Welcome to the new resource site for the Irish banjo!
Here you'll find everything you ever wanted to know about the banjo in Irish (and other European) traditional music, artist portraits, discography, a presentation of the different banjo types, how to play, maintain and buy a banjo, links, a message board etc. etc. etc.
Most think of the Irish tuned tenor banjo played the way Barney McKenna of Dubliners fame plays it when they talk about Irish banjo. That style is the main focus of this site, but I also want to show that there are other banjo styles (and banjo types) apropriate for Celtic music, and also the opposite: the low ("Irish") tuned tenor banjo can be used very effectively in many other music styles as well.
Since classic Irish tenor banjo technique and playing style is virtually identical to Irish octave mandola, and very similar to how they play the mandolin, the mandola, the Irish cittern and the Irish bouzouki, most of the content here is useful for these instruments too, and at least one part os the site (the accompaniment section) is also very relevant for the guitar and virtually all other stringed instruments.
My name is Frank Nordberg and I'm a guitarist/banjoist/multiinstrumentalist from Northern Norway. I know it's kind kind of strange for a Norwegian to build a site like this, but somebody have to do it, and nobody else would. ;-)
