West African Art Exhibit (Ely Chapman Education Foundation)
| Address | 403 Scammel Street Marietta, OH 45750 |
| Phone | 740-376-9533 |
| ecef@charter.net |
| Hours |
| Mondays and Fridays 10am - 2pm Open anytime by appointment. |
| Admission |
| $7.00 per person regular admission $5.00 per person group rate |
West African Art & Artifact Museum
Ely Chapman Education Center
403 Scammel Street
Marietta, OH
Open for walk-in from 10:00am to 2:00pm
on Mondays & Fridays.
Open by appointment for groups
of 15 or larger with special
Arrangements for lecture and
power-point presentations.
Contact Ely Chapman Center
at 740-376-9533 or
Historian Henry Burke at 740-336-1845
Admission $7.00 per person general admission
$5.00 per person for groups of 15 or larger.
Gourd Banjos: From Africa To The Appalachians Part 1: African Gourd Instruments
Musical instruments made from gourds have been found in many cultures. Early travelers in Africa described various gourd instruments. Richard Jobson documented his travels up the Gambia in 1620-21 in The Golden Trade. He found a variety of cultures, some heavily influenced by Muslim invaders. He observed the following:
"There is, without doubt, no people on the earth more naturally affected to the sound of musicke then these people … They have little varietie of instruments, that which is most common in use, is made of a great gourd, and a necke thereunto fastned, resembling, in some sort, our Bandora; but they have no manner of fret, and the strings they are either such as the place yeeldes, or their invention can attaine to make, being very unapt to yeeld a sweete and musicall sound, not withstanding with pinnes they winde and bring to agree in tunable notes, having not above six strings upon their greatest instrument …"
Eileen Southern, in Readings in Black American Music, quotes Thomas Edward Bowdich, who traveled to Africa in 1819:
"The Mosees, Mallowas, Bournous and natives from the more remote parts of the interior, play on a rude violin: the body is a calabash, the top is covered with deer skin, and two large holes are cut in it for the sound to escape; the strings, or rather one string, is composed of cow's hair, and broad like that of the bow with which they play, which resembles the bow of a violin."
The most interesting instrument found in recent years is the Akonting, still in use by the Jola tribe in Gambia. It is a banjo-like gourd instrument with three strings, two longer and one short, which is played in a down stroke style similar to that used in the mountains. Daniel Jatta and Ulf Jagfors demonstrated this instrument at a banjo collector meeting in November 2000. It is likely that some early slaves in the Chesapeake area came originally from Gambia.
Marietta Girls Colored Band Marietta, Ohio I don't know the individual names of these young ladies, but they were members of the Armstrong, Burke and Curtis families in Marietta, Ohio and they played their music here during the 1880s. The banjo was well represented. The prototype for the modern banjo, like the one featured at this Museum, was brought to North America and Appalachia by their African ancestors!
The majority of the items in this remarkable African Art Collection were collected during the 1960s & 70s in the West African nation of Ghana, by the late Mr. Ellis Perry, a native of Washington County, Ohio. From around 1964 to around 1977 Mr. Perry was employed by Kaiser Aluminum Corp. (VALCO) in constructing their large aluminum processing plant at Tema.
The Henry Robert Burke presentation of this African Art Collection features interesting historical facts relevant to the history of Ghana, the history of slavery along with showing the outstanding artistic and craftsmanship of Africans living in the Gulf of Guinea .
Elmina Castle is located on the Gulf of Guinea in the modern nation of Ghana, West Africa. Elmina Castle was constructed by the Portuguese in 1482 as part of the European exploration of Africa initiated by Henry the Navigator around 1419. Initially Elmina Castle was built to protect Portuguese interest in gold trading in the region, but during its history, Elmina Castle was controlled by several European countries, and today is known as the oldest and largest slave prison in Africa during the history of African-European Slave Trade.
This Collection originates from the Gulf of Guinea Region where many Africans were enslaved and sent to the Americas. This is added interest to African American History!
by George R. Gibson
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