Is anyone familiar with his style of music especially the banjo he plays? What do you think of it.Do you consider him a good player?
I consider Ken Perlman an excellent player from a technical standpoint. I can only take a farily small amount of his playing at one time, though. His main interest for awhile has been in the music of Prince Edward Island and he has a book of PEI tunes and some recordings of it. I certainly wouldn’t consider him Irish trad at all.
Steve
He pretty much invented his own style of playing, didn’t he? Or are there other Irish musicians playing tunes on a 5-string banjo?
Fun guy to play tunes with, anyway.
On 2003-01-09 17:23, colomon wrote:
He pretty much invented his own style of playing, didn’t he? Or are there other Irish musicians playing tunes on a 5-string banjo?
Well, he didn’t make it up out of thin air. There was an evolution. John Burke was important. He didn’t play a fully “melodic” style but was heading in that direction. Howie Bursen may have been there before Perlman and is, to me, a more exciting banjo player. I think Howie inspired Perlman to some extent. There is an album from the late 70s called Melodic Clawhammer Banjo. There are five or six players playing jigs, reels and “northern” dance tunes. Some of those abandoned the melodic style. Bob Carlin and Andy Cahan both veered more toward old time southern playing. Henry Sapoznik eventually went into Klezemer. Perlman is the only one of that group still actively pursuing the melodic style.
Steve
I believe Sharron Shannon’s sister plays Irish Style 5 string banjo if I am not mistaken.
On 2003-01-09 23:21, Whistlepeg wrote:
I believe Sharron Shannon’s sister plays Irish Style 5 string banjo if I am not mistaken.
Maybe so. But I have on a Sharon Shannon program from Kennedy Center right now. The picture is sort of dark but, even so, she’s playing with a plectrum. I can’t see the banjo completely but is looks like she’s playing a teonor to me.
Steve
Thanks, this banjo stuff can get pretty interesting..From what I have read on the internet the banjo is not really a true Irish instrument. Is this right? It evolved from some instrument from Africa that was called a Banjar here in the U.S during the slavery era? So it wouldnt really be considered a traditional Irish instrument? Please correct me if Im wrong..I realize they use the Tenor or plectrum for Irish style music now though and it sounds really good.
I think the tenor banjo has been used some in Irish music since the 1920s. Mick Molony has a history of the banjo online. That’s a good place to start investigating. Irish music was played in the US on 5-string banjos as early as the civil war era. All that died out but there is a revival of interest in that music. The history of the banjo and banjo music is quite a complicated topic and there are heated debates about the very early history of the banjo in the US. Ulf Jagors believes that it is derived from and African instrument called the akonting. Others aren’t so sure. But it was certainly some African instrument. Anyway, here’s Molony’s history.
http://www.standingstones.com/banjo.html
Also, there’s an interesting article by Bob Flesher on the first banjo contest in 1857. If you read it, note the variety of tunes that were required.
http://www.drhorsehair.com/contest.html
Steve
[ This Message was edited by: SteveK on 2003-01-10 09:54 ]
Those were some great articles Steve.One question though. What is a Schottische? What a tongue twister this sounds to be..
On 2003-01-10 14:40, C4 wrote:
One question though. What is a Schottische? What a tongue twister this sounds to be..
Your question threw me. I play a few of them but I really couldn’t answer except to say that it was a dance. The music is slowish. As usual, Google rescued me.
http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3schot.htm
Steve
Mary Coogan of Cherish the Ladies is also a tenor bango player.
-Pete Seeger in “How To Play The 5-String Banjo” says the banjo’s appearance here came with slaves, but its provenance before that was perhaps Arabic, and credits the banjo’s addition of the fifth string to Joe Sweeney of Virginia in 1831. A Yemeni friend compares banjo to the oud, but if they were closely related
earlier, the two instruments have diverged now.
On 2003-01-10 17:55, brianormond wrote:
-Pete Seeger… credits the banjo’s addition of the fifth string to Joe Sweeney of Virginia in 1831.
If Seeger means that the short thumb string-the chanterelle-is attributable to Sweeny, he’s dead wrong. There is every indication that the short string was there before Sweeney. The banjos may have only had four strings, however. You can see some of these in the new banjos section at the Elderly Instruments web site. These are reproductions, of course, made by Pete Ross. They have three long strings and one short string. Futhermore xalams (or halams) played in Africa had strings of varying length including a short thumb string.
Steve
ps Elderly is at http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3schot.htm
[ This Message was edited by: SteveK on 2003-01-10 18:15 ]
-Indeed, the footnote appendix (had I looked) to Seeger’s book quotes Judge Farrar of Virginia (Sweeney’s student) to say he was confident Sweeney only added the bass string. If so, the high fifth string predates Sweeney. Two other references are made to older instruments with thumb strings, the well known sitar and the sarod of India. Others from mid- and far east and Africa can be found currently or in antiquity.
Brian O.
[ This Message was edited by: brianormond on 2003-01-11 18:59 ]
I’ve never been certain how all those drone strings on the sitar and sarod were played. The sarod, in particular looks like a 5-string banjo with about 15 5th strings. I looked at one sitar web site which said that some westerners like to play the drones with a thumb pick but that the correct way was to use all four fingers of the picking hand. They also use a sort of wire pick on the index finger to play melody. I guess this is off topic for Irish 5-string banjo.
Steve