In 1948 when Pete Seeger self-published the mimeographed first edition of his instruction manual, How to Play the 5-Strinz Banjo, the fortunes of the instrument were at a low ebb. Most American of ...

"My father was born with this instrument," Laemouahuma Daniel Jatta says. "This is part of our history." Jatta, 55, is from Gambia, a member of the Jola people. He's holding an akonting: a ...