Bonne Humeur by The Etcetera String Band - A Rare Musical Discovery

I love discovering a new band, album or style of music that I know is going to become one of my favorites for a long time to come.  Nowadays, I especially also love it if that discovery is something that is going to influence how and what I play on tenor banjo.  A few weeks ago I came across a previously unheard of recording that is one of the best discoveries I've made in years. That recording is Bonne Humeur by The Etcetera String Band.

The Etcetera String Band (Kevin Sanders and Dennis Pash, with Bob Ault and Pat Ireland) was a string ragtime ensemble from Kansas City active in the 1970's, 80's and 90's. At some point their banjo-mandolin player Dennis Pash began researching early Caribbean music to see if there would be any similarities between ragtime and the music of other places where there were African slaves.  Meanwhile, guitarist Kevin Sanders had taken an interest in the similarities between ragtime and some types of Cuban and Brazilian music.

This pursuit led them to the string band music of Creole Louisiana, Haiti, Trinidad, Martinique and the Virgin Islands.  Early Caribbean dance music blended European structure and melody with African rhythm and syncopation.  Bonne Humeur is their attempt to provide a sampling of instrumental string band music from various "New World Afro-French traditions": the meringue, beguine, paseo, coonjaille and more.  It is the only recording they made like this and I don't know of any others by anyone else quite like it.

On about half the tracks they had only written sources to work from - such as a basic melody-line from old books and folios like Slave Songs of the United States and Bayou Ballads, adding accompaniment and rhythm based on what they could surmise from recordings of related music. In other cases they worked from compositions by composers in the style such as Arthur Duroseau, Lionel Belasco and Ludovic Lamonthe.  Look those guys up.  Many books and recordings are referenced in Bonne Humeur's extensive liner notes and bibliography, so I have a lot more to learn about this subject.

The album features just Kevin Sanders and Dennis Pash, but they each play a wide variety of instruments to reconstruct the sound they envisioned these early string bands as having: Sanders on guitar, banjo-uke, trumpet and percussion, and Pash on mandolins, 4 and 5 string banjos, banjo-uke, accordion, pennywhistles, mbira, drums and percussion.  What I love about Bonne Humeur is it takes the "island" sound I became fond of through Jamaican Mento and puts it in the format of instrumental AA/BB tunes, which is the kind of music I like to play.

I'm currently working with a music transcriber named Nick DiSebastian to document the Etcetera String Band's arrangements in notation and mandolin tab, so as to more accurately begin playing them on tenor banjo (unfortunately I don't quite have the ear to do this on my own, but thankfully there are folks like Nick who can do this for a reasonable rate).  So far, Nick has transcribed 6 of the tunes and I'm impressed at the accuracy of his transcriptions and at how well these tunes sit on GDAE tuned tenor banjo.  That's probably a result of Dennis Pash being a banjo-mandolinist.  The melodies are no more complex than the Irish and Appalachian music I'm used to, and require less embellishment.

Finding more music of this sort would be great, but I haven't had much luck so far.  Kevin Sanders' new band The Rhythmia does a few of these kinds of tunes on each of their two albums, and I highly recommend those.  To hear more of Dennis Pash, check out his new band The Ragtime Skedaddlers, in which he presents ragtime banjo-mandolin about as good as it can possibly be done.  The videos I've included in this post are tunes from the Bonne Humeur album featuring Etcetera String Band alumni.  I think Bonne Humeur originally came out in 1990, although, sadly, it is now out print. However, you may be able to get a copy of it by contacting Kevin Sanders directly, as I did.

New Mento Albums: Sweet Sweet Jamaica, We Will Wait and Great Expectations

Think of mento as Jamaica's version of old-time music: a cheerful, bawdy merger of European melodies and African rhythms, often featuring a (4-string) banjo.  Before ska, reggae and rocksteady, Jamaicans jammed to this indigenous folk music.  Interest in mento has spiked recently due in part to three very enjoyable albums.

First there's Gilzene and the Blue Light Mento Band's "Sweet Sweet Jamaica".  It’s the most traditional sounding of the three.  The rustic mix of instruments (slightly out of tune!) paired with the patois vocals (slightly off key!) gives it an authentic rawness.  The group was founded by Lanford Gilzene (AKA “Culture George”) who sings and plays guitar.  Donnett Leslie sings and plays the shaker.  Rhumba-box player Courtney Clarke provides low end.  The oldest member is 80 year old banjo player Wesley Balds who taught himself to play by ear as a child.  The recording is 100% natural – no overdubs, reverb or mixing.  Song topics include timeless tales of innuendo, sexuality and double entendre, performed the way you might have heard them in rural Jamaica many decades ago.  This is folk music.  Who cares if it's off-key?  There's no lock for that key to open anyway.

