Shlomo Pestcoe - ProfilesArchive

About Me

(Photo by W. Weinstein)

Performing with Sufferin' Succotash , The Two Boots Brooklyn Tent. The 7th Heaven Street Festival. Park Slope, Brooklyn, 6/18/06

Banjo Roots Research Initiative & The Banjo Roots Network

In 2008, I formed a unique scholarly partnership with my colleague Greg C. Adams , Banjo Roots Research Initiatives. Our first effort was the ongoing project of creating the Banjo Roots Network, a projected series of related sites on MySpace that will explore the many different aspects of the history of the banjo, its Afro-Creole origins in the Caribbean in the 17th century, and its deep roots in the West African family of plucked lutes.

The principal objective of the Banjo Roots Network is to be a platform for public outreach and education through which we can share the latest findings of recent banjo roots research. Likewise, we hope that it will also serve as a springboard for dialogue and collaborations between researchers within the banjo community as well as scholars working in different, but related disciplines.

While BRN is still very much a 'work-in-progress', we currently host three active sites. Please be sure to visit them:

Banjo Roots: Banjo Beginnings, "African American Origins, West African Roots"Banjo Roots: West Africa, "Exploring the Banjo's West African Heritage"Ekonting, "A Link to the Banjo's West African Heritage"

Photo postcard. Vermont, USA, 1907. (Collection of Shlomo Pestcoe)

I've been performing old-time country, early blues, Louisiana Cajun/ Black Creole, French Canadian, Jewish klezmer , Tejano/Norteno, and lots of other kinds of ethnic/regional traditional music since the early 1980s. My instruments include: fiddle , guitar , mandolin , banjo , ukulele , cuatro , button accordion , concertina and more.

A choice selection from my personal collection of antique and vintage photographs and postcards depicting musicians and their instruments from around the world. For image captions, point and hover your mouse over the given image. To enlarge, click on the image. Enjoy!

(Copyright &copy 2007 Shlomo Pestcoe. All rights reserved. Please do not copy or publish any of these images without permission or credit. Please contact me at [email protected] with all inquiries and comments. Thanks!)

Back in the '90s, I achieved some local fame as a "kids 'n' family" music edu-tainer here in the Big Apple. Best known for my work as The Music Man at The Children's Museum of Manhattan and The Children's Museum of the Arts , I was also the lead instrumentalist/principal songwriter for The Imagination Workshop Band (1996-2001).

I'm a founding member of Gillygaloo , which was one of NYC's foremost "kids 'n' family" music groups, performing grownup-friendly folk roots music for kids of all ages. I was also the fiddler/leader of Sufferin' Succotash , a renowned local string band which performed old-time country, early blues and old-style Louisiana Cajun/Black Creole music from the 1920s, '30s and beyond.

Aside from performing, I teach guitar , banjo , mandolin , fiddle , and ukulele For more information, please email me at: [email protected]

I was the first Curator/Photo Archivist of The Musical Eye , the Musurgia collection of antique photographic images of musicians and their instruments from around the world. That position is now held by my dear friend, musical colleague, and fellow Brooklynite-- the wonderfully-gifted singer and guitarist Mamie Minch .

(Photo by W. Weinstein)

Replica of the gourd banjo seen in The Old Plantation (South Carolina, c.1777-1794), the oldest depiction of a banjo in North America. Made by John Steven Foster of Sherbrooke, Quebec in 1999. Purchased from Elderly Instruments' Vintage & Used Instrument List . Special thanks to Stan Werbin.

For more information on the anonymous folk painting The Old Plantation and what it can tells us as the earliest visual chronicle of African American music and dance in North America, please see my blog on the Banjo Roots MySpace Music site: The Old Plantation: A Banjo Roots Perspective

In addition, I research and write about ethnic/regional folk/vernacular musical instruments and traditions from around the globe. Recently, I've been working with other researchers delving into the origins and organology of the lute family of string instruments found the world over.

Lute Family String Instruments: Plucked Lutes & Bowed Lutes (Fiddles)

Another choice selection from my personal collection of antique and vintage photographs and postcards depicting musicians and their instruments from around the world. For image captions, point and hover your mouse over the given image. To enlarge, click on the image. Enjoy!

