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Akonting

The akonting is a three-stringed plucked lute native to the Jola (also spelled Diola) people of the Senegambian region in West Africa, encompassing parts of modern-day Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau.^[1]^[2] It features a resonator body made from a calabash gourd covered with stretched animal skin, typically goat hide, over which three strings—two short melody strings and one long drone—are stretched, supported by a movable M-shaped wooden bridge and a full-spike neck that extends through the gourd.^[3]^[1] The instrument is played seated, using a characteristic downstroke technique where the index finger plucks the long string downward while the thumb alternately strikes the short strings upward, producing a rhythmic, percussive sound akin to early folk styles.^[3]^[1] Within Jola society, the akonting holds a central place as the most common and renowned chordophone, traditionally crafted and performed by skilled young men as a marker of cultural identity and ethnic distinction, often accompanying songs that reflect community narratives, social bonds, and regional histories.^[1]^[2] Unlike instruments associated with professional griot musicians in other West African traditions, the akonting is typically played by ordinary community members, emphasizing its role in everyday social and recreational contexts rather than elite or ceremonial functions.^[3] Its construction from locally available materials underscores the Jola's resourcefulness and deep ties to their agrarian and riverine environment in the Casamance region and beyond.^[1] Historically, the akonting's origins trace back through Jola oral traditions at least three generations, with Western documentation beginning in the mid-20th century, including ethnographer Louis-Vincent Thomas's 1959 account describing it as an indispensable instrument for proficient Jola youth.^[1] It is widely regarded by ethnomusicologists as the closest African antecedent to the American banjo, sharing organological features like the gourd body, skin head, spike neck, and three-string configuration, as well as the downstroke plucking style that parallels early banjo techniques such as clawhammer or frailing.^[1]^[3] This connection, first prominently proposed in 2000 by Gambian musician Daniel Laemouahuma Jatta and researcher Ulf Jägfors, suggests the instrument's influence arrived in the Americas via the transatlantic slave trade from Senegambia around 400 years ago, challenging earlier assumptions that linked the banjo primarily to Mali's ngoni or other griot lutes.^[3]^[1] Subsequent scholarship has reinforced this link through comparative analyses of playing techniques and construction, highlighting the akonting's role in broader narratives of African musical diaspora and cultural resilience.^[2]

Origins and History

Geographical and Cultural Origins

The akonting, also spelled ekonting, serves as the primary folk lute associated with the Jola (Diola) people, an ethnic group indigenous to West Africa.^[4] This three-stringed instrument holds a central place in Jola musical heritage, reflecting their cultural identity and social practices within small, participatory musical settings.^[1] The Jola, known for their egalitarian social structure and lack of a formalized griot tradition, transmit akonting music through communal oral performance rather than specialized hereditary roles.^[4] Geographically, the akonting emerged in the Lower Casamance region of southern Senegal, with oral traditions identifying Kanjanka village near the banks of the Casamance River as its birthplace.^[1] This riverine area, characterized by mangrove swamps and fertile floodplains, supports the Jola's traditional livelihoods of rice farming and fishing, which are deeply intertwined with the instrument's cultural role.^[4] The akonting's use extends beyond Senegal to neighboring regions in The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, where Jola communities maintain similar practices along the Casamance River basin.^[5] Within the broader West African lute tradition, the akonting represents an indigenous chordophone.^[4] Jola oral histories date its use to pre-colonial times, though without precise invention timelines due to the absence of written records.^[4] These traditions portray the instrument as a timeless cultural artifact, often embedded in folk tales depicting it as a magical object discovered in the forest, symbolizing harmony with the natural environment central to Jola agrarian and riverine existence.^[1]

