Vocalo Radio by Ari Mejia
Aug 18, 2022
The organization holds many fellowship events, like a camp where participants get to build their own banjo and are taught about its history while learning to play it.
Led by Hannah Mayree, with help from co-teacher Sule Greg Wilson, the Black Banjo Reclamation Project hopes to reconnect people of African descent to the traditions of their ancestors and sow seeds for future mindful cultural development. The organization holds many fellowship events, like a camp where participants get to build their own banjo and are taught about its history while learning to play it.
A big part of the project’s philosophy is rooted in land conservation and stewardship. Every part of the banjo, from the gourd making up its body to the goatskin stretched across its surface, is from the Earth — unlike the modern banjo, which is much more artificial in its design.
“As the banjo was transformed more and more by Euro-American culture, they did as much as they could to make it look as mechanical and industrial as possible,” Wilson explained. “To separate it from its natural African roots.”