Is the banjo a orchestra instrument?

Answer 1

The banjo is believed to have originated in the Middle East and Africa and been brought to America with the slaves.

The original banjos were really drums with strings pulled tightly across them, which were plated by either plucking or drawing a bow across them. The first actual record of a banjo seems to have been made by Richard Johnson in 1620. While exploring the Gambra River in Africa, he wrote in his diary of an instrument "made of a great gourd and a neck, thereunto was fastened strings."

The 5-string banjo developed out of these African instruments when slaves were brought to the American colonies. The Africans reconstructed instruments based on the ones indigenous to the areas from which they had come.

Answer 2

Actually the banjo was originated in different parts of Africa. There is no specific creator of the banjo, however, since it was invented by different people of Africa.

Now, the fretted instrument that has European origin is called the Lute. It was created during the renaissance period and the name of the lute and it's cousin, the oud, has no specific origin.

---Shawn

Answer 3

No. It is considered a string instrument. The banjo can be used to some percussive extents, by beating on the body of the banjo with hands, fingers, or picks.

Answer 4

Yes it did. It was an instrument of a few strings and a neck, but with a hard, dry gourd for the body. At some point the instrument was called a 'Banjar'.

Answer 5

NO!