Verdammt zum Hillbilly – Popkultur und Hochkultur gegen das Banjo

The banjo is mostly depicted as an icon of American folk music culture. It seems to be the organological incarnation of the alternative folk music scene and the rural, conservative Hillbilly. Although in most highbrow art and musical instrument museums the banjo is a rarely discussed instrument. Pop and high culture seem to avoid the banjo to a certain degree. How do connotations like these emerge in pop and high culture? How did they change over time and how can we try to nail them down most accurately? This paper tries to solve these very broad questions by taking a look at samples of German banjos and media about the banjo. While diving into the history of western colonialism, racism and nationalism, this study tries to look at the connotation of the banjo from different points of view and uses a combination of methods to find and evaluate relevant samples