Historical Documentation and Research

The modern scholarly identification of the akonting as a distinct instrument and potential precursor to the banjo began in the mid-1980s through the pioneering work of Gambian Jola musician and researcher Daniel Laemouahuma Jatta.^[6] Jatta, inspired by encounters with the banjo during his time in the United States in the late 1970s, initiated systematic documentation of the akonting starting with his fieldwork trips to Senegambia in the early 1980s, including 1981 and 1984, where he recorded performances and gathered oral accounts from Jola communities.^[6] A significant milestone occurred at the 8th Annual Banjo Collectors Gathering in December 2005, where researchers presented evidence linking the akonting to the banjo through shared construction, tuning, and playing techniques, drawing on Jatta's field data.^[1] This event, attended by international scholars and collectors, marked a turning point in recognizing the akonting's organological features, such as its gourd resonator and spike-neck design, as direct influences on early American banjos.^[1] Swedish researcher Ulf Jägfors, specializing in African lutes, contributed extensively by collaborating with Jatta and publishing analyses like his 2003 article "The African Akonting and the Origin of the Banjo," which examined morphological and stylistic parallels based on fieldwork observations.^[1] Banjo historian Shlomo Pestcoe advanced the discourse through co-authored works, including the 2007 paper "The Jola Akonting: Reconnecting the Banjo to its West African Roots" with Greg Adams, integrating historical iconography and comparative studies to support the akonting's ancestral role.^[1] Research on the akonting has evolved from reliance on Jola oral histories—collected during Jatta's multiple Senegambian expeditions in the 1980s and 1990s—to rigorous organological analysis, incorporating measurements of instrument components and acoustic properties to trace transatlantic transmissions.^[6] This shift, driven by interdisciplinary efforts, has solidified the akonting's place in ethnomusicological studies while highlighting its embeddedness in Jola cultural practices.^[7]

Instrument Design and Construction

Materials and Components

The akonting is classified as a spike bowl lute (Hornbostel-Sachs 321.311), a type of chordophone in which the strings run parallel to the sound table and the neck passes diametrically through the resonator.^[1] This classification highlights its structure as a simple, unfretted lute with a resonator body and integral neck.^[1] The resonator body is formed from a halved or hemispherical calabash gourd, which provides the bowl-shaped chamber for sound amplification.^[8] Over the open end of the gourd, a taut animal skin—typically goat hide, though sheep skin is also used—serves as the sound head or membrane.^[8]^[9] The skin is secured around the gourd's rim using nails, wooden pegs, or palm thorns, ensuring tight tension for vibration.^[8] A small sound hole in the gourd's base or side allows resonance to escape, contributing to the instrument's bright, percussive tone.^[8] The neck is a plain, cylindrical spike made from wood or bamboo, extending through the gourd resonator in a full-spike design that integrates the handle directly with the body.^[1] It lacks frets or ornamentation, emphasizing the instrument's utilitarian construction, and typically measures around 35 to 55 inches (89 to 140 cm) in total length to accommodate the string configuration.^[10]^[8] The akonting features three strings in a distinctive arrangement: two longer melody strings that stretch from the neck's end over a small bridge on the sound head to tuning pegs or notches at the top, and one shorter drone string attached closer to the neck's base near the resonator.^[1] Historically, the strings were crafted from braided palm tree roots for durability and tone, though modern versions commonly use nylon fishing line.^[8] The bridge, often M-shaped and movable, rests directly on the skin head and is held in place by string tension, allowing for basic adjustments in intonation.^[1] This setup enables the skin membrane to vibrate freely, producing the akonting's characteristic sharp, twangy sound akin to early gourd banjos.^[1] The akonting exhibits subtle regional variations among the Jola people, primarily influenced by local material availability and environmental factors in Senegal and Gambia. These differences can affect gourd resonator sizes and string tension, with instruments often tuned to a five-note pentatonic scale.^[10] Closely related to the akonting are several three-string gourd lutes from neighboring ethnic groups in Senegambia, sharing core organological traits but displaying ethnic-specific adaptations. The buchundu, played by the Manjago (Manjak) people of Senegal and Gambia, is nearly identical in form as a full-spike lute with a gourd resonator and animal skin head.^[8] The busunde of the Papel ethnic group in Guinea-Bissau and southern Senegal mirrors the akonting's three-string setup and skin-headed design.^[10] Similarly, the kisinta among the Balanta people of Guinea-Bissau presents a comparable drone-string configuration in its three-string model, akin to the akonting's thumb-played bass string.^[10] These instruments share fundamental features, including gourd resonators covered with taut animal skin for vibration amplification, a full-spike neck passing through the body, and an M-shaped bipedal bridge to elevate strings, enabling the characteristic downstroke plucking technique across Bak language-speaking communities.^[10]^[11] Historically, the akonting and its relatives diffused through cultural exchanges among groups in Senegambia, fostering shared designs while allowing local adaptations.^[10]^[1]

