Banjo

The banjo is a stringed instrument, derived from the "banjar", a stringed instrument of American origins, sometimes called the "gourd banjo". The banjar, in turn was based on the African "akonting". Some etymologists derive it from a dialectal pronunciation of "bandore", though recent research suggests that it may come from a Senegambian term for the bamboo stick used for the instrument's neck.

Further reading

• Gura, Philip F. and James F. Bollman, America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century, The University of North Carolina Press, 1999. The definitive history of the banjo, focusing on the instrument's development in the 1800's.
• Tsumura, Akira, Banjos: The Tsumura Collection, Kodansha International Ltd., 1984. An illustrated history of the banjo featuring the world's premier collection.
• Webb, Robert Lloyd, Ring the Banjar!, Centerstream Publishing, 1996 (2nd edition). A short history of the banjo, with pictures from an exhibition at the MIT Museum.