One of our primary areas of research is investigating the banjo's early history and the roots of this quintessential American instrument in Africa and the African Diaspora.

The Banjo & Its West African Ancestors

A selection of images that focus on the early gourd banjo (c.1620-1840) and its descendants: the 5-string banjo, the 4-string tenor & plectrum banjos, and banjo hybrids (e.g. the banjo-mandolin, banjo-guitar, and banjo-ukulele); the banjo's forebears in the West African plucked spike lute family ; and the banjo's cousins, the Gnawa guinbri (Morocco, Algeria) and the gombri (Tunisia), North African plucked lutes of West African heritage.

My colleagues in this endeavor include, to name but a few, my good buddies:

Ulf JÃ¤gfors , noted Swedish banjo historian/collector and intrepid globe-trekking early plucked lute hunter.Daniel Laemouahuma Jatta , the Jola scholar/musician from The Gambia who pioneered the research and documentation of his people's folk lute, the ekonting (akonting), as well as the various folk lutes of the other peoples of Senegambia .Nick Bamber , a British classic banjoist and historian of the zither banjo who has been doing vital field research and documentation of traditional gourd-bodied West African lutes-- e.g. the Jola ekonting (akonting), Manjak bunchundo , the Pepel busunde, etc.-- in Senegal and Guinea-Bissau. In the Summer of 2006, he discovered in the Bijago Islands off the coast of Guinea-Bissau, two hitherto unknown siblings of these instruments: the Balanta kusunde and Bujogo (also Bijago ) ñopata .Greg C. Adams , an expert player in the 19th century "stroke style" of 5-string banjo "down-picking" who's also quite adept on the Jola ekonting . Greg created and maintains the Banjo Sightings Database with acclaimed early banjo maker/historian George Wunderlich . This online banjological resource center offers an incredible wealth of historic period art, illustrations, and documentation tracing early banjo history from the instrument's beginnings in the Caribbean in the 17th century on through the American Civil War.Paul Sedgwick , a renowned banjoist and gourd instrument expert/maker who plays, teaches and makes the Jola ekonting .Banjoist/banjologist Ed Britt , an authority on the history and design of 19th century American banjos.

(Photo by Greg C. Adams )

Jola ekonting (akonting) players from Casamance (southern Senegal) visiting The Akonting Center . Manidary, Gambia, 7/06.

I was a principal consultant for the Brooklyn Children's Museum on musical instruments and traditions from around the globe for the current permanent music exhibit component of BCM's recent massive renovation and expansion (2005-2008). This was a reprise of my role in the creation of the previous permanent music exhibit, Music Mix, back in 1998.

The current music exhibit is called World Brooklyn: Global Beats and features the work of musicians from a variety of ethnic traditions found in Brooklyn and greater New York City. Some of the performers profiled include:

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 26/01/2006
Band Website: http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnNobG9tb211c2ljLmNv bQ==
Band Members:

UNCLE SHLOMO'S MP3 PLAY LIST

Jelly Roll Blues (Traditional, adapted & arranged by S. Pestcoe)

Sufferin' Succotash featuring: Shlomo Pestcoe , vocals, National "tri-cone" resophonic guitar; Peter Stuart Kohman , vocals, Gibson "snakehead" "A" mandolin; Peter "Trip" Henderson , harmonica; Bob "Dr. Frets" Jones , bass

My version of a "hokum" favorite from 1920s and '30s done in the style of the various African American string bands of the period. I originally learned the tune from a field recording of James "Butch" Cage , an African American fiddler from southwestern Louisiana.

Klezmer Penguin Wedding

Samantha "Sam" Lee, Cody Lee & Efrain Torres III, GNN (Gillygaloo News Network) reporters.

Brudmarsch Fran Rattvik (Traditional Swedish bride's march, adapted & arranged by M. Gorin & S. Pestcoe): Michael Gorin & Shlomo Pestcoe, fiddles.

