Minstrel

n. wandering singer, bard (Medieval); member of a group of singers who often perform in blackface

For the 19th century American form of music and performance known as minstrelsy, see minstrel show.For the chocolate sweets sold in the UK, see Minstrels (chocolate) A minstrel was a medieval European bard who performed songs whose lyrics told stories about distant places or about (real or imaginary) historical events. Though minstrels created their own tales, often they would memorize and embellish the works of others. Frequently they were retained by royalty and high society. As the courts became more sophisticated, minstrels were eventually replaced at court by the troubadours, and many became wandering minstrels, performing in the streets and became well liked until the middle of the Renaissance, despite a decline beginning in the late 15th century. Minstrelsy fed into later traditions of itinerant entertainers, which continued to be moderately strong into the early 20th century, and which has some continuity down to today's buskers or street musicians.
See more at Wikipedia.org...

Noun
1. a singer of folk songs
(synonym) folk singer, jongleur, poet-singer, troubadour
(hypernym) singer, vocalist, vocalizer, vocaliser
(hyponym) Guthrie, Woody Guthrie, Woodrow Wilson Guthrie
2. a performer in a minstrel show
(hypernym) performer, performing artist
(hyponym) end man, corner man
(member-holonym) minstrel show
Verb
1. celebrate by singing, in the style of minstrels
(hypernym) sing
(classification) music

(n.)
In the Middle Ages, one of an order of men who subsisted by the arts of poetry and music, and sang verses to the accompaniment of a harp or other instrument; in modern times, a poet; a bard; a singer and harper; a musician.
  

{}