Download or read book The Banjo written by Laurent Dubois and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2016-03-14 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American slaves drew on memories of African musical traditions to construct instruments from carved-out gourds covered with animal skin. Providing a sense of rootedness, solidarity, and consolation, banjo picking became an essential part of black plantation life, and its unmistakable sound remains versatile and enduring today, Laurent Dubois shows.