Heroes - Otis Taylor Recapturing the Banjo

I saw Otis Taylor and the Black Banjo Project on tour in 2008 at the Sage in Gateshead. I'd already got a banjo but needed something which would bring the idea of the instrument to life. Otis Taylor's project is quite political and wants to reclaim the instrument for black musicians, who might perceive the banjo as symbolising white rural music culture.

His approach is quite inclusive, and is a way of saying that this instrument is more than just the product and domain of white America. The Carolina Chocolate Drops seem to capture this attitude to reinvesting the banjo with its black, slave and African origins, but they do it in a way which highlights the vital, and often fraught, mixing of European and African music which ultimately led to the Blues.