Playing Techniques

Traditional Methods

The primary technique for playing the akonting, known as "o'teck" among the Jola people, involves a down-picking motion where the index fingernail of the dominant hand strikes the long drone string downward in a sharp, percussive manner, immediately followed by the thumb alternately plucking the two short melody strings upward to provide rhythmic continuity.^[3]^[12] This method, rooted in Jola oral traditions and documented through ethnographic fieldwork, emphasizes a continuous, interlocking pattern that generates both melodic lines and percussive accents, distinguishing it as the only known down-picking lute style in West Africa.^[7] The o'teck style bears a resemblance to the frailing technique on the American banjo, reflecting shared historical lineages in stringed instrument performance.^[12] Performers typically adopt a seated position with the instrument positioned between the legs, allowing the gourd body to rest against the body for stability while enabling the right hand to execute downstrokes that strike the skin head directly, producing a resonant "bump" sound akin to a drum strike integrated into the strumming.^[12] This percussive element arises from the thumb or finger brushing the membrane during plucks, enhancing the rhythmic drive without additional accessories, as observed in traditional Jola village performances.^[7] The technique's emphasis on downward motion creates syncopated grooves, where rapid alternations between index strikes on the drone string and thumb plucks on the melody strings maintain a steady pulse, often described in ethnographic accounts as evoking the "knocking" or "beating" of the instrument's strings.^[12] The non-dominant hand plays a crucial role in modulating sound without fretting the strings, primarily by damping unwanted resonances or lightly adjusting string tension against the neck to vary pitch subtly during play.^[12] Fingers of the left hand mute strings immediately after plucking for a staccato effect or to prevent slurring, allowing precise control over note duration and texture in real-time, as noted in studies of Jola lute practices.^[7] This damping technique supports the instrument's role in communal settings, where it accompanies folk songs through repetitive ostinato patterns in 4/4 meter, fostering call-and-response structures that engage singers and dancers in group performances.^[12]

Tuning and Musical Scales

The akonting employs a standard open-string tuning that facilitates the production of an anhemitonic pentatonic scale, characteristic of Jola musical traditions, yielding a total of five distinct pitches across its three strings. The lowest-pitched drone string (long) serves as the constant foundation, primarily struck by the index finger, establishing the tonic and providing harmonic foundation, while the middle long melody string and highest short melody string enable melodic variation through open plucks and limited fretting on the long string. This configuration emphasizes modal structures derived from pentatonic systems prevalent in Jola music, where the scale avoids semitones between notes, promoting fluid, repetitive folk melodies.^[12] The intervals in the common "kanjanka" tuning pattern are structured as 5/1/-7 relative to the tonic, resulting in practical tunings such as d (short string) - G (long string) - F (drone string) in the Casamance region of Senegal, or a variant c - F - E in Gambia, accommodating regional vocal ranges and song keys. These relative pitches align with the major second interval between the drone and long strings, and a perfect fifth between the long and short strings, allowing variance of up to a half-step for intonation flexibility. The resulting open-string modal scale draws from Jola hexatonic or pentatonic frameworks, with the drone reinforcing the root tone amid improvisational lines that rarely exceed the five-note range.^[12] Tuning adjustments on the traditional akonting are achieved by twisting the neck spike to alter string tension or repositioning the bridge to fine-tune intervals, ensuring compatibility with accompanying vocals in performance. In variants with added pegs, players can more precisely modify pitch without structural changes, though traditional methods prioritize simplicity to suit communal singing. Substantial retuning involves untying and re-knotting strings or adjusting skin head tension via wetting or heating, maintaining the instrument's harmonic focus.^[12] The akonting's harmonic profile is deliberately simple, centering on drone-based monophony or heterophony rather than complex chord progressions, which supports the improvisational nature of Jola folk melodies. Rare harmonic embellishments occur through simultaneous plucking of the thumb and short strings, but the emphasis remains on the tonic drone sustaining a modal texture suited to call-and-response vocals. This approach integrates seamlessly with techniques like o'teck, where the constant index strike reinforces the scale's tonal center.^[12]

