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| Banjos at Museum of Appalachia - by Jessica Bray |
African music has always influenced
other musical genres. When slaves came
to the Appalachian Mountain region from Africa, they brought over a lot of
their traditions. Most of these
traditions are shown frequently in the music world, especially in bluegrass
music.
It is already known that the
4-string banjo originated from Africa, along with oral tradition. The first banjos were made with a gourd sound
chamber. Five elements that compose a
banjo include the sound chamber, head (vibrating membrane), neck, bridge, and
the strings. The most important part is
the bridge as it transmits sound from the strings to the head. However, early banjos from Africa did not
have bridges. The strings on early
banjos were made from “…silk to dried bird gut to horsehair to vine or twine”
(Conway 169). In 1856, wire, along with
fishing line were introduced to be use as strings. The chamber was made from any animals skin
available, whether it was goat, horse, cow, raccoon, snake, etc. (170). Furthermore, the rims were made of either
gourds or wood. Gourd rims came from
Africa, while Europeans adapted the wooden rims. Wooden rims soon became popularly used
because gourds were not easily accessible throughout the year in some regions
and were very fragile (174). Soon after
these changes, white Americans changed the number of strings to five. This change to five strings made the banjo the
only original folk instrument in America (190).
Another
African musical influence in bluegrass is the singer’s vocal traits. Bluegrass singers are of some distinction,
but are very much like their African musical counterparts. Singers will wail, moan, and sometimes shout
in the middle of a song to emphasize what they are feeling. The voice can be the most powerful element in
a song. Most songs are sung in harmony,
as in most black Baptist churches. Some
groups, both black and white, will sing accapella tunes that give that eerie,
lonesome feeling to the song. Sometimes
one will not be able to follow the words, but become mesmerized by the vocal
quality in the tune. The lead singer
usually has a tenor singing voice and hit amazingly high notes. Bill Monroe was one of few that were able to
“climb up from a pledging style in a middle register into a more forceful
calling style at higher pitches” (Cantwell 212).
Many of the bluegrass tunes are
derived from African music. Like jazz,
bluegrass song arrangement is in the form of instrumental solo breaks and
improvising throughout the tune.
Bluegrass tunes are often in the form of a dance, very much like those
in the African tradition. Clogging and
flatfoot dancing is very much like the African tradition in tribal ritual
dances. Both use rhythm of the music to
move, and improvisation is often used in both traditional dancing styles. Work songs, such as “Nine Pound Hammer,”
provided a driving rhythm in both worlds of white and black music. Ballads are often common between the two
genres. Both would often tell a story
about a particular event or period of time.
One of Dr. Ralph Stanley’s more popular ballad songs is “Pretty
Polly.” In November 1997, Stanley was
accompanied by Patty Loveless to sing the tune for the Clinch Mountain
Country album. The song originated
in the British Isles. According to Wayne
Erbsen, “It was in the English town of Gosport that the gruesome murder of
Pretty Polly took place. Originally
entitled “The Gosport Tragedy,” the ballad has been collected as early as 1750
complete with twenty-seven verses. In
some versions, Willie tries to escape on a ship but is haunted by Pretty
Polly’s ghost. The first recording was
in 1925 by Levi Stanley, a pseudonym of John Hammond.
In recent years, Ralph Stanley has recorded
an eerie version on Rebel records” (Erbsen 41).
How exactly does this song relate to the African music culture? First, it is in the form of a 12 bar blues,
or AAB. The first line is repeated, with
a third line that is different than the other two. In “Pretty Polly,” the third line has different
words and melody. The third line is
usually “spoken” compared to the lonesome singing in the first two lines. Furthermore, some of the words in the song
are emphasized or stressed. The first
and second word of the second line in each stanza is always emphasized. The last word of the second line and the
third line are also stressed throughout the song. Emphasizing the lyrics helps give it that
lonesome sound, making it appear as though the word is wailing with the fiddle
or mandolin. Finally, Ralph Stanley and
Patty Loveless sing the song in a call and response form. In other words, Patty responds to what Ralph
says. In the end of the song, they both
harmonize the lines “Well he went down to the jailhouse and what did he say? He
went to the jailhouse and what did he say? I’ve killed Pretty Polly and tried
to get away” (“Pretty Polly”). The
mountain lonesome sound from both performers made it one of the original
classics.
African musical retentions are ever
present in the world of Bluegrass music.
As aforementioned, the banjo originated from Africa and was adapted in
the United States, first by slaves and then by Whites. Musical styles such as harmony, call and response,
and vocal stylistic features are demonstrated throughout bluegrass music in
songs such as Ralph Stanley’s “Pretty Polly.”
In a world of bluegrass music, where many assume there is no presence of
Black culture, African musical retentions abound.
Works Cited
Cantwell,
Robert. Bluegrass Breakdown: The Making of the Old Southern Sound. Chicago:
University of Illinois Press, 1984.
Conway,
Cecilia. African Banjo Echoes in
Appalachia. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995.
Erbsen,
Wayne. Backpocket Bluegrass Songbook. New York:
Pembroke Music Co., 1981.
