Sunday music: If you don't love bluegrass, you hate America

So, when you think of bluegrass, what instruments come to mind?  Mandolin, probably.  That was Bill Monroe's instrument.  Banjo, though.  Earl Scruggs.  I doubt the Bluegrass Boys would have become a thing without Earl, and, well, Flatt & Scruggs really did overtake Bill as a force in the genre.  Let's be real about that.

Anyway, the banjo is also the instrument most closely associated with pre-bluegrass Appalachian music.  The origin of the banjo?  Africa.  It is descended from African gourd-based instruments, like the ngoni.  A few years ago, banjoist Jayme Stone did a project with kora player, Mansa Sissoko called Africa to Appalachia.  Here's the first cut, "Bibi."

Remind me again, how did all those Africans from shithole countries get here in the first place?

Oooooh, right.  Oops!  We're not supposed to talk about that, are we?

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