Banjo


The banjo is a four-, five- or six-stringed instrument with a piece of animal skin or plastic stretched over a circular frame. Simpler forms of the instrument were fashioned by Africans in Colonial America, adapted from several African instruments of similar design.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjo


Mouth bow


In the United States, the musical bow was apparently introduced by African slaves. Today, it is primarily found in the Appalachian Mountains, where it is called a mouthbow or mouth bow.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_bow


Diddley bow


The diddley bow is a string instrument of African origin made popular in America, probably developed from instruments found on the Ghana coast of west Africa. There, they were often played by children, one beating the string with sticks and the other changing the pitch by moving a slide up and down. The instrument was then developed as a children's toy by slaves in the United States. They were first documented in the rural South by researchers in the 1930s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diddley_bow


The Quills(pan pipes)


The Quills are a early American folk panpipe, first noted in the early part of the 19th century among Afro-American slaves in the south. They are aerophones, and fall into the panpipe family. They are assumed to be of African origin, since similar instruments are found in various parts of Africa, and they were first used by 1st and 2nd generation Africans in America.
http://www.sohl.com/Quills/Quills.htm


Washtub bass

[img]http://3.bp..com/_t8glaxypSYk/SvnNWC4HpVI/AAAAAAAADzU/psoM0PTMFoA/s320/blueswashtub-bass.jpg[/img]
Ethnomusicologists trace the origins of the instrument to the 'ground harp' - a version that uses a piece of bark or an animal skin stretched over a pit as a resonator. The ang-bindi made by the Baka people of the Congo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washtub_bass

Were these instruments used in early blues songs?

H-Star89:
Were these instruments used in early blues songs?

Yes, indeed

"The Memphis Jug Band was an American musical group in the late 1920s and early to mid 1930s.The band featured harmonicas, violins, mandolins, banjos, and guitars, backed by washboards, kazoo, and jugs blown to supply the bass; they played in a variety of musical styles."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUfOB4kjYyA

Here's a vid demonstration of a man playing a mouth bow and singing the blues(Couldn't find one of an African Americans doing it, as it's not popular with AA musicians today).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY1MULY2Gwk

Here's an old recording of One-String-Sam playing his trademark Diddley Bow and adding the vocals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2GlAA5iiG8

Here's extremely rare old track of Big Boy Cleveland playing his song entitled "Quill Blues" recording in 1926.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrzI46D1ZHs

Here's an old vid demonstration of Will Shade playing the Washtub bass with his partner Charlie Burse on the guitar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6QHkQ2p-iw

If you want to hear for yourself just how similar African-American(banjo) blues music to West African(Akonting-ancestor to the banjo) music actually is. Listen here.
http://www.downhomeradioshow.com/ShowMp3s2008/DHRAfricanBanjoRoots.mp3

Other than the difference in language of the chants in the background, you can hardly draw a discernment between the two.

Thanks Goop

^Are u the albino or the other female?

Ya' know, I just realized something posting about this subject just now on another forum that brought me back to memories of my child hood, when I used to play video games(& still do). There are in that list of American instruments of African orgin two instruments inparticular called the Banjo and the Kazoo. It's got me thinking about an old Rareware developed game released on the Nintendo 64 in 1998 I used to play as a child, and LOVED called...................[size=18pt]BANJO & KAZOOIE[/size] which feature two protagonist, one a Bear who plays the Banjo, and a bird who plays....you guessed it, the Kazoo!


^^^^You can also see tootie(banjo's little sister) on the far left, playing what looks like a fife, which may be a link to North Mississippi fife and drum blues.
http://www.cascadeblues.org/History/turner_othar.htm

I would really like to sit down and have a discussion with the developers of that game about their knowledge of AA musical, ethnological, anthropology, now lol. I can't help but think that a historical message was attempting to be broadcast, and that maybe Spiral mountain(the setting where Banjo & Kazooie takes place) is suppose to represent Northern Mississippi Hill Country. It may seem a lil' far fetched at first, but ya' just gotta wonder sometimes.

An old recording of Sid Hemphill on the quills(a pan-pipe instrument brought over via the TST from SE Africa, most likely Mozambique), and his band playing military style drums with Africanized polyrhythms in the background.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAFReuS-wug


"Oh yeah, African-American music has absolutely NO relation to African music whatsoever."*Sarcasm*

I know its not intruments, but what do you think of this thread?
http://www.forumbiodiversity.com/showthread.php/23142-History-of-various-Afram-piano-organ-keyboard-music-styles

check this out,

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRSDzqFJnp8

Lol 1930's rap