Kaia Kater on the history of the banjo, from its West African origins to Beyoncé

The Block37:31Kaia Kater interview

Kaia Kater has played the banjo since she was 11 years old, explaining that the instrument's sound caught her "instantly." Now, almost two decades later, she's still playing on her third album, Strange Medicine, her first full-length project since 2018. The record is packed with history, culture and soul and features collaborations with Allison Russell and Aoife O'Donovan.

She joined The Block's host, Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe, for an interview to discuss her new project, the banjo's West African roots and how Beyoncé is helping to introduce new audiences to the instrument.

The full interview is available above and you can read an excerpt of their conversation below.

So, we just mentioned that that music was off the EP Old Soul, tracing all the way back to 2012. That's more than a decade ago now. I'm just curious about the word "old" still, because you were 19, and some of that music was probably made when you were younger than that. Is that something that you identified with, or was that maybe a perception of you being so young?

That's a great question. It was definitely the latter. You know, I was raised as an only child with a single mom, and so I spent a lot of my time around adults, and my mom worked in the music industry. So, a lot of the adults that I spent time around were musicians. I think I was so interested in music as a career and felt maybe a little bit less kinship with kids my own age. And so I think the adults saw little me and [thought], "Oh, you're just a little adult or an old soul."

You know, only children are often quite precocious. I have an only son and he sometimes uses these words and I'm like, "Oh God, that's me. That's a huge word for a small person." Of course the banjo [is] front and centre in that music. And you've been playing the banjo since you were 11 years old. What was it about that instrument? Because I believe you started [on] piano.

That's right.

Then cello.

That's right.

And then banjo.

Nailed it. Anything ending with an "o."

What else do we got? Oboe?

Piccolo [laughs]. I was kind of deep into classical music. I think that's how a lot of parents introduce their kids to music. They're like, "we'll just put them in piano lessons and see if it takes off." And then, you know, if they have an orchestra class in high school, it's like, "we'll start them on an orchestral instrument." And I was very much in that route.

But, you know, like I said before, my mom was working a lot in folk music and bluegrass music. So I was really familiar with those genres. And I had a mentor named Mitch Podolak [and] he was the founder of the Winnipeg Folk Festival. And he met me when I was like 10 or 11. And he offered me a banjo lesson.

Just like that. 

Just like that. And I said, "yes." And there's something about the sound, especially of the style that I play, which is clawhammer banjo.

Clawhammer? Why is it called clawhammer?

Literally because you put your your hand into a claw formation, the one that's strumming. But you actually hit the string with your fingernail. And then you pull back up with your thumb on the drone string, which is a shorter string on the banjo. And it makes this kind of percussive, groovy kind of sound. And something about that just caught me instantly. 

Alright, I wanted to talk a little bit about the banjo itself and its origins. Clearly, you know, so maybe you can take off with that. 

Yeah, well people might be getting more familiar with the banjo because Rhiannon Giddens played banjo on Beyonce's song "Texas Hold 'Em."

Yes.

And I think that that was a really intentional move by Beyoncé to not only talk about country music, but talk about the instruments that influence country music. And the banjo really is an instrument that comes from West Africa. It was brought over during the transatlantic slave trade, and it was played essentially as dance music, as party music. I think it eventually kind of started to form the crux of American identity and string band music with guitars and fiddles.

And then we started to associate that music more with white folks and with country, because it was engineered that way. But it started off as a very purely Black form of music. And so I think there are a lot of artists now who are retracing those steps and saying, "no, this music actually belongs to us." And I think Beyoncé is definitely part of that movement. And Rhiannon Giddens, too.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. To hear the full interview, listen to The Block on CBC Music.