Traditional Uses in Jola Society

In Jola society, the akonting serves as a key instrument for evening performances that provide relaxation after daily farm labor, particularly rice cultivation in the Senegambian region. Skilled male players often perform solo or in small groups around villages, using the instrument's rhythmic strumming to unwind with friends while sharing palm wine tapped from trees. These informal sessions foster casual social interaction and entertainment, reflecting the akonting's role as a folk lute accessible to ordinary community members rather than professional musicians.^[6]^[12]^[5] A prominent context for these performances is the "Hu Waa," informal rice field bars where Jola farmers gather post-harvest to discuss agriculture, life events, and social matters, accompanied by the akonting's lively rhythms. In these settings, the instrument enhances conversations through its percussive downstroke technique, creating an atmosphere of communal reflection and lighthearted exchange over palm wine. Such gatherings underscore the akonting's integration into agricultural rhythms, bridging work and leisure in rural Jola life.^[7]^[13] The akonting also accompanies folk songs, dances, and storytelling, promoting community bonding through its danceable ostinato patterns and melodic support for call-and-response vocals. It features in social dances like bujiyabu for courtship and ekonkon preludes to wrestling matches, where players generate energetic rhythms to energize participants and spectators. In storytelling sessions, the instrument illustrates narratives of daily life, love, and local legends, often in mixed-gender village events that strengthen social ties.^[12]^[13]^[7] Additionally, the akonting plays a supporting role in rites of passage and seasonal festivals, such as weddings, naming ceremonies, and harvest celebrations, where it provides rhythmic accompaniment without dominating formal proceedings. During these events, it contributes to joyful atmospheres through songs honoring community milestones, like those for rain priests or post-harvest gatherings, emphasizing its practical utility in marking seasonal and life transitions.^[13]^[12]

Symbolism and Community Functions

The akonting serves as a profound symbol of Jola identity and resilience, functioning as an "identification badge" that distinguishes the Jola people from neighboring ethnic groups in Senegambia.^[7] As a marker of cultural continuity, it embodies the Jola's endurance through historical challenges, including colonial disruptions and migration, reinforcing ethnic cohesion in rural villages where rice farming and seasonal labor define daily life.^[12] This symbolism is captured in the common Jola expression: "No matter where you go, if you see someone playing the ekonting, you will know that person is a Jola."^[12] The instrument's materials, such as the gourd resonator and animal skin, reflect the Jola's harmony with nature, tying directly to agricultural cycles and the land's bounty in the Casamance region.^[12] Played during the post-harvest "period of Plenty," the akonting celebrates natural abundance and the use of locally sourced materials, aligning music-making with environmental rhythms and the Jola's agrarian lifestyle.^[14] Songs performed on the instrument often praise the work ethic tied to land-based wealth, further embedding this connection in communal expressions.^[12] In preserving oral traditions, the akonting plays a vital role during communal events, where its music conveys proverbs, histories, and moral lessons to reinforce social values and collective memory.^[7] Through participatory performances, it transmits folk tales—such as those equating skillful playing with moral character—and narratives of Jola experiences, ensuring intergenerational storytelling without reliance on written records.^[12] This function fosters community bonding, as seen in ekonkon wrestling gatherings where songs embed proverbs and historical reflections.^[14] Traditionally played by men, often young "cool boys" using the instrument in courtship to attract attention and navigate social rivalries, the akonting highlights gendered dynamics in Jola society.^[14] While historically male-dominated, contemporary revival efforts show evolving inclusivity, with broader participation encouraging women and promoting intergenerational knowledge transfer from elders to youth, as exemplified by performers like Daniel Jatta learning from their fathers. For instance, as of 2023, Elisa Diedhiou has emerged as one of the few professional female ekonting players, featured on the album 'Ears of the People'.^[12]^[15] This shift supports communal harmony by expanding access to cultural transmission. The akonting carries spiritual undertones rooted in Jola animist beliefs, occasionally used in rituals to invoke ancestral spirits through libations and performances along the Awasena Path, the traditional indigenous religion.^[12] In Awasena funerals and bukut initiation ceremonies, it enhances connections to the spirit world, honoring figures like the prophetess Aline Sitoé Diatta and linking participants to protective shrines such as Boekin.^[12] Though not central to all healing practices, its role in these contexts underscores the instrument's place in animist frameworks that view music as a bridge to ancestral guidance and communal well-being.^[7]