Freylachs Fun Der Chuppe ("Joyus Tunes from the Wedding Canopy," traditional Jewish klezmer freylach, adapted & arranged by Gillygaloo ): Michael Gorin , fiddle; Shlomo Pestcoe , English concertina, mandolin; Bob Jones , guitar, bowed bass.

This entertaining little skit about two penguins getting married is from Little Green Thing , the 2003 debut album of Gillygaloo , my band that performs "grownup-friendly acoustic roots music for kids." We begin with on-the-spot team coverage of the wedding of Charlie Chinstrap and Rachael Rockhopper, two very popular residents of the Penguin House in NYC's Central Park Zoo.

Our fine feathered friends waddle down the aisle to a bridal march from the Dalarna province of Sweden, a region famed for its rich heritage of fiddle music. Back in the day, weddings in the Swedish countryside were marked by village processions led by fiddlers playing various types of ceremonial tunes, such as the brudmarsch (bridal march) and skanklat (gift-bearing tune).

The celebration continues with some Jewish klezmer music, Freylachs Fun Der Chuppe (Joyous Tunes from the Wedding Canopy), originally recorded by Harry Kandel's Orchestra in 1917. The tune's title refers to the conclusion of a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony (which is performed under a canopy called a chuppe). It's marked by the chassan (bridegroom) stomping down to break a wine glass. The startling noise reminds us that even in moments of our greatest joy we must never forget that there's pain, suffering and oppression in the world. With that, everyone cheers the couple, shouting "Mazel Tov!" ("Good luck!", "Congratulations!"), and the klezmorim (traditional musicians) strike up a lively freylach to lead the wedding party off to the reception.

Leandre B./ Cuil Aodh

Prelude (M. Gorin): Michael Gorin , fiddle; Shlomo Pestcoe , English concertina; Bob Jones , guitar and bass

Leandre B. (S. Pestcoe): Michael Gorin , fiddle; Shlomo Pestcoe , tenor banjo; Bob Jones , guitar and bass; Ray Grappone , dumbec drum

Cuil Aodh (Traditional, adapted & arranged by Gillygaloo ): Michael Gorin , fiddle; Shlomo Pestcoe , button accordion; Bob Jones , guitar and bass; Ray Grappone , tambourine

Leandre B. is a double jig I composed to celebrate the birth of my niece.

Cuil Aodh (pronounced "Cool Ah") is a popular Irish session tune named for a village in the Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) region of County Cork. Gillygaloo "folk processed" this double jig and recast it as an Italian tarantella. Back in his "salad days," Gillygaloo's lead fiddler Michael Gorin had backpacked through the Italian country side. Wherever he went, he heard tarantelle played on the organetto (diatonic button accordion) and the tamburello (a large tambourine). The bounce of Cuil Aodh reminded Michael of those great tunes, so he thought it would be fun to play it Italian style. As we listened down to this cut after recording it, a big smile crossed Michael's face. He raised up his arms and commenced to dance a tarantella... right there in the control room!

O'odham Fiddle Medley: Ali Oidak Polka/Hohokum Polka (Traditional, adapted & arranged by Gillygaloo)

Gillygaloo featuring: Suzi and Sebastian Shelton, spoken introduction; Michael Gorin and Shlomo Pestcoe , fiddles; Bob Jones , guitar; Ray Grappone , snare and bass drums

Here we have two tunes from the fiddle tradition of Southern Arizona's Tohono O'odham ("Desert People," formerly known as the Papago Indians). This tradition stretches back to the earliest days of Spanish colonization, when Catholic missionaries introduced European string instruments to the Tohono O'odham for use in church services. In the mid-19th century, Tohono O'odham fiddlers picked up the latest "pop" dance music forms to come over from Europe-- the waltz, polka, mazurka, etc.-- and adapted them to fit their musical culture.

We learned these polkas from the playing of The Gu-Achi Fiddlers (named for their village in Southern Arizona), which featured the talents of two great fiddlers, Elliot Johnson and Lester Vavages, who have since passed on. True to their style, we play this medley on two fiddles, guitar, snare drum and bass drum.

