Bones and Banjo: Confronting Cultural Appropriation | Kafari + Jake Hoffman | TEDxDirigo
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- Опубликовано: 19 авг 2024
- Much of the music we listen to and the instruments used to make it is taken for granted by audiences and musicians alike. Kafari and Jake Hoffmann reveal the histories of their instruments (the bones and banjo) and the music they make in both objective and personal terms. Furthermore, what does it mean to play them today? As a black man, can Kafari play music on his own terms? As a white man, can Jake play music with honor that has history both to be proud of and deserves reconciliation? Kafari is a pianist, beatmaker, and bluegrass percussionist, specializing in the rhythm bones - an ancient instrument played by holding two in one hand, flicking the wrist forward and backward to create sound. He first became inspired to play the bones three and a half years ago after seeing a concert that debunked his assumptions about bluegrass and exposed him to the African-American roots of traditional bluegrass and old-time music. A resident of Portland since 2011, Kafari enjoys teaching bones to passersby on the city streets and in classrooms across the state.
Multi-instrumentalist and singer, Jake Hoffman was raised on jazz and rock n roll and spent his adulthood studying American folk musics. He has toured in 20 states and 11 countries - performing and teaching ballads, gospel and dance music from Appalachia and the American South. A community arts and cultural exchange advocate, Jake has lived in the Portland area since 2009 and is a teaching artist and program manager with 317 Main Community Music Center. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx
Lost histories are an enormous tragedy. It's heartening to see that people are resurrecting what they can from the little hints we have of the distant past.
so proud of my old friend Jake and his friend Kafari. perspectives like these are rare, and beyond value. I have shared this video with dozens of my friends, and hope that these two guys continue making more beautiful music and educational videos. thanks + love!!!
Holy cow those bones rhythms are so fresh AND so clean
I guess the DIY version would be the spoons
That's right! My understanding is that as access to rib bones became less common through agriculture monopolisation people used to what they had easier access to to make similar sounds which were spoons. So spoons are actually an imitation of the bones rather than their own og instrument
Beautiful music. I'm from the foothills of NC and for a long time thought that this music orignated from white folks in the Mountains. Stuff like this is not taught in school. Our history has been fabricated to fit others' narrative. Thanks to the both of you for telling the true origin of this music and expressing it through appreciation.
He is excellent on the bones. Banjo hard to hear, but also good.
Great stuff
The first Web/RUclips channel I've seen, demonstrating that Rhythm Bones can actually be musical... rather than thoughtless repetitive metronomes. Thank you.
Beautiful. Things like this give me hope that maybe someday we can heal together.
That was fantastic.
one of the best treatments of this subject I've ever seen
This is SO FUCKIN DOPE!!!!!!
Couldn't we all just appreciate the work of two wonderful musicians without turning it into a toxic chatroom?
Thank you!
You don’t have to apologize for playing a banjo. If you want to play bluegrass your race does not matter. Just like it doesn’t matter if you want to play rock, country, or rap!
The bones came to America from Ireland 🇮🇪. You're welcome 🤟😎💚🇦🇺👍. Play on brother . It means that you have talent that all people appreciate. Nothing to do with race Darl ❤
William Smith Monroe September 13, 1911 - September 9, 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, who created the bluegrass genre. Because of this, he is often called the "Father of Bluegrass". The origin of bluegrass music can be traced to the people who migrated to America in the 1600s from Ireland, Scotland, and England and brought with them basic styles of music that are generally considered to be the roots of modern bluegrass music.The hill country was settled by a wave of immigrants from these countries called the, " Scotch Irish." They brought their instruments and music with them which became the roots of American bluegrass music.
You kinda forgot to mention that William Monroe learned from an African American named Arnold Schultz, as did Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt via Scruggs. In addition you forgot about the Banjo. There is no bluegrass before this. Bluegrass music is heavily African, from playing techniques/rhythms to vocality, sorry.
@@MSILBB WRONG! Stop acting like Schultz created Bluegrass! Jeez! Where did Schultz learn to play the fiddle and guitar? Schultz introduced Monroe to blues. He did not learn everything from the man. Your exaggerations are just plain BS!!
Just because my brother is playing a banjo doesn't make the music "bluegrass"
Also...it's pretty nice old time music...and knowledge...why fight about it?
@@MSILBB Yeah that's objectively false because you can clearly hear the cultural influences of Ulster Scotts (Scotch-Irish) on modern banjo and bluegrass playing. Not denying there's Blues/African elements, but denying there's a strong Irish, Scottish, and/or Scotch-Irish element is a blatant lie. Do your research.
Music is nice but the racial overtones seem tone deaf. Play what you want, listen to what speaks to you, who cares what some closed minded people want you to think. Free your mind, play music.
Banjo history has already been explained eloquently and in great detail by Philip F. Gura and James F. Bollman in their book entitled “America’s Instrument The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century”. This book was published in 1999.
This video was kicked off Banjo Hangout.
What friggin tuning is Jake in???
portland tuning. It's generally not very good but you're not allowed to say anything about it.
The thought hit me out of the blue... look up the banjo and cultural appropriation. Dang id something didn't come up....What next?
Oh my goodness.
bluegrass itself is not based in African music its based on Celtic and European folk music, while it has elements that could be considered of African descent, that relatively new additions, like if you listen to Celtics folk song the faster ones have the same rhythms and polyrhythms that bluegrass still uses, it is disingenuous to say bluegrass has its roots in a culture it doesn't, cause it creates conflict that doesn't need to be there.