Connection to the Banjo

Historical Migration and Links

The akonting, a three-stringed lute played by the Jola people of Senegambia, is believed to have been transmitted to the Americas through the forced migration of enslaved West Africans during the transatlantic slave trade from the 17th to 19th centuries. Enslaved individuals from the Senegambia region, including Jola communities, carried musical traditions that contributed to the development of early gourd-based instruments in the Caribbean and the U.S. South, which evolved into the American banjo. This transmission occurred as part of the broader displacement of approximately 12.5 million Africans across the Atlantic, with Senegambian captives forming a significant portion of those arriving in North American ports.^[16]^[17] Evidence for this connection draws from oral histories preserved in Jola communities, which describe the akonting's longstanding role in social and ritual music, as well as early European traveler accounts documenting similar lutes in enslaved African communities. For instance, in 1678, French colonist Adrien Dessalles recorded the "banza," a gourd-bodied stringed instrument played by enslaved people in Martinique, resembling the akonting's construction. Similarly, 18th-century observers like Edward Long in Jamaica described the "banjer" or "merry wang" as a calabash instrument used in slave dances and gatherings, highlighting its prevalence in plantation settings. These accounts, combined with Jola oral traditions spanning multiple generations, suggest the instrument's adaptation in the Americas retained core elements of West African lute designs.^[1]^[18] Major migration routes from Senegambia funneled enslaved people to key Atlantic ports, including Charleston, South Carolina, which received over 40% of all enslaved Africans arriving in North America between 1670 and 1808. This influx influenced the musical culture of Southern plantations, where akonting-like instruments accompanied work songs, dances, and storytelling among enslaved communities. Charleston's role as a primary entry point for Senegambian captives facilitated the integration of these traditions into early American folk music, laying the groundwork for the banjo's emergence in the 18th century.^[19]^[20] In the late 20th century, Gambian scholar Daniel Jatta's research provided key confirmations of these links, beginning in the mid-1980s and culminating in presentations that connected the akonting to banjo ancestry through shared African lute traditions. Jatta's fieldwork among Jola musicians documented the instrument's downstroke technique and construction, paralleling early banjo forms and reinforcing the transatlantic pathway via the slave trade. His efforts, including collaborations with ethnomusicologists, have been instrumental in tracing this heritage through archival and ethnographic evidence.^[21]^[22]

