Black musicians of the appomattox area
Since before Appomattox county was formed in 1845, the region has been home to a number of amazing musicians that have played their part in the music that made America.
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To learn more about some of these amazing musicians, SOON you will be able to simply click on the banjo below:
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"The Music for the Dance" by Arthur Burdett Frost 1891
But first . . . a word on The Banjo . . .
The birth of the 5 string banjo began in Africa- in Senegal among the griots, tribal historians, of Mali and numerous other locations. The first mention of banjo like instruments in the New World occurred when a traveler to Martinique described the “banza” being played by the Africans there in 1678. In 1781 in his Notes on Virginia Thomas Jefferson described the slaves at Monticello as playing “. . . the banjar which they brought hither from Africa.” These instruments almost invariably consisted of a gourd body with an animal hide head, a wooden neck either planed or rounded and from three to four to five strings.
