Joel Sweeney

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Joel Sweeney

Joel Walker Sweeney (* 1810 - October 29, 1860 in Appomattox ), also known as Joe Sweeney , was an American musician and representative of the early blackface - minstrel shows genre. He is the first banjo player known to have performed on the stage and at the same time the first banjo player with white skin to be documented.

life and career

Born into a family in Buckingham County (now Appomattox , Virginia ), Sweeney claims to have learned to play the banjo from local African Americans . In addition to his role in popularizing this instrument, he is often credited with building the modern five-string banjo. While the instrument's resonance chamber previously consisted of a bottle gourd (as in the African forerunners of the banjo and related instruments), Sweeney introduced a drum-like resonance chamber. According to legend, he is said to have used a cheese box for this. He is also credited with introducing a fifth banjo string. However, there is no known evidence that these inventions were actually introduced by Sweeney; a high-pitched thumb or drone string (the fifth in the modern banjo) can already be seen on instruments from the 18th century and on images from the time before Sweeney.

Until the 1830s, the banjo was played exclusively by African Americans. Some musicians appeared in the middle of the decade with pieces of music in the "Louisiana Banjou style", but used a violin . In 1839 Sweeney appeared in several blackface minstrel groups in New York . The earliest documented appearance he played banjo on stage was in April 1839. That same month, he starred alongside James Sanford at Broadway Circus in New York City with a blackface burlesque called The Dying Moor's Defense of His Flag names "Novel Duets, Songs, & c". This performance was accompanied by a "Comic Border Morris by the whole company" ( a comical Border Morris dance ). After Billy Whitlock of the Virginia Minstrels , Sweeney gave him a few banjo lessons.

From 1841, Sweeney popularized the banjo as a musical instrument for the middle class . His advertisements extolled the "scientifically sound perfection" with which he played the instrument. "Only those who have heard Sweeny know what music is in the banjo," claimed another. For several years, Sweeney's game set the standard by which other players were measured. After Dan Emmett performed at the Bowery Amphitheater Circus , the New York Herald wrote, "Emmit's [ sic ] banjo game rivals Jo [ sic ] Sweeney's, and far surpasses any other banjo player from the United States." Jenny Get Your Hoe Cake Done and Knock a Nigger Down became two of Sweeney's signature pieces.

With the onset of his success in 1843, Sweeney set off on a tour of Europe with performances in London and Edinburgh . In July 1843 Sweeney played during the curtain ( entr'acte ) at the Adelphi Theater in Edinburgh. There, he met Frank Brower, a member of the Virginia Minstrels know, and played during his performance the Brettchenklapper (Engl. Bones ). They then toured together, performing at the Theater Royal in Birmingham in October and at a circus in Leicester later that month . Brower broke up with Sweeney for a while to perform with Dan Emmett; until he performed with him again in the spring.

At that time, Dick Pelham met with Sweeney and Brower, whereupon the trio decided to recast the Virginia Minstrels with Sweeney as the banjo player. They persuaded Emmett and convinced him to participate, even though Sweeney would be the band leader from now on. The new Virginia Minstrels appeared in Dublin at the Theater Royal during the main curtain between April 24th and May 7th, then until the end of May, both as entracte and with a full minstrel show in Cork , Belfast , then in Glasgow . This was followed by shows at the Adelphi Theater in London, later in the Waterloo Rooms in Edinburgh, followed by another appearance this time in the Glasgow City Hall .

Joe Sweeneys died in Appomattox in 1860; his grave can be viewed at the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park .

Joe Sweeney's younger brothers Sampson ("Sam"), Richard ("Dick"), and sister Missouri were equally talented banjo and fiddle players .

Songs attributed to or performed by Sweeney

Sweeny's Virginia Melodies
  • Jonny Boker
  • Jim Along Josey
  • Lynchburg Town
  • Alabama Joe
  • Jenny Get Your Hoecake Done
  • Old Tar River
  • Where did you come from? ( Knock a nigger down )
  • Old Jim River (Mr. Brown)
  • Lucy Long
  • Ole Jaw Bone
  • Ole Virginny Breakdown

literature

  • Cockrell, Dale (1997). Demons of Disorder: Early Blackface Minstrels and Their World . Cambridge University Press.
  • Nathan, Hans (1962). Dan Emmett and the Rise of Early Negro Minstrelsy . Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
  • Carlin, Bob (2007). Birth of the Banjo: Joel Walker Sweeney and Early Minstrelsy . Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Co.
  • Rice, Edward LeRoy (1911). Monarchs of Minstrelsy: From "Daddy" Rice to Date . New York: Kenny Publishing.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ s. Cockrell, p. 148.
  2. ↑ s. Rice, p. 22.
  3. ^ Carlin, Bob (2007). Birth of the Banjo: Joel Walker Sweeney and Early Minstrelsy . Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Co.
  4. ^ The Boston Post, October 15, 1834. Quoted in Cockrell, p. 147
  5. ↑ New York Herald, December 26, 1839. Quoted in Cockrell, p. 52.
  6. ↑ March 18, 1841. Playbill, Bowery Theater . Quoted from Cockrell, p. 148.
  7. ↑ Dec 9, 1841. The Boston Post . Quoted from Cockrell, p. 148.
  8. ↑ January 31, 1842. New York Herald . Quoted in Cockrell, p. 149.
personal data
SURNAME Sweeney, Joel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sweeney, Joel Walker (full name); Sweeney, Joe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American banjo player
DATE OF BIRTH 1810
PLACE OF BIRTH Buckingham County
DATE OF DEATH October 29, 1860
Place of death Appomattox