Design and Technique Comparisons

The akonting and banjo exhibit striking organological parallels in their construction, reflecting shared West African lute traditions adapted in the Americas. Both instruments feature skin-headed resonators, with the akonting using a halved gourd body covered by taut animal hide to amplify sound, while early banjos employed comparable gourd resonators before transitioning to hoop-like wooden rims with vellum heads. They share a full-spike neck design, where a slender wooden neck pierces and extends through the resonator body, and an M-shaped bridge that presses strings against the skin soundplane for vibration. The akonting's typical three-string setup includes two longer melody strings and a short, high-pitched drone string anchored near the resonator end, analogous to the banjo's fifth thumb string for rhythmic drone. These elements create a compact, portable lute optimized for percussive strumming. Playing techniques further align the two instruments, particularly in their downstroke methods that produce interlocking rhythms. The akonting's o'teck style involves a downward brush-stroke with the index fingernail across the melody strings, alternated with thumb plucks on the drone string, generating a syncopated "bump-titty" pattern where the downstroke provides the percussive "bump" and thumb adds the "titty" backbeat. This mirrors the banjo's clawhammer or frailing technique, which uses a similar fingernail downstroke on the strings followed by thumb indexing for melody and drone, emphasizing rhythmic drive over fingerpicking. Both approaches treat the instrument as a rhythmic percussion device, with the hand brushing the skin head for added tonal complexity. Despite these overlaps, differences in design and evolution distinguish the akonting from the banjo. The akonting maintains an unfretted, round neck without tuning pegs, relying on leather ties for string attachment and fixed tuning, which suits its monophonic, drone-based melodies in Jola music. In contrast, the banjo evolved a flat, fretted fingerboard with mechanical tuners and expanded to four or five strings, enabling chromatic playing and adaptations for genres like bluegrass and minstrelsy. The akonting's simpler, acoustically pure form contrasts with the banjo's later metal frets and tailpieces, which enhanced volume and intonation for ensemble settings. Scholarly examinations, including Shlomo Pestcoe's 2005 analysis of West African folk lutes, identify these organological matches as evidence of the akonting's influence on early banjo prototypes, emphasizing the spike neck and skin-membrane construction. Greg Adams and Pestcoe's subsequent 2007 study reinforces the technique parallels, detailing how the o'teck downstroke directly informs clawhammer's rhythmic foundation through ethnographic recordings and historical iconography.

Contemporary Revival and Global Influence

Modern Practitioners and Revival Efforts

In recent decades, the akonting has seen a resurgence driven by dedicated Jola musicians in Senegal and Gambia who emphasize traditional playing styles while adapting to contemporary contexts. Bouba Diedhiou, a Senegalese Jola musician from Youtou in the Casamance region, has emerged as a prominent promoter of these traditional techniques through his compositions and performances. As a young radio performer in Ziguinchor and Oussouye, Diedhiou has recorded songs like "Aduna Esore" (The World is Dispersed), which reflect Jola storytelling and social commentary, helping to preserve the instrument's folk roots amid modern influences.^[1] Similarly, Sana Ndiaye, a Senegalese akonting master, has contributed to the revival by blending the instrument's rhythms with fusion genres, including hip hop in his work with the interethnic group Gokh-Bi System. Ndiaye performs on a custom-made akonting featuring a wooden soundboard and guitar tuners, which allows for broader experimentation while maintaining the downstroke technique central to Jola tradition. His efforts, including instructional videos and performances at international events like the 2008 University of Florida symposium on African banjo roots, have introduced the akonting to global audiences seeking its ancestral connections.^[1]^[23] Revival initiatives in Senegambia have focused on educating youth to counter the threats posed by urbanization and cultural shifts. Daniel Laemouahuma Jatta, a Gambian Jola scholar and musician, established the Akonting Center for Senegambian Folk Music in Mandinari in the early 2000s, where he conducts workshops teaching traditional construction and playing to young learners. These programs address the rural exodus that has diminished the number of practitioners, with Jatta collaborating on recordings and curricula to sustain the instrument's role in Jola identity. In 2023, Jatta co-produced the Smithsonian Folkways album Ears of the People: Ekonting Songs from Senegal and the Gambia, featuring 25 tracks by nine ekonting players, including Bouba Diedhiou, to document and promote Jola musical traditions internationally.^[24]^[25] On a global scale, African American-led efforts have extended the akonting's revival by linking it to the banjo's African heritage. The Black Banjo Reclamation Project, launched in the 2010s by musicians like Hannah Mayree, organizes workshops where participants build gourd banjos inspired by the akonting, fostering cultural reconnection and self-determination among Black communities. These sessions emphasize the instrument's historical migration and encourage exploration of Jola techniques to reclaim narratives obscured by minstrelsy and commercialization. As of 2025, the project continues with events such as NYC Banjo Meet Ups.^[26]^[27] Despite these advances, the akonting faces ongoing challenges, including scarcity exacerbated by urbanization and the adoption of synthetic materials. In regions like Casamance, the rural-to-urban migration has left villages with few functional instruments—such as the single dilapidated ekonting documented in Enampor in 2015—while nylon fishing line has largely replaced traditional braided palm root strings. Artisans in Casamance are countering this through revival practices that prioritize local materials like gourds, animal skins, and bamboo-like reeds, ensuring the instrument's authentic Jola aesthetic endures.

