They were playing Banjos, Marimbas, Koras, harps, Flutes and drums. Remember the banjo that hillbillies can't do without? It's west African in origin.  .  Flutes and drums are universal, I can't think of one single human civilization that hasn't had some form of a flute or drum. Black Africans had harps? News to me. As far as I've ever known, the oldest known harps were from ancient Sumeria, Persia and Egypt, the Vikings were known for their harps as well. Well either way, there isn't anything uniquely Black about a harp, that's for sure. And I've never seen anyone use a harp in Rock or Jazz music . This is your so called West African banjo:rolleyes::rolleyes:      http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ingplayer2.jpg http://a79.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/...a201ac1a0e.jpg   http://a914.ac-images.myspacecdn.com...28433aeef9.jpg  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...a/Akonting.jpg :rolleyes: The Black Africans got the idea to make these junky instruments from Berbers and Egyptians in the first place, and no , North Africans were not and still are not Black people. Now the Black slaves in America started making these junky little things once they got in America, and some White man seen it and it gave him the idea to create the banjo. This piece of junk so called west african banjo is obviously not very similar to what we now recognize as a banjo. Just look at that first pic, look at that piece of junk banjo proto type and look at the girl in the background with a real banjo, there is really no comparison, Blacks created the banjo:rolleyes: Dream on. The banjo is much more similar to the European mandolin than it is to this African piece of junk. Have you ever seen a mandolin?? Here let me show you one...  http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ndolin1921.jpg http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov...p-mandolin.jpg  Mandolin, stringed instrument derived from the lute about 1700 in Italy. Composers for the mandolin include Ludwig van Beethoven, W. A. Mozart, Antonio Vivaldi, and Igor Stravinsky. Around 1900 mandolin orchestras came into vogue, with families of mandolins ranging from soprano to bass. U.S. folk music also adopted the mandolin about 1900; a flat-backed version is played in bluegrass bands.    And this thing you like to call a banjo this proto type piece of junk was an idea they got from caucasian north Africans in the first place. The concept of stringed instruments was introduced to the sub saharan Blacks by North Africans (no, north Africans were not, and still are not Black).      Lute-type string instruments probably came to West Africa from across the Sahara around the same time as the introduction of Islam, which was probably in the 10th century of the Common Era (CE). The Soninke empire of Wagadu (c.300-1100 CE), better known as The Kingdom of Ghana, based in the southern region of present-day Mauritania, northern Senegal, and southeastern Mali, clearly was the epicenter of the trans-Saharan cross-cultural exchange and development that led to the emergence of the plucked lute in West Africa. Its successor, the Mande Kingdom of Mali (c. 1235-1500), proved to the crucible for the creation of jaliya, the griot musical tradition.       In terms of lute ancestors, some scholars propose that the West African plucked lutes are descended from those of Pharonic Egypt. Others contend that it was the other way around, that sub-Sahara West Africa was the actual source of the ancient Egyptian lutes.   Needless to say, this is the subject of much heated debate.    http://www.shlomomusic.com/banjoancestors_egypt.htm     My own take on this is that the ancient Egyptian lutes were, in fact, the ancestors of the West African lutes... albeit, by a bit of a circuitous route. Here's how I see it: At some point, lost in the mists of history, the ancient Egyptian lutes were adopted and adapted by the neighboring Amazigh (Berbers), the indigenous people of Tamazgha-- North Africa west of Egypt which is nowadays referred to by the Arabic term Maghreb. And it was the various Amazigh tribes who transmitted the plucked lute concept and lute-type instruments throughout North Africa and, subsequently, to West Africa, by way of present-day Mauritania and the Sahara.  My line of reasoning is as follows:  The earliest archaeological evidence we have of lute family instruments comes from the Uruk Period (c.4500-3100 BCE) of Ancient Sumer in Mesopotamia. Likewise, the archaeological record indicates that lutes were probably introduced into Egypt during the reign of the Hyksos (c.1640-1540 BCE), nomadic Semites from ancient Canaan and Syria. This being the case, it stands to reason that the route for the transmission of lutes into Africa must begin in the Middle East and go through Egypt, rather than the other way around.  The Amazigh, the majority population of ancient Libya, were definitely known to the ancient Egyptians both as neighbors, trading partners, and, from time to time, serious foes. During the period of Pharonic Egypt's Middle Kingdom (c. 2200-1700 BCE), the eastern Amazigh tribes of Libya, called Lebu by their Egyptian neighbors, became vassals of the pharaohs. There were Amazigh settlements in Egypt and many Amazigh served as mercenaries in the Egyptian military, several rising to great prominence in Egyptian society. Around 945 BCE, an Amazigh official became Pharaoh Sheshonq I, founder of the 22nd Dynasty (c. 945-730 BCE), the first of the two Libyan Dynasties. There are still Amazigh communities in modern-day Egypt, the most prominent being the Zenatiya of the Siwa oasis who speak Siwi, an Amazigh language, rather than Arabic.  Of all of ancient Egypt's neighbors, it's only the various Amazigh peoples which have an extant tradition of plucked lutes that most likely pre-dates the Arab conquest of North Africa (647- 945 CE). Take for example the Nubians, the descendants of the ancient black African people who lived in what's now southern Egypt and northern Sudan and created the Nile kingdoms of Kush (c.1550-590 BCE), Napata (c. 590-270 BCE), and Meroe (c. 270 BCE - 350 CE). Prior to the recent introduction of the Arab oud by modern Nubian musician Hamza el-Din, the Nubians did not have plucked lutes in their traditional musical culture. The lyre, which is played by both modern Egyptians and Nubians in rural Egypt, is the only string instrument which had a counterpart in ancient Egypt.  With the introduction of domesticated dromedary camels into North Africa by the Romans around 200 CE, the nomadic Amazigh tribes began a gradual switch from a horse and oxen-based transportation system to a camel-based one. By their masterful use of the ships of the desert, the Amazigh-- especially the Kel Tamashek (Tuareg)-- dominated the trans-Saharan trade routes between the Magrheb and West Africa for centuries.   We know that it was primarily the Amazigh Moors (the Arabs didn't achieve hegemony in Mauritania until 1674) and Kel Tamashek who introduced Islam into West Africa. Prior to the rise of the Almoravid Dynasty in Mauritania (c.1062-1150), which waged jihad against Ancient Ghana in 1076, the Amazigh Moors and Kel Tamashek were the neighboring black African kingdom's main trading partners in the trans-Sahara trade.   In terms of musical culture, this is borne out by the fact that throughout the Islamic sphere of influence, from the Maghreb to East Asia, musical instruments of Arab, Persian, and Turkish origin were adopted by the various peoples and adapted for incorporation into the given local tradition.   West Africa is the one notable exception.   The plucked lutes found here bear no relationship to the oud, bozuk, baglama, saz, tar, and so on. The instruments they bear evident kinship to are the Moorish tidinit and the Kel Tamashek teharden. This is especially true of the wooden-bodied griot lutes, they are pretty much identical to the tidinit and teharden, in terms of physiology and playing techniques, as well as the fact that they are exclusively played by the male members of specific castes. Likewise, we can see that the West African bowed lutes-- the many different kinds of folk fiddles found throughout the region, such as the Mandinka/Soninke ngime, the FulBe riti, the Hausa goge, and the Dagbamba goonji, to name but a few-- are totally unlike the various models of rebab, rabab or kemençe found throughout the Islamic world. Yet, they bear a strong family resemblance to the Kel Tamashek imzad.   -- Shlomo Pestcoe   http://www.shlomomusic.com/banjoancestors_egypt.htm