Check out the original version of Ali Oidak Polka on Canyon Records' webpage for The Gu-Achi Fiddlers' album, Old-Time O'odham Fiddle Music (1988). Canyon Records is a small label devoted to presenting Native American music in all its many forms.

Sweet Lei Ilima (adapted & arranged by Shlomo Pestcoe)

Shlomo Pestcoe , vocals and tenor ukulele

My arrangement of this old Hawaiian song fuses together a version that I found in an old ukulele tutor by Ernest Ka'ai (circa 1916, Honolulu, Hawaii) with one from the first 78 rpm recording by Kalama's Quartet in 1927, MEDLEY OF HULAS. The song is a tribute to sweet-smelling lei necklaces made from the ilima and lehua flowers as well as the joys of riding in an automobile and on a bicycle as they glide down the road like an aku (a bonito or "skip jack" fish) swimming in the sea.

Chere Mom (Hey, Mom, Where You At?) (Traditional, adapted & arranged by Sufferin' Succotash)

Sufferin' Succotash featuring: Shlomo Pestcoe , single-row button accordion; Peter "Trip" Henderson , harmonica; Peter Stuart Kohman , National resophonic "tri-cone" guitar; Bob Jones , bass

There's a sad story behind this peppy tune. The Cajun fiddle and accordion duo of Leo Soileau & Mayuse Lafleur originally recorded it on October 18th, 1928. Nine days later, Mayeuse was dead, an innocent bystander gunned down in a shootout in a speakeasy. The kicker is that Mayeuse, who was abandoned by his mother when he was but a baby, was planning to use the few bucks he made from the recording to look for his mom.

Sufferin' Succotash's instrumental version of this song was inspired by the playing of the Black Creole fiddle and accordion duo, The Carriere Brothers .

Klezmer Penguin Wedding, Leandre B./Cuil Aodh, Ali Oidak Polka/Hohokum Polka and Sweet Lei Ilima are off of Gillygaloo's debut album Little Green Thing , which was recorded at Hip Bone Records in Brooklyn, NY. Little Green Thing is a virtual folk festival in a jewel box, chockfull of "grownup-friendly acoustic roots music for kids" that really rocks!

Influences:

SOME COOL LINKS TO CHECK OUT

BANJO

Banjo Sightings Database

A truly amazing resource on the history of the banjo, created and maintained by early banjo ace Greg C. Adams and acclaimed early banjo maker/historian George Wunderlich of The Wunder Banjo Company . Here you'll find an incredible wealth of historic period art, illustrations, and documentation tracing early banjo history from the instrument's beginnings in the Caribbean in the 17th century on through the American Civil War.

Banjo Hangout

A very cool cyber-community/blog/chat room devoted to the 5-string banjo. Most styles are represented here, especially bluegrass, old-time, and early banjo. Great site features include lots of tablatures , instrument and product reviews , and lessons on everything from instrument maintenance/setup to playing technique.

Type of Label: Major

My Blog

Banjo Roots Research "Manifesto"

BANJO ROOTS RESEARCH: Exploring the Banjos African American Origins & West African Heritage By Shlomo Pestcoe and Greg C. Adams (http://www.myspace.com/banjoroots)The purpose of this sta...
Posted by on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 23:37:00 GMT

Music is a Bridge of Peace

MUSIC IS A BRIDGE OF PEACESeveral years back, Ray Rashid-- the proprietor of Rashid Music, "America's largest and oldest distributor of Arabic music. Established in 1934."-- told me something that I'l...
Posted by on Wed, 20 Feb 2008 06:56:00 GMT

Banjo History: Challenging The Myths

Like most iconic elements of culture, the history and lore of the banjo is replete with myths. Here we'll take a look at some of these "Banjo Myths" and try to get at the facts behind the hype.Okay, ...
Posted by on Sat, 28 Jul 2007 17:18:00 GMT

RIP: Louis Giampetruzzi 1953-2006

It's with profound sadness that I pass along the heartbreaking news of the death of a great musician, friend, and mentor, Louis Giampetruzzi (1953-2006). Lou died in the early morning on Friday, July ...
Posted by on Sat, 22 Jul 2006 02:27:00 GMT