Exhibited Instruments
Akonting
The akonting is the folk lute of the Jola people, found in Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau in West Africa. It is a banjo-like instrument with a skin-headed gourd body, two long melody strings, and one short drone string, akin to the short fifth "thumb string" on the five-string banjo.
Goje
The goje or goge traditional one-stringed fiddle is made from a snakeskin covering a gourd body with a horsehair string over a bridge. It is played with a horsehair bow. The goje is typically a solo instrument accompanying a singer. It can also be part of an ensemble with instruments such as shekere, calabash drum, and talking drum.
Junaluska Gospel Choir Live at Daniel Boone Native Gardens.
09/18/2022
Todd Wright Quintet Live at Daniel Boone Native Gardens.
07/17/2022
The Allen Boys Live at Daniel Boone Native Gardens.
06/04/2022
A Brief History of the Banjo with Mark Freed.
Personalities in Jazz with Todd Wright.
Dr. Fred J. Hay, Music Curator
Fred J Hay, has a Ph.D. from University of Florida and an M.S.I.L. from Florida State University. He is an ethnomusicologist by training and a scholar on the African American influence on Appalachian culture. Dr. Hay is the Anne Belk Distinguished Professor and curator of the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection at Appalachian State University. His publications include African American Community Community Studies From North America (1989), "From Activist to Academic: An Evolutionary Model for the Bibliography of Appalachian Studies" ( Journal of Appalachian Studies , 1997). With Margaret R. Dittemore, Hay co-edited Documenting Cultural Diversity in the Resurgent American South (1997) which was awarded the American Folklore Society's Brenda McCallum Memorial Prize, With Liliane Nerette Louis, he also co-edited When Night Falls, Kric! Krac!: Haitian Folktales (1999), and Hay authored Goin' Back to Sweet Memphis: Conversations with the Blues (2001), and three issues of the Black Music Research Journal (2005) devoted to Appalachia. Of his many career accomplishments, in 2002 Hay petitioned the Library of Congress to change the standard subheading for Appalachian biographies and cultural studies from Mountain Whites. Thanks to his efforts, the go-to subheading is now “Appalachians (People).” Dr. Hay will serve as the music curator for the exhibition.