[Dixielandjazz] Banjo, historically African?

[John Mumford]

The banjo that came from Africa had 4 strings. Joel Sweeney has often been
credited with adding the short 5th string that runs on the side of the neck
(drone string) but there is evidence that the short 5th string was on banjo
instruments prior to his time.

See the following link for information on the development of the 5th string.

http://bluegrassbanjo.org/banhist.html  Go to the third paragraph for
information on the 5th string.

John Mumford
www.jazzbanjo.com


-----Original Message-----

Steve: 
 
Please enlighten me on this one. I had read somewhere that the two types of

banjos had different origins. The 4-string was African, string over a gord  
origins, but the 5-string came out of the SE mountains settled by Scots. The
5th 
 string was supposed to be the drone, and used to simulate a bagpipe. Is
this 
all  wrong?

Dan (Backup pianoman) Spink