Influence in Global Music and Scholarship

Since the 2000s, the akonting has gained prominence in global music scenes through collaborations that highlight its connections to stringed instruments like the banjo. In Béla Fleck's 2008 documentary film and album Throw Down Your Heart: Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 3 – Africa, the instrument features prominently during Fleck's travels in The Gambia, where local players including Jil Ekona Jatta demonstrate its construction and performance techniques alongside the banjo, underscoring shared rhythmic downstroke styles rooted in West African traditions.^[28] This project, which explores the banjo's African origins, has introduced the akonting to international audiences via recordings and live performances, fostering cross-cultural exchanges in world music festivals such as the International Senegambian Stringed Instruments Festival in Gambia, where it is showcased as an ancestor of global plucked lutes.^[29] Scholarly publications have significantly shaped ethnomusicological understanding of the akonting, positioning it as a key link in the transatlantic history of stringed instruments. Ulf Jägfors' 2003 article "The African Akonting and the Origin of the Banjo" in The Old-Time Herald analyzes its organological and performative parallels to early American banjos, influencing subsequent research on West African musical migrations.^[1] Similarly, Greg Adams and Shlomo Pestcoe's 2007 piece "The Jola Akonting: Reconnecting the Banjo to Its West African Roots" in Sing Out! details ethnographic fieldwork among Jola communities, emphasizing the instrument's role in oral traditions and its impact on African diaspora studies.^[1] These works have informed museum exhibits, including features in Smithsonian Folklife Magazine's coverage of the Black Banjo Reclamation Project, which highlights the akonting in discussions of African American musical heritage.^[26] Educational initiatives have further disseminated knowledge of the akonting, serving as a bridge between West African traditions and African American musical histories. Online tutorials, such as those by Senegambian performer Sana Ndiaye on YouTube, provide accessible lessons on tuning, clawhammer-style playing, and basic songs, enabling global learners to engage with Jola techniques.^[30] In academic settings, the instrument appears in university courses on African and African diaspora music, such as those exploring Black sacred music and soundscapes at institutions like Berklee College of Music and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where it illustrates the evolution of plucked lutes in transatlantic contexts.^[31]^[32] Looking ahead, the akonting contributes to broader discussions on preserving West African musical instruments within UNESCO's framework for intangible cultural heritage.^[33]

References

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Historical Narratives of the Akonting and Banjo
Jul 27, 2014 · Played by musicians of the Jola ethnic group from the Senegambian region of West Africa, the akonting is recognized as the closest known African ...Missing: credible | Show results with:credible
[2]
Storiesl of Differentiation and Association: Narrative Identity and the ...
Dec 6, 2018 · This is true of the ekonting (see figure 1), a three-stringed plucked lute that is played almost exclusively by people of the Jola ethnic group ...
[3]
The Banjo's Roots, Reconsidered : NPR
Aug 23, 2011 · ALLEN: The akonting is a three-stringed instrument with a long neck and a body made from a calabash gourd with a goat skin stretched over it.Missing: sources | Show results with:sources
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Jan 18, 2023 · “Ears of the People: Ekonting Songs from Senegal and Gambia” was recorded in the Casamance borderlands region of southern Senegal, near to the ...
[6]
LAEMOUAHUMA (DANIEL) JATTA - FolkWorks
Jul 12, 2018 · They need somebody to help them raise this instrument to a level, and I believe with the success of the research of the akonting, if we are ...
[7]
The ekonting in Jola culture and history - Taylor & Francis Online
Jul 15, 2019 · ABSTRACT. The ekonting is a plucked lute played by people of the Jola ethnic group in Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau.
[8]
The ekonting in Jola culture and history - ResearchGate
Aug 10, 2025 · The ekonting is a plucked lute played by people of the Jola ethnic group in Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. It has received considerable ...
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The constructions of the Akonting therefore varied too a bit, but some of its basic structural construction elements like a long neck passing through its body, ...
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Jan 18, 2024 · ... Akonting is believed to have originated from the village of Kanjanka in Lower Casamance, Senegal, near the banks of the Casamance River. The ...
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[PDF] Jola Music and Relational Identity in Senegambia and Beyond
the field by moving from early monographs on traditional music and distinct ethnic groups to ... bunchundo, Ballanta kisinta and kusunde, Papel busunde, and ...
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Quantitative similarities between the banjo and a diverse collection ...
Oct 6, 2022 · The banjo entered world musical culture through the ingenuity of communities of enslaved Africans in the Caribbean. The banjo is rooted ...
[13]
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Figure 14 (page 108). Top: a xalam from Senegal. Middle: a ngoni ba from Mali. Bottom: an ekonting from The Gambia. The top pair is more closely related ...
[14]
[PDF] EKONTING SONGS FROM SENEGAL AND THE GAMBIA
This album showcases nine ekonting players, whom I came to know while conducting ethno- graphic research at Jatta's Akonting Center in ... Adams, Robert Baum, ...
[15]
The period of Plenty
According to all Jolas, the Akonting music culture originally was a dating culture. The word "Whofuleto" is a Jola Cassa Word, meaning to attract attention from ...<|control11|><|separator|>
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One of the many African predecessors of the banjo was the Jola people's akonting from the Senegambia region. ... A map of the transatlantic slave trade of ...
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To the Americas and the Evolution of the Banjo During the Atlantic Slave Trade, the Akonting made its way to the Americas and was played on plantations as ...Missing: historical connection transatlantic
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Aug 12, 2006 · The earliest documentation of banjo-type instruments is found in writings of 17th century travelers to Africa and the Americas. These writings ...
[19]
Charleston, South Carolina - The Transatlantic Slave Trade
Nearly 13 million African people were kidnapped, forced onto European and American ships, and trafficked across the Atlantic Ocean to be enslaved.
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[22]
Daniel Jatta - Access Gambia
Daniel Laemouahuma Jatta, an akonting player, is known for his research work on the origins of the Banjo after over a decade of research.
[23]
Ears of the People: Ekonting Songs From Senegal and Gambia
Feb 3, 2023 · These 25 recent recordings come from Cassamance, that troubled sliver of Senegal severed from the majority north by the Gambia.Missing: variations | Show results with:variations
[24]
Black Musicians' Quest to Return the Banjo to Its African Roots
Nov 23, 2020 · The Black Banjo Reclamation Project hosts workshops so people can learn to build their own gourd banjos. It takes two people to stretch an ...
[25]
Review: Bela Fleck's Throwdown Your Heart - Glide Magazine
The akonting, a gourd wrapped in animal skin with three twangy strings drew the most gasps as the film documents the natives crafting them from scratch with ...
[26]
International Senegambian stringed instruments festival in Gambia
Oct 26, 2025 · For more information, call Daniel LaemouAhuma Jatta at 00220 9599 393, or 00220 253 44 53 or call Salimatta Badjie Knight 0044 7809 288 915 In ...The Banjo Forum - FacebookGCCI food and entertainment festival in Gambia - FacebookMore results from www.facebook.com
[27]
How to Play the Akonting with Sana Ndiaye Segment One - YouTube
Oct 16, 2012 · Learn some akonting history and learn how to tune and play songs on this Senegambian ancestor of the banjo. myspace.com/sanandiaye ...Missing: kanjanka intervals
[28]
Music Courses - Berklee Online
Our 4- and 12-week online music courses are authored and taught by industry experts and the same renowned instructors that teach at Berklee College of Music's ...
[29]
Courses – Department of African American Studies – UW–Madison
Courses · 151 Introduction to Contemporary Afro-American Society · 154 Hip-Hop and Contemporary American Society · 156 Black Music and American Cultural History.
[30]
The Evolution in Forms of Lutes and other Stringed Instruments ...
The lyre enjoyed high cultural status in Mesopotamia and the Classical Greek and Roman world where it was associated with ideas of art, love, the human spirit, ...