Forced to sing and dance

The banjo’s, brought to America by the slaves were simple, but effective instruments. The body was made from a hollow gourd with an animal skin (sometimes they even used cat skin…). The neck was a stick and the strings were made form horsehair, grass or catgut.
The slaveowners allowed the slaves to play their ‘Bania’s’ and even ‘forced’ them to sing and dance. At first this seems very strange, because the slaveowners intentionally broke up families and friends as much as possible, only to disorient the slaves and make their more manageable. But they discovered that when the slaves were allowed to have music, their high mortality rate dropped dramatically and the African spirit went higher.