UF symposium explores African roots of the banjo

March 10, 2008

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The banjo, which traces its roots to West Africa, has been a tremendous vehicle of American cultural expression since the mid-1800s. Scholars, musicians and artists will explore the shared lineage of the African and American musical art form March 20 in the daylong “AIM for Africa Akonting” banjo symposium at the University of Florida. The event will be capped with an evening concert featuring national and international musicians, including Sana Ndiaye from Senegal.

The “AIM for Africa Akonting” events, presented by the UF College of Fine Arts Center for the Arts in Healthcare and the University of Florida, celebrate a common heritage by creating a cultural bridge between Florida and the Senegal/Gambia region of West Africa.

The symposium, from 1 to 6 p.m. at the REVE in the Digital Worlds Institute at UF, explores the common ancestry and unique musical and cultural expressions of the New World banjo and its West African ancestors. These instruments include the akonting, a three-stringed instrument played by the Jola people of Senegal and Gambia, and the ngoni, a plucked lute from Mali. Through presentations, discussion and musical performances, participants will examine the roles of the music, performers and instruments in West African and American cultures. This music has ties to the trans-Atlantic slave trade minstrelsy, bluegrass and old-time music, and to communal life and health.

“The banjo is the only major instrument in the United States that is not from Europe,” said event co-organizer Dr. Chuck Levy, a physician at the Malcom Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center. “The banjo represents this really interesting collision of music that somehow survived the horrors of slavery to become the signature instrument of a new culture.”

The concert, featuring musicians from West Africa and some of the nation’s best banjo players, begins at 7 p.m. at the Thomas Center in Gainesville. The evening will begin with a historical presentation by noted scholars and musicians Shlomo Pestcoe and Greg C. Adams, followed by performances featuring the Grammy-nominated duo of Bob Carlin and Cheick Hamala Diabate of Mali. Also performing are Sana Ndiaye of Senegal and American banjo luminaries Bill Keith, Laura Boosinger, Dan Gellert, Ken Perlman and Gainesville’s own Chuck Levy. Ndiaye now lives in the United States and plays hip hop and rap music on the akonting. Tickets for the concert are $10 for students and $15 for the general public.

Levy is also an organizer of the Suwannee Banjo Camp held March 21-23 at O’Leno State Park in High Springs, Fla. Many of the artists that appear at the symposium, including Ndiaye, will participate in the sixth-annual banjo camp. For more information on the camp, visit http://www.suwanneebanjocamp.com.

To register for the symposium or for more information, contact the UF Department of Conferences at 352-392-1701 or visit http://www.arts.ufl.edu/CAHRE/aimgambia.asp.

Sponsors of the symposium events are the UF College of Fine Arts Center for the Arts in Healthcare, Shands Arts in Medicine, the UF Digital Worlds Institute, UF Center for Africa Studies, the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs and the City of Gainesville Division of Cultural Affairs.