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North Carolina Hops and Roots Festival
On episode 89 of the Americana Music Show, Allison Russell and Dom Flemons from Sankofa talk about their unique jug band music. They talk about the history of jug band music. They also talk about jug music’s instruments and early 20th century culture. Dom Flemons discusses the home-made instruments that appear in jug band music. Allison Russel discusses how jug band music appealed to both urban and rural audiences. She also talks about the difficulty in getting today’s audiences to dance to this music that was meant for dancing. Dom Flemons discusses the relaxed attitudes about pot that come through in the music and early jazz. Dom Flemons talks about the the jug band documentary that brought this collection of musicians together as a side project from their regular bands. The other band members are Sule Greg Wilson and Ndidi Onukwulu. Sankofa is a reference to a bird that is going forward in one way while looking back at the past at the same time. According to Wikipedia, Sankofa is from the Akan Language of Ghana. Sankofa translates into English as “go back and get it.” So Sankofa is a fitting title for this band! There are no immediate plans for Sankofa to produce a second CD but both Dom Flemons and Allison Russell expressed a desire to do so.
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Legal
The Americana Music Show is copyright 2012 by Taproot Media. The music and interviews in this episode are used with permission of the artists. The Taproot Theme music is called “Meltdown Man” by Derek K. Miller of Penmachine.com.
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