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Oldest Known Banjo Tune "Juba" on a Fretless Gourd Banjo

submitted by swampgirl

1 decade 7 years 1 month 1 week ago

Folk artist Joe Bethancourt demonstrates an early version of the banjo that is fretless and made from a vegetable gourd. He claims the tune he's playing is the oldest known banjo tune.

9 Comments

posts like this is why i like videosift so much

*requeue

Re-queueing this video for one more try; last queued Sunday, October 14th, 2007 1:54am PDT - requeue requested by submitter swampgirl.

That banjo has a really nice sound. I wonder why the instrument evolved into a horrendous twangy screaming-banshee fingernails-on-the-blackboard kind of tone?

I think it was first introduced by American slaves from a similar African instrument called a "banjar"

As for the screaming banshee version? Well Arvana, clearly you haven't been exposed to some real musicians that know how to play one.

yaya, bluegrass is awesome

The banjo, like the bagpipes, is an instrument that I just can't enjoy no matter how well it's played.

*length=123

The duration of this video has been updated from unknown to 2:03 - length declared by oritteropo.

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