The Champion Banjo Player,--Who is He?

[Carl Anderton]

Written for the Cadenza.

By E. N. Guckert.

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As I have been requested to say something interesting about the banjo, I have selected the above title for my first contribution to the "Cadenza."

The champion banjo player--who is he?  I have met in my time at least a hundred champion banjo players.  Every large city has from one to five of them.  I remember visiting a town in Ohio of 300 inhabitants, during my travels some years ago, where there was a champion ball club, likewise a champion harmonica player, and a champion banjo player.  There were only two other banjo players in the town--that is, they owned banjos that cost about three or four dollars each--but the champion had a banjo with a silver bell and something like 82 brackets, and this banjo like the player, was a wonder for that section of the country.  But I am getting off my subject--Who is the champion banjo player?  Well, years ago, there was a man by the name of Dobson;  I forget the first name, but there never was any dispute when the name of Dobson was mentioned at that time.  But players of the present day have advanced in the art of banjo playing, and you can name a dozen of the most expert players in America, and you will find that no two play alike.  Each one will excel in certain points.  The banjo has but one name, viz: Banjo.  The player of the banjo also one, viz: Banjo player.  Now should the banjo have two names as the violin and fiddle, we could closer to telling who  is the champion.

The great artists who tour this country year after year, and draw immense and most fashionable crowds from the cream of society, are called "Violin Virtuosos."

Then there is another class that play the same instrument, and play it so well that it would be an impossibility (for anyone with music in there soul) to keep their feet still while listening to them.  These are called "fiddle players."  So with the banjo, taking it with the fiddle name, the woods are full of them, and there is no player I ever heard excels in all points, but take it (the banjo) and call it by the other name as violin then, I believe we have a real champion--I guess there is no necessity of mentioning Mr. Farland's name, as everyone who has heard him will admit there is no other player of this class to be compared to him.  It does me good to see how he (Farland) proves to the greatest musicians everywhere he goes that the banjo is a capable musical instrument.  Well, I was speaking of champion banjo players: aside from Mr. Farland, who is undoubtably the master banjoist, at his style of playing, there are a great many "fiddle banjoists" who, should they have taken up the same class of music, might have earned this title, at least I think there would be several players his equal.

But as it is, the banjo is an American instrument, and I can enjoy a Southern darkey's music as well as Mr. Farlands, that is when he can play, and put his whole soul in the few pieces that he does play.

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published in The Cadenza, Oct. 1894. 

[marc dalmasso]

it ' s me ; i am a champion ( keys ) ' banjo player

[thereallyniceman]

Hey Marc D,

I heard that someone has called you a champignon....

That is not very nice! I always thought that you were a fun guy. :-)

[marc dalmasso]

a mushroom ? i don ' t exactly understand the joke ?

[Carl Anderton]

fun guy=fungi

That joke is older than some of our music...

marc dalmasso said:

a mushroom ? i don ' t exactly understand the joke ?

[thereallyniceman]

Hey Carl,
That is two of us who got the joke :-)

There is nothing like an old joke, and that was nothing like one !!

Those were a couple of extra !!s for Rob, we know how much he likes them ;-)

[Jody Stecher]

Wasn't there something about champion/champignon?

Carl Anderton said:

fun guy=fungi

That joke is older than some of our music...

marc dalmasso said:

a mushroom ? i don ' t exactly understand the joke ?

[Carl Anderton]

Q: What do you call a mushroom in a bar that buys the drinks?

A: A fun-guy to be with!

Quoth W.S. Gilbert..."I've known that old joke from me cradle!"

Rob MacKillop said:

???