VOA标准英语2013--代表美国的班卓琴起源于非洲

 

All-American Banjo Has African Roots 代表美国的班卓琴起源于非洲

NEW YORK — From folk songs like Oh Susannah to its starring role in Bluegrass festivals, the banjo seems to be a quintessentially homegrown American instrument.  However, as Colorado banjo virtuoso¹ Jayme Stone has learned, this five-stringed wonder actually has roots half a world away - in Africa.

From Bluegrass festivals to backwoods, Appalachian porches to stadium concerts, a banjo’s twang is pure Americana. Or is it?

While playing a 13th Century Malian praise song in New York’s famed Joe’s Pub, Colorado-based composer and banjo player Jayme Stone says West Africa is the banjo’s true original home.

“It came over on slave ships with slaves in the 1500 and 1600s, and on through the 1700s, and made its way to plantations² and farms and places where African Americans were living and working as slaves, and [it] slowly got adapted," he said.

All banjos and their ancestors share similarities.

“It’s some kind of resonating chamber³, either a gourd⁴ or a carved wooden resonator, stretched over with some kind of hide, often a goat," said Stone.

Stone is interested in reuniting the American banjo with its roots.

In 2007, Stone was given a grant to go to Mali, considered by many to be the crown jewel of traditional African music-making.  He loved the exotic sights and smells, the hospitality.  Most of all, he cherished the chance to jam with local musicians.

A high point came the day he found himself in a remote village where he met a man playing a homemade two string “Ngone,” which Stone says is the great grand-daddy of his own banjo.

"And there was Pete Seeger’s right-hand technique perfectly⁵ intact from a musician who had learned from his parents or grandparents and had never travelled outside of the village," he said.

Back in the United States, Jayme Stone often combines his American and African musical passions. Radio Wassoulou is a song named for a popular community radio station in Mali’s heartland.  It’s a musical bridge he traverses often. 

1 virtuoso   

n.精于某种艺术或乐器的专家，行家里手

参考例句：

• He was gaining a reputation as a remarkable virtuoso.作为一位技艺非凡的大师，他声誉日隆。
• His father was a virtuoso horn player who belonged to the court orchestra.他的父亲是宫廷乐队中一个技巧精湛的圆号演奏家。

2 plantations   

n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Soon great plantations, supported by slave labor, made some families very wealthy. 不久之后出现了依靠奴隶劳动的大庄园，使一些家庭成了富豪。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• Winterborne's contract was completed, and the plantations were deserted. 维恩特波恩的合同完成后，那片林地变得荒废了。 来自辞典例句

3 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

4 gourd   

n.葫芦

参考例句：

• Are you going with him? You must be out of your gourd.你和他一块去？你一定是疯了。
• Give me a gourd so I can bail.把葫芦瓢给我，我好把水舀出去。

5 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。