In America before the so-called Civil War, it was forbidden for slaves to own or use drums, because of the fear involved when it was discovered that the African Drum (some of them) could be used for communication.

The Banjo is basically a drum, with a head, but has strings stretched over the head of the drum, using a bridge to transfer the string energy to the head of the drum.

Thus the Banjo became a sort of workaround to a problem.

If you think about it, something mentioned in the NPR presentation is not quite true: The Banjo as we know it is the *only* truly native American instrument.
Well, the roots of the Banjo are indeed found on the African continent.


--Mac

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