The Banjo At The South Pole

[Jody Stecher]

This is an edited version of a slightly longer piece whose origin is unknown to me. When Bill Evans and I do a Secret Life Of Banjos concert we always include a reading of this. Bill reads and I play quiet banjo music to support and punctuate the words. 

Jody

When in 1914 Sir Ernest Shackleton embarked on his expedition to the Antarctic, he included in his party a young meteorologist, Leonard Hussey. Hussey was already accustomed to hardship and adventure, having just come from an expedition to the Sudan where he had gained the friendship of the Nyam-Nyam tribe by playing his banjo for them. So when preparations were being made for departure to Antarctica, Hussey took his musical instrument as well as his meteorological instruments.

During February 1915 the expedition’s ship Endurance became completely ice-bound in the Weddell Sea. In Hussey’s words: It was shortly after leaving the ship that I heard Shackleton calling for me. “ I found something of yours. I’ve dumped it over there with the food stores”. “What’s that, sir?”, I asked. “Your banjo” replied Shackleton. “It’s rather heavy”, I said dubiously, “do you think we ought to take it?”. “Yes, certainly”, was the chief’s prompt answer. “It’s vital mental medicine and we shall need it”

Although Hussey took the banjo along for the entertainment of his companions, some of his earlier audiences were flocks of Antarctic penguins. In Hussey’s words “When I played my banjo they would come up close to the ship and listen, attentively and appreciatively to some, but not all, of my music. They liked, for instance, Negro Spirituals and Irish jigs. A strong favorite of which they never tired was ‘It’s A Long Long Way To Tipperary’. But when I turned to playing Scottish music....well, they just fled in horror.

[Sylvia]

Thank you for the post " Banjo at the South Pole " Jody. I Googled Leonard Hussey and he seems to have been a pretty good guy. I liked the bit about the penguins and wondered musically how you dealt with "they just fled in horror".

[Jody Stecher]

well just before Bill gets to that I make sure I'm playing some Scottish music. Usually it's a piper's tune such as Sean Trews but sometimes a lament. I've done Neil Gow's Lamentation for Old Abercairney for instance. Then when Bill has spoken the last word "horror" I try to coordinate my last note with that.



Sylvia said:

Thank you for the post " Banjo at the South Pole " Jody. I Googled Leonard Hussey and he seems to have been a pretty good guy. I liked the bit about the penguins and wondered musically how you dealt with "they just fled in horror".

[Jody Stecher]

Rob, they're only Penguins. What do they know about good music? When's the last time you heard a penguin praised for his good taste?

[Jody Stecher]

On the other hand maybe the penguins *were* aficionados. Perhaps Leonard Hussey played the Scottish music so badly that what horrified them was the poverty of his rendition. " You call THAT a strathspey? My 2 week old niece can play cleaner snaps in her sleep. I just remembered I have have some laundry to fold....."




Rob MacKillop said:

Oh dear...