George, I can not agree with your final statement more. My interest is not in reviving the minstrel show as a form of entertainment, ( it would be insulting and harmful) but rather to revive important elements of the musical repitoire that might help audiences grasp the shared culture represented by this music. I also hope to revive the playing style of this music in the same way other historic time periods have been revived for both entertainment and education. Audiences are too little exposed to histoically accurate music portrayals.

Guest. I also agree with your opeing statement. But I must strongly disagree with the timeframe. The Celtic/African connection goes to the very beginning of the banjo itself and the earliest roots of minstrel music.

Joel W. Sweeney was the first known white to make the banjo popular in white society. He was also an early minstrel. He being of Celtic decent, he mixed the African banjo with the Celtic repitoire. That in fact is the very advent of American popular music! We do not need to wait for reconstruction to see the interaction between the cultures, look at all of the early (pre-1865) banjo instruction manuals. They are full of Irish tunes and Celitc based tunes, mixed with the more African instrument and beats of early minstrelsy. Jigs and reels, not found in the African tradition but strong in Celtic culture, are found in these early repitoires. The presence of tha banjo alone, mixed with these tunesn is evidence of the cultural interaction.

We hope to have a whole section of next years banjo exhibit and book devoted to this cross cultural developement.