Banjo (Zambia)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Zambia, banjo is a term used to refer to hand -made plucked instruments that are modeled on a banjo or a guitar . The simple long neck sounds that became popular in Zambia and southern Malawi in the 1940s are based on the ramkie, known in South Africa since the 18th century, and on the import of American banjos at the beginning of the 20th century. The Luvals in northwest Zambia pronounce the name mbanjo .

There are any number of shape variants that can be divided into two types. A banjo with a rectangular sound box consisting of a tin canister continues the tradition of the ramkie , which largely disappeared in the 1930s , while an instrument with a circular body is more similar to the banjo. The body is made of wood or tin cans . Usually the banjo is plucked with two or three fingers. Each instrument is tuned in its own way.

In Malawi, the style of playing is associated with traditional string instruments such as the board zither bangwe . The banjo is played by boys as a soloist for their own entertainment or in small groups at social gatherings. If girls or young women are involved, they appear as singers and dancers, sometimes adding rattles to the rhythm. In Zambia, the banjo has been played with kalindula since the 1970s , an urban dance style of the Bemba from the province of Luapula , which has found its way into popular music in Zambia and is regularly featured in the charts.

literature

  • Gerhard Kubik : The Southern African Periphery: Banjo Traditions in Zambia and Malaŵi . In: The World of Music . Vol. 31, No. 1 , 1989, pp. 3-30 .