A little more contemporary sounding is “We Will Wait” by Blue Glaze Mento Band.  This album is bolstered by some guest appearances from reggae greats Toots Hibbert, Bunny Wailer, Stranjah Cole and Uziah Sticky Thompson...none of them strangers to roots music.  Despite these high-profile sit-ins, "We Will Wait" retains an all-acoustic mento sound with touches of gospel and reggae.  Lead vocals are handled with ease by the talented Vernal Morgan.  This is a solid album from start to finish.  Notable tracks include some of my favorite mento songs: “Slide Mongoose”, “Mommy Turn Out De Light”, “Parson Don’t Bury the Man”, “Night Food”, “Mo By Chinaman” and “Lizard in my Bed”.  I especially enjoy the influential 4-string banjo playing of Nelson Chambers, who unfortunately passed away before the album was released.

Mento’s most well known practitioners are The Jolly Boys, now featuring the charismatic Albert Minnot as front man.  In 2010 they released “Great Expectation”, a collection of rock and pop covers that has been dubbed a “modern mento” album.  Great Expectation was conceived and produced by Jon Baker of Port Antonio-based GeeJam Studios, who chose songs ranging from Amy Winehouse to Steely Dan to The Stooges for the Jolly Boys to take on.  Baker recruited musician, ethno-musicologist and mento scholar Daniel T. Neely to lay down the banjo parts and add some of his expertise to the project.  The result is a contemporary sounding album that has played a big part in bringing mento to a wider audience. 

I hope that listening to these recordings will not only provide you with enjoyment, but lead you on a path of discovery to the many other mento gems of the past; as well as those that are yet to come!

The 4-string banjo in Jamaican Mento

I submitted the following text to Deering Banjo Company for use in their newsletter.  I thought I would share it here since I find Mento music so interesting!

Banjo plays a primary role in Jamaica's national folk music known as mento - an indigenous fusion of the island’s African and European folk dance traditions.  Other forms of music, such as Cuban rumba and Trinidadian calypso, have also been and continue to be absorbed into the mento style - and vice versa.

Blue Glaze Mento Band, 2010, Nelson Chambers - banjo

Mento has a characteristic 3:3:2 rhythm in quadruple time with an emphasis on 4th beat in a bar of 4.  The songs are usually in major keys and key changes are not common.  Mento songs are secular and usually non-political in nature, however the lyrics are often humorous and surprisingly bawdy.  These are sung in both standard English and Jamaican patois. 

4-string banjo is the main instrument in mento.  Usually this is a tenor banjo tuned in some kind of fifths tuning, although not always to concert pitch.  If a tenor is not available, musicians will use a 5-string banjo and take off the 5th string - either capoed up or tuned in a "uke" tuning (essentially making it a plectrum banjo).  The most common mento instruments used to accompany a banjo include guitar, maracas and a rhumba box (also known as a marimbula).  

Jolly Boys album cover, 1990(?), Moses Deans - banjo

Due to its volume and sharp tone, the banjo's role in mento is both rhythm and lead.  Banjo players are given “breaks” between verses to improvise arpeggio-based solos that harmonize with the primary chords and suggest the rhythm.  These lead melodies often vary between eighth notes and quarter-note triplets creating a polyrhythmic banjo phrasing over the choppy upstroke of the guitar strum. 

One of the best and most influential mento banjo players was Moses Deans - an original member of The Jolly Boys, mento's best known group.  Moses Deans can be heard on the Jolly Boys' excellent late 80's to early 90's albums Pop 'N' Mento, Sunshine 'N' Water, and Beer Joint & Tailoring.  These recordings feature Allan Swymmer on lead vocals & bongo and a have a rustic, natural feel.  Moses Deans passed away around 1998.

Moses Deans

Another notable mento banjoist was Nelson chambers (October 10, 1944-November 14, 2010), co-founder of The Blue Glaze Mento Band.  Nelson Chambers' Caribbean banjo licks can be heard on Stanley Beckford's two essential mento albums - Plays Mento and Reggaemento from 2002 and 2004.  Nelson Chambers also performs on Blue Glaze’s outstanding new studio release We Will Wait, one of the best albums to come out in 2011 and the last recordings he would make before his death.

Nelson Chambers

Music enthusiasts are encouraged to seek out and listen to this joyful, accessible music and perhaps learn a tune or two from mento's extensive repertoire of Jamaican folk-lyric songs, which are custom made for tenor or plectrum banjo!


Thanks to Mike Garnice of the website http://www.mentomusic.com, ethnomusicologist Daniel T. Neely, and musician Andrew Roblin for helping provide me with the information necessary to write this article.