From West Africa I guess is the most accurate way. However the strings can be made by you of twisted thin slices of skin. At least at the instrument I have in my collection. I picked it up in Dakar, Senegal twenty years ago. It is four strings version with gauges 4, 3, 2,5 and 2 mm. I can send you detailed pictures if you send me your email adress to ulf.jagfors@gmail.com
You should check out the Manjango buchundu/buchundo if you haven’t already. It is identical to the Jola akonting but is played in a two-finger style and incorporates tapping on the skin. The “singing” style is also strikingly reminiscent of the delivery style of some elderly black banjoists recorded in the 20th century.
Very interesting instrument. The fact that the gourd chamber is used in a percussive way makes it sort of a medium between a percussion and a chordophone instrument. But, of course, the unique sound has to speak for itself.
Actually we bought the instrument from him. My Gambian counterpart Daniel Jatta put it in a store in his house. Next year we found out that the termites had eaten the whole instrument. Nothing was left except for some small traces. Later I bought a simular instrument in the market in Dakar, Senegal.
The Banjo is a Black American instrument that comes from the Akonting stop it and respect the fact that its my culture too. They are my ancestors jerk.
Although some say that the origin of the akonting/sintir/n'goni is 3000 years ago in egypt, but that is before the berber/protosemitic migration from Palestine, so Egypt was at that time probably closer to subsaharian populations
Could you please tell me who the artist is on that particular recording of Sourwood Mountain? I have searched everywhere and cannot to seem to find it at all. It must be a rare recording! For some reason, I just love the way the fiddle is playing on this particular version. Nice akonting playing too!
Thank you for uploading this. It is waking up sleeping creativity. It is keeping culture alive. I am Jamaican and on a quest to rediscover the roots of many of my people. This is a great help, thank you again and God bless. May the African Renaissance flourish. Take care. The human family must work together.
Irue very true. I was hoping to have more of that lineage but when my mom did her dna test it came out mostly Beninese and Cameroonian. Weird because most Jamaicans are Akan or Igbo from Nigeria. We are all family though. We had to mix together to stay alive, and mix our languages to communicate, so patwa language has a mix of Akan and Igbo words. Probably many more as well
@@MartyredxMaiden I'm on the same journey as a black man of southern descent, I throat sing and I'm trying to incorporate african clothing, instruments,language and styles into my music
@UlfJagfors Don't be an ignorant, when people like Baba Throbule and SambaLolo properly fix your mistakes. The first rhythm (almost all content of the clip) is Yankandi, very popular rhythm of the Susu, to which there are many songs. The second rhythm is the Mané, spelled also Maane or Maneh, a kind of Susu women's dance (that's why it can be treated as one of the Ginè Faré rhythms). The Jeli or Jali term (for griot or bard) isn't related to Muslim culture, but is related to the society structure of the Mandé ethnic groups (like Mandinga/Mandinka, Maninka/Malinké, Susu/Soussou, Soninké/Sarakhole, Khassonké/Xasonké, Wassulunka, and so on). Another string instruments mentioned by you are Donce Ngoni and Kamel Ngoni -- but this names are not proper. You should spell the Donso N'goni (or Ngoni or Koni, a hunter's harp-lute) and the Kamalen Ngoni (spelled also Kamelen Ngoni, a youth's harp, modern version of the Donso Ngoni). Other string instruments are the Jeli Ngoni, griot's lute, and the Simbi, old hunter's lute.
@balzacbee You aren't right. The Berimbau is just a copy of the Mbirimbau, musical bow from West-Central African country of Angola, and it predates Bolon, Ngoni, and Kora thousands of the years, and still is used by the Bushmen people, who call it the Mburumbumba, beside other names. Before you put your statements, just read sth about what you write...
hahaha, it's funny how you wrongly spell words... the instrument is called Gongoma (Goungouma) as properly call it the player from video, a kind of thumb piano with a big calebash (calebasse) as a resonance box. Gongoma name is in Susu (Soussou) language, which is used by various Susu ethnics, but also by Baga people including from Boke region (unfortunately their own Baga language is less and less used). you shouldn't write also Guinnee Cona Kry, but Guinée-Conakry or just Guinea. and he is not from Manduga ethnic group, you should write Mandinga or Mandinka, but he even is probably from Baga or Susu tribes, maybe of mixed family (with Mandinga). the first rhythm is told to be called Kuku (Coucou), but it doesn't sound for me like the Kuku from the Guinée forestière (Forest Guinea), maybe this is their own Baga variant. but the song he sing to this is the Salia (famous song, search for Africa Soli ensemble on Amazon(dot)com to hear its beautifull version).
Thanks for posting, I recently got a banjo and threw research found about the Akonting! I taught myself to play a bamboo flute with youtube help, now on to the Akonting/Banjo!
Ya know, this looks just like the "Pattin' da Juba" dance done by African-Americans in the south, but they can't possibly be related because the slave masters in America completely deafricanized the slaves, right? Or at least that's what we learned in school. *sarcasm*
I mean, the Wikipedia page says something about it coming from the Congo, but they don’t provide a good source for that. The problem is more in the idea that such a dance was developed specifically because African drums were banned in North America (an oft repeated factoid that isn’t well sourced itself), when that’s unlikely to be the case, and the dance, like many other elements of early Afro-American culture, more likely has a near-direct equivalent somewhere in West or Central Africa. This seems more likely to be the origin, especially considering that hamboning/patting Juba was also supposedly known among the slaves in Suriname (historically “Dutch Guyana”), where an early gourd iteration of the banjo (“bania”) was also in use among the enslaved and maroon populations.
There are no esa/iesous/jesus; only YAHOSHUA which means YHWH OUR SAVIOR. YHWH is a jealous GOD and will not share THE GLORY of HIS HOLY NAME with none.(Isa 42:8.) Blessings to Brother Remi; His beautiful voice & music are refreshing to The Soul. Shalom,
Dearest Ulf, tracking songs as one song the way literary-focused folklorists do misunderstands the process completely. tunes were shaped by the dances rn a confluence of different African peoples and European influences as the dances melded. and many tunes blended together surfacing in unacostemed terms when assaulted by folklorists and record companies
Respect. vraiment . C'est génial , et ça prouve que les vieux instruments valent vraiment quelque chose , et les plus talentueux ne sont certainements pas les DJs et les mixeurs.
Thank you "UlfJagfors" to clarified the names... I would like to add that this instrument was originally a 3 strings instrument, only the recent yong folks from Guinea added a 4th and even a 5th string to it. It is a hunters instruments and does not belong to the Jelis (the one playing the different Ngonis..) This instrument is said to have been around since around 1000 BCE (As you can see - it has no metalic part to it but only natural things that were available even before iron was made.
@MSfeller Why did you take what I said as "hostile"? Did I shout or say it with an angry face? I'm just saying that given historical events, it seems obvious to me. Chill.
@metallicafan52893 ....I thought the banjo was brought to Ireland by American minstrels around the mid 19th century and around the same time the mandolin came to America in a big way through Italian immigration? The banjo and fiddle were the basis of American dance music since the early 18th century...moving from the Chesapeake and Sea Island coastal areas to the Appalachians where the Celtic aspects were emphasized and the African aspects de-emphasized somewhat. Mandolin and guitar were added.
