The Oldest Banjo Recording EVER recently found.

[thereallyniceman]

For those who missed my earlier post. I have been speaking to Partick from:

www. phonozoic.net

His reply is very interesting. He says that we will receive a "preview" of the cylinder!

Dear Ian:--

Greetings from Parke Hunter's hometown!  You're very welcome to make the use of tracks from "Acoustic Recordings of the Banjo" which you propose.  You have a marvelous website underway, and if excerpts from the CD will help to enhance it, I'll be delighted for that to happen.

As an aside, I recently identified a box of cylinders at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History which had been used for the Edison phonograph exhibit at the Paris Exposition of 1889.  According to a contemporary handwritten list of selections, one of the cylinders should contain a banjo solo -- which I believe would be the oldest known recording of the banjo, and most likely a mid-1889 performance by Will Lyle (William B. Lomas).  I hope we'll get to hear it one day soon!

Best,
Patrick

Archaeologist of Sound

Sound historian Patrick Feaster has had first crack at helping bring back to life the lost sounds of 130 years ago. During a 2-month stint in the "nation's attic" at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, he turned up undreamed-of finds, including long-lost cylinders recorded at the 1889 World's Fair in Paris and what may be the first-ever sound recording on a disk. Archives and artifacts, however, are only part of Feaster's chosen work. Just as important, he says, is his mission of using modern technology to resurrect long-vanished voices and sounds—some of them never intended to be revived.

[thereallyniceman]

Patrick was featured in  http://www.sciencemag.org/  this week for those who are interested.

Ian

[Mike Moss]

Amazing stuff -- this is real progress! 1889, no less... what a fascinating glimpse into the 19th century!

Thank you, Patrick, for your work. I'm really looking forward to listening to these sounds from the past.

[Greg Adams]

Can't wait to read Patrick's article. Also, according to the Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound (pg 69), its authors points to 1889 as the "[t]he first banjo music to be heard..." with "Banjo Jingles."  

[marc dalmasso]

Yes , 1889 , exposition de Paris ; please , do not confuse with Paris , 1789 , because it was not exactly the same type of machines ..

[Sylvia]

Ouch.

[Mike Moss]

So if there was a Banjo Revolution, would the Earl of Scruggs be the first aristocrat to be guillotined? 

[thereallyniceman]

I think that people who play the banjo in the dark, whilst wearing a hat would be first for the chop, but I can think of a few others who deserve it too. :-)

Ian

[Mike Moss]

Oh well -- fortunately, being banjoists, we haven't got any vital organs in our heads, so it's no big loss!

[Trapdoor2]

Somehow "Banjo Jingles" sounds familiar. Do we have the dots somewhere? I shall have a look in my archives...

[marc dalmasso]

better to use the guillotine for instruments , not for banjo players ; This has already been done for electric guitar ' heads . Why not for banjos ?

here ' s an example :  i 'm sure William J Ball would appreciate this one ( i added a prism head and  discreet neck ' inlays to be sure .; )

 

[Trapdoor2]

I have one that's even worse. It not only doesn't have a head but it doesn't have a head either. The one on the far left. No, not my left...YOUR left. ;-)

 

I need to update this picture...I've added a few children since then, might not have room to sit now.