instrument. To fully understand the history that the banjo wants to share, I now know that I must head to West Africa.

Now, thanks to the Teachers for Global Classrooms/IREX program and the US Department of State, I have been given the opportunity to travel to Senegal, West Africa, to search for the origins of the banjo and its unique path and evolution on its way to and through America. In April and May of 2018, I will explore the connections of West Africa to the United States through music, language, and culinary culture. My hypothesis: The story of the banjo is unique among instruments, and perhaps more accurately portrays American folk history than any other source in our history. Combined with language and culinary culture, I hope to discover just how deep the cultural connections between the United States and West Africa truly are. As I travel, I will be seeking the answers to these guiding questions:

What has been West Africa’s impact on the Culture of the United States, especially related to music, language, and culinary culture?

What impact has America had on West Africa since the beginning of our common history?

Answers:

What has been West Africa’s impact on the Culture of the United States, especially related to music, language, and culinary culture?

I found that the biggest impact that West Africa has had on the culture of the United States comes from its music. My hotel in Toubab Dialao served as an artist and musician community as well as a place for tourists to stay. My room overlooked the outdoor amphitheater, directly over the portion of the stage where the musicians would play. While this did make for many long and loud nights, it also forced me to focus and analyze the poly-rhythmic syncopation unique to West Africa. At times, dozens of percussionists playing drums of all sizes and shapes would play as quickly and as loudly as possible, almost as though they were competing in contest of speed and volume. At first, this sounded like anti-rhythmic atonal chaos. As the days went on, however, my ears began to pick up complex rhythms hidden within the cacophony of hands, sticks, and animal skins. The beats were not necessarily in “western” musical time (4/4, 3/4, 6/8, etc.), but in time signatures that my western-minded brain could not at first comprehend. Once one rhythm was picked out, the rest began to make sense. These musicians proved to me masters of syncopation, playing a huge range of complimentary complex time signatures, following each other through a variety of rhythms, each accentuating a different beat than the one before.

In the music specific to the United States, rhythmic syncopation has proven to be one of the most important and unique things that sets it apart from the music of the rest of the world. Everything from American jazz to heavy metal has much of its rhythmic foundation built around syncopated beats and complex time signatures. There is no doubt that the origins of these “American” musical traditions came directly from West Africa. The chart below (figure 1) provides a helpful visual.

Beyond the percussion instruments, there was a couple of stringed instruments that stood out to me as a banjo player. The first was the Akonting, and the second was the Xalam. Both of these instruments claim to be the "grandparents" of the modern American banjo. I found these claims to be legitimate. The playing style of the Akonting is nearly identical to clawhammer banjo (a style that was popular with Enslaved Africans and "Blackface Minstrel" players in the years surrounding the American Civil War), while the Xalam boasts 5 strings, including drone strings, just like the banjo today. Both instruments have animal skin heads (like the drum-like head on the banjo), and both have strings that vary in length, just like the 5th string on the banjo.

What impact has America had on West Africa since the beginning of our common history?

“We love America because our relatives live there”. This was a statement provided by the principal of Diass Elementary School when he was asked how he feels about the history that the United States and Senegal share. This was shocking to me as someone who teaches the horrors of the Slave Trade and the massive impact it has had on Senegal since the first African arrived in Jamestown in 1619. It is true that there is a huge number of American people related to the peoples of West Africa, but I never considered the fact that this made America and Senegal largely members of the same family. This attitude of love and forgiveness is something that pervades Senegalese history and culture. They study the slave trade in their history classes, and have museums (or in the case of Goree, and entire island) dedicated to the history of the slave trade. The docents of the museums often said to us, “we forgive, but we do not forget”. Though the history of the United States and Senegal has been more recently separated as a result of French colonization and over 50 years of independence, the Senegalese still carry this familiar and shockingly friendly relationship with America in their hearts.

Figure 1: