The Banjo

An unusual voice in the story of New Orleans music.

- SEVA VENET

The first banjo ever documented in New Orleans was in 1819. British-American architect Benjamin Latrobe illustrated the instrument as he witnessed it during a performance in Congo Square. It was a Haitian Banja, a masterpiece of beauty and craftsmanship, and closely related to its African ancestors.

In the decades following came a scattering of banjo references in New Orleans. A witness to a voodoo ceremony in 1825 noted: “… A banjo-player, too, sprang up, and pandemonium was unloosed.” A newspaper review in 1830 mentioned “Butler’s Banjow,” a very rare mention of the legendary banjoist John “Picayune” Butler. And in 1841, a dance party was reported in which “banjos were knocked in—and ivories were knocked out.” Significantly, these first sightings were all of people with African and Afro/Caribbean heritage. The instruments would have probably been crafted by their owners.

With the rise in popularity of minstrel entertainment in the 1850’s, there were many itinerant banjoists, often performing concurrently in New Orleans. There are several banjoists born in or around New Orleans who would, in their time, go on to some renown abroad through minstrel performances. In 1855, New Orleans native Louis Moreau Gottschalk first performed his most famous composition “The Banjo” in his home town. The piece, written for piano, was an effort to reproduce the sounds of African American banjo styles of his day.