B?©la Fleck – Acoustic Planet Vol 3
B?©la Fleck has been credited with reviving the five string banjo and bringing it to new audiences over the past 20 years, much as Earl Scruggs had done as the seminal banjo pioneer 40 years earlier.
Fleck might shrink from such a comparison, but seen in a context beyond bluegrass and traditional music forms, it bears up quite well.
Where Scruggs brought the banjo (and bluegrass music) recognition as a serious musical endeavor, B?©la has widened its accepted applications to include jazz, funk, classical, and now world music as well.
His next CD, Throw Down Your Heart (Tales From The Acoustic Planet, Vol 3, africa sessions), is the studio component of the documentary film by the same name which follows B?©la on his musical journeys in Africa during 2005. The album will be released on March 10 by Rounder Records, and limited theatrical release of the film will follow later that month.
The concept for both projects came from Fleck’s pondering on the African roots of the modern banjo, and wondering about the wealth of banjo-ish music that must reside in the small villages of rural African. He was recording then for Sony’s classical division, and they not only loved the idea of a recording, but suggested filming it as well.
B?©la’s brother, Sascha Paladino, is a documentary filmmaker and plans were hatched for audio and film production overseas. As things transpired, Sony pulled out before the trip began, and Fleck found himself as the executive producer of both projects, meaning he was the chief financier as well as musical producer.
The trip went on as planned, with the film and CD versions documenting his musical collaborations with a number of exceptional African musicians. B?©la and Sascha traveled to Uganda, Tanzania, Mali, Senegal and the Gambi, returning home with 250 hours of film and 40 audio recordings for their effort.
While Paladino labored over the film project, Fleck focused on choosing the best songs and performances for the audio CD. Now, all that is completed, and the rest of us will soon be able to sample the fruits of their labor.
B?©la says that a truncated edit of the Throw Down Your Heart film will be aired on Nashville’s WNPT TV on March 5, and again throughout the month, with theatrical releases in San Francisco (3/13-19) and New York (4/24-30) to follow.
We hope to get a few more details about this ambitious project prior to its release.
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Béla Fleck will be the guest this afternoon (6/4) on World Cafe with David Dye originating from WXPN in Philadelphia, PA.
He will talk about Throw Down Your Heart, his current CD release on Rounder, and the documentary film by the same name, both of which chronicle Fleck's musical journey of discovery...
Cross-genre and cross-cultural banjo icon B?©la Fleck journeyed through several African nations last year in an effort to learn more about the music and people from whence the banjo originated. He visited Uganda, Tanzania, Gambia and Mali and met and performed with many African musicians along the way.
An...
B?©la Fleck will be an in-studio guest today (4/9) on the Kojo Nnamdi Show (WAMU FM).
He will talk about the African roots of today's modern five string banjo, his journey of discovery to west Africa in 2005, and Throw Down Your Heart, the film and audio CD that captured his African musical collaborations.
The...
The BBC has a terrific slide show with commentary online about B?©la Fleck's Throw Down Your Heart project, which has resulted in both an audio CD release and a documentary film by that name.
The CD and film serve as a chronicle of Fleck's 2005 journey to West Africa to learn more about the people...
Earlier this month, Bela Fleck's documentary film, Throw Down Your Heart, was premiered at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival in Austin, TX. SXSW is a 5 day festival that is a combination of trade show and festival for music, film and interactive media. The festival includes all the workshops,...
B?©la Fleck shared some information about live tour support for his new Rounder CD, Throw Down Your Heart, in a recent interview.
The album is an audio chronicle of B?©la's musical journey's through western Africa in 2005. He recorded with a number of musicians in Mail, The Gambia, Uganda and Tanzania...
Béla Fleck made another of his periodic visits to The Berklee College Of Music in Boston last week, a visit chronicled on the school's web site.
He was in Boston as a part of the publicity tour for his documentary film, Throw Down Your Heart, a date which coincided nicely with the official kickoff...
Throw Down Your Heart, the documentary film on B?©la Fleck's journey of discovery to Africa to explore the banjo's roots, is set to screen on Thursday (10/9) at the Tucson Film & