How did the banjo, which has roots in West Africa, become a symbol of rural white America? Along the way, the instrument took center stage in America's most popular form of entertainment in the mid-19th century and found a home in the Victorian parlor.
Rhiannon Giddens is a Grammy-award-winning musician and co-founder of the Carolina Chocolate Drops who discusses the history of the African banjo and how it became a keynote instrument of American music through the minstrelsy and beyond. Rhiannon is part of the new film on mountain music, A Great American Tapestry, The Many Strands of Mountain Music, with more information at www.saveculture.org
Go behind the scenes with Our Native Daughters as they discuss the origins of their debut album and explore the power of the banjo as a distinctly African American instrument.
To celebrate Black History Month, we take a look back at the pioneers of music in the Appalachian Mountains. In this segment, we take a look at Leola Manning, a Knoxville native who only recorded six songs, but left an indelible mark on the city.
To celebrate Black History Month, we take a look back at the pioneers of music in the Appalachian Mountains. In this segment, we take a look at the origins of Appalachian music.
Louisville Folk School and Kentucky Performing Arts present
๐๐ญ๐ฅ๐ก๐ค๐ง๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ผ๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐ผ๐ข๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ก๐ช๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ช๐๐ ๐ฎ ๐๐ช๐จ๐๐
April 25, 2021
๐ผ๐ง๐ฃ๐ค๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ช๐ก๐ฉ๐ฏ: ๐๐ค๐๐๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ง ๐ค๐ ๐ฝ๐ก๐ช๐๐๐ง๐๐จ๐จ
DeFord Bailey, was a Black pioneering figure in American country music and blues and the first Black performer on Nashville's Grand Ole Opry, Known as the "harmonica wizard."
In the 1920s, the term "race music" started gaining traction as a way to describe African American music, the term first appeared in advertisement in the Chicago Defender by Okeh Records, a label founded in 1918. This term was used to categorize music made by African American artists for the African American community regardless of genre.
Continuing this great film about Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Not only a great singer, but an incredible guitarist, who influenced many who came after her.
What if I told you that America's most iconic music - rock and roll, blues, jazz - was created by Black artists who died broke while white performers became millionaires? What if I told you that Elvis Presley made over a million dollars from "Hound Dog" while Big Mama Thornton, who wrote and first recorded it, got paid five hundred dollars total and never saw another dime?