By: Hazel Trice Edney
As Pulitzer Prize winning musician Rhiannon Giddens picks the banjo in the “Texas Hold’em” song on Beyoncé’s new country album, “Cowboy Carter”, it might be easy for some to think the sound mimics what has widely become known as so-called White country music. But for those who don’t know the real history, it’s time to think again.
The instrument that America knows well as the banjo, actually has its roots in West Africa and was commonly played by enslaved Black people, according to a foremost authority on the topic, the Smithsonian Institution.
“The banjo was created by enslaved Africans and their descendants in the Caribbean and colonial North America. Here, they maintained and perpetuated the tradition within a complex system of slave-labor camps, plantations, and in a variety of rural and urban settings,” says SI.Edu, the Smithsonian’s educational website on the topic. “From the earliest references in the 17th century, and through the 1830s, the banjo was exclusively known as an African-American tradition with a West African heritage…The drum-like gourd body and strings of different lengths are uniquely African, while the flat fingerboard and tuning pegs are more commonly associated with European traditions.”
During Black Music Appreciation month, the history of the banjo is a prime example of how deeply American culture is steeped in Black history and how Black culture – through instruments; the dance; blues, rock and roll, and music of all genres – has vastly enrichened and influenced the entertainment world. Yet, that history has so often been lost, Rhiannon Giddens points out in a NowThis interview featured on YouTube.
“When you talk about fiddle music, string band music, banjo music, square dancing – which, you know square dance calling is such a piece of American culture that was most likely invented by African-Americans – it represents the history of America, which has been this interaction between European and African and Western and Eastern all of these different cultures coming in,” she explained. “At the same time you have this sort of White supremist rewrite of the narrative of this music. And so, the recording industry sort of cements a lot of what’s going on. What’s recording is what’s remembered a lot of the time, you know. And all those Black musicians who would have been playing string band music at that time even are forgotten because they didn’t get recorded.”
Of course, Gibbons is referring to the absence of recordings of the original music as played by enslaved Black people in America. Despite that history that has been flagrantly disregarded and rewritten falsely, Black Music Appreciation Month offers an opportunity to intentionally get it right.
In that regard, a Black music history webpage by the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Africana Studies indicates that the truth about the world of country music, largely centered around the banjo, is now rising to the surface in 2024.
“Although the narrative around Country has changed, it’s extremely important to acknowledge the Black artists who made the genre what it is. In 1927, DeFord Bailey became the first person to perform at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, which is a landmark for country music. Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Charley Pride was considered to be country’s ‘first Black superstar,’ having 29 number 1 country hits in his lifetime.
In 1962, Ray Charles released his album ‘Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music,’ in which he covered country songs, but reworked them to fit R&B, pop, and jazz styles. Black country artists continue to make music despite often being overshadowed by White musicians. Groups like the Carolina Chocolate Drops and The War and Treaty carry on Black country music’s long history, and major artists like Beyoncé and Shaboozey have been keeping it in the mainstream.”
This article, the third in a four-part series, has been powered by AARP in celebration of Black Music Month.