In fact the instrument "bones" he plays have a history in China, Greece, and Rome not in traditionally African instrumentals, in addition bones were another technique brought to America by Irish immigrants. None of this, except for the fact the music type was played in minstrel shows, has really any African descendance. If we going to complain about appropriation then its infuriating certain individuals are taking credit for techniques and rhythms that celtic/irish people cultivated over time,
food for thought does the inclusion of a valved trumpet constructed by Anton Weidinger make jazz any less backed by african rhythms and culture no, such as a claim that having a precursor to the banjo gives you a basis in saying the fundamentals of bluegrass are in african culture.
The point these guys are making, and it's a valid one, is that part of the rhythms in bluegrass, old time, even country comes from the banjo, which came from Africa. You apparently didn't actually watch the video. They're not saying that all of this music came only from Africa, and Kafari even talked about the international heritage of bones at the beginning of the segment. They are just shining light on a part of the history of American music that has been ignored for a long time. The African part of American music heritage doesn't in any way diminish the contributions of other traditions, like Celtic, German, etc., it just makes it richer.
@@soccerchamp0511 it has nothing to do with cultural appropriation, I watch the video 4 times actually to make sure I was correct in what I was commenting against
@@arixmethes4271 What are you even saying? You're not making any sense whatsoever.
You don't know what you're talking about.
@@soccerchamp0511 Similarly, the OP was talking about how the Celtic and Scotch-Irish influences have been completely overshadowed in lieu of another narrative. Not denying there's an African influence, but the origination of the modern banjo style is from the marriage of the African instrument with Ulster Scotts who moved to Appalachia with their fiddle playing styles from Ireland and Scotland. Obviously, it's a blend, and I just think it's unfair and false to only talk about the origin of banjo stemming from minstrel shows. Not so, and Ulster Scotts were very oppressed peoples themselves - so it's ironic the banjo is only associated with racism in this poorly reflected demonstration.
Sounds to me like Jake has some white guilt that he needs to get over. Just play the banjo, play minstrel tunes if you want, play bluegrass, play whatever. It's music and it's history. It should be appreciated. It doesn't need you crying about the injustices of ages past.
Except that injustices are still going on this day! Albeit in a different form, but very much there.
@@mk4881 Do you think borrowing an instrument from a different culture and modify it and playing it is unjust?
Right on! And, it's TRUstory!
@@veridicusmaximus6010 Appropriation and coopting is not the same as borrowing especially when the "borrowee" is wiped out of the TRUstory of that thing/era and not given credit.
@@tiwantiwaabibiman2603 You can call it what you want. It was not unjust and if you want to stop appropriation then stop using a computer. The history has been know for a long time and given credit. Move on! Cultural appropriation is what all cultures do when coming in contact with one another. That's HISTORY!
'Apropriation'?!?! Any - A-N-Y - form of art is taken from what's fine before.
The test off true 'creativity' is making something new with it.
There's an old saying, something like there's only 20+/- jokes, & everything else is just a variation.
That's true.
Same goes for stories, music, art (EXCEPT for the majority off what's passed as 'art', in the past few decades - including anytime after Warhol - once, it's clever, reporting it is pathetic, & anything involving NFTs, & many other so-called, 'artists'.
The same goes for music. Even foods, can, too a lesser degree be thought of as this, though in food, the advance off technology has opened up cling in an oven (sous-vide...🙄).
Having anyone sitting around - such as this - will only attract people off equal minds & beliefs (this goes for anything; oriole who believe in 'conspiracies', seek out like-minded, etc). This doesn't validate something, it only allows more similarly-minded people to feel as if 'their belief' is 'the correct one'.
I have a question if African Americans invented rock why aren't there any African American rock bands of any type
It’s called appropriation. White washing
Not true. Educate yourself.
I think it's just that white people get famous more easily when they do rock etc. because of the general assumption of white people having "invented" it that is prevalent in america and elsewhere.
You clearly never listened to the original Faith no More (We Care a Lot) or Living Colour (Cult of Personality?), or Rage Against The Machine, or The Chambers Brothers (The Time Has Come Today)... I could list many more. There's plenty of death metal bands, too.
SPOONMAN COME TOGETHER WITH YOUR HANDS SAVE ME!....-soundgarden
Hillbilly is not a music it is a racial slurr. The music is called bluegrass.
food forthought1 African music was Derived from caveman music.
food forthought1
On another note.
WHAT? Blues and African drums are not even close to similar. And technically all music is related,
Rumpel stiltskin blue grass is a relatively recent phenomenon, the original music of the south is simply known as "old time" ,and precedes blue grass ...
Michael Harvey this is true
@food forthought1 Not entirely. Scottish and Irish music has very similar styles. America is a melting pot.
She was white
my granny could play the spoons as good as that
Nobody said white people can’t play spoons. That isn’t the point.
its not that deep
Funniest part is white men still wearing blackface to this day. Only the makeup is behind the skin.
......what?
What do you mean by that?
Not necessarily hip hop but largely thougg
A damn stick poked through a gourd is not a banjo nor a precursor.
Do a little "poking" around on the internet to educate yourself.
@food forthought1 Yes! That's what I'm saying. I am a banjo player. I went to Africa twice to study the ekonting. My comment was aimed at Drawdy Clan.
@food forthought1 Uhhh no one had access to instruments, whites made them too. It wasnt easy to get them and they didnt survive well being shipped over mountains and down rivers.
Do some research), it definitely is an instrument whose basic design ideas were brought over by West/Central Africans. Just the very simple and core design decision of stretching an animal skin across a resonating body and attaching a neck to it... this is *still* seen all over the place in present-day African folk traditions, and was not at all a common design in Europe. Many of the earliest records of Afro-Atlantic stringed instruments have skin-head resonators, but interestingly enough with flat/fretboard wooden necks.. it's very likely that the slaves were inspired by the necks of Spanish-style guitars and decided to do their own modifications.. although we may never know for sure, because we have such sparse and untrustworthy records of their experiences
Wake up dude!