<
Back to Home
The Banjo Tree
From Gordy Ohliger on 7/12/2016 11:57:57 AM
THE BANJO TREE
I am on the Caribbean island of St. john, at the Annaburg Plantation.
Just down the hill from the sugar house, almost to the slaves huts, I had a feeling I'd find one...I was delighted to find the calabash tree.
You can see a small one growing up there. Besides something to eat, the shells were dried and made into bowls, canteens, and musical instruments, most notably the ancestral roots of our banjo.
One of the many many reasons of the great slave revolt of 1733, was the law that they could not sing, dance, or play instruments. That was it, that was too much.
The sugar & rum trade lasted from 1694 to the 1870's. A grim low point for humanity. That crazy experiment, their sick "civilization" is all gone, the great stone houses crumbling, pebbling back into the earth, the jungle thick and high across the coffee, cocoa, and cotton fields. All gone now. Only spirits amongst the trees.
Though so much time has passed, I find history vibrate around me. I see the shapes and colors through a thin veil.
10 Comments |
 | Gordy Ohliger says:
2/28/2014 12:31:34 PM
Anyone know how to put a photograph in here?
|
 | ChuckJo says:
9/27/2014 3:59:37 PM
Thanks for posting!
|
 | jillbanjo says:
1/14/2015 4:13:49 PM
This is great, Gordy. I'd love to hear more. Try copying and pasting the picture here.
|
| Gordy Ohliger says:
7/12/2016 12:02:33 PM
Still can't find a way to put a photo in here.
If you want to see the calabash in the tree, I just put the photo in my page photo stash.
|
 | Strumelia says:
7/12/2016 1:00:41 PM
Thank you for that Gordy.
Maybe appropriate here to link to a little vid I did of an 1865 "Calabash Dance" in stroke style on my gourd banjer, sloooow version for beginners to practice with...
youtu.be/cdaeXZolRxE
|
| Strumelia says:
7/12/2016 1:01:09 PM
Thank you for that Gordy.
Maybe appropriate here to link to a little vid I did of an 1865 "Calabash Dance" in stroke style on my gourd banjer, sloooow version for beginners to practice with...
youtu.be/cdaeXZolRxE
|
| Strumelia says:
7/12/2016 1:01:56 PM
Thank you for that Gordy.
Maybe appropriate here to link to a little vid I did of an 1865 "Calabash Dance" in stroke style on my gourd banjer, sloooow version for beginners to practice with...
youtu.be/cdaeXZolRxE
|
| Strumelia says:
7/12/2016 1:03:00 PM
holy cow, don't know how my comment got tripled, and no apparent way to delete the duplicates... sorry! =8-\
|
| Gordy Ohliger says:
7/12/2016 1:13:44 PM
Ha Ha! Seems we're both having a tussel with posting!
The sound of your gourd banjo in the video....is sending me over to grab mine. There's just something about the sound of these things!
|
| Gordy Ohliger says:
3/14/2017 8:55:03 PM
Gosh....
if you wish, I have a FaceBook Page which is easier to post;
Banjoman.
Meet me there.
|
Post a Comment
|
You must be logged in and a member of this group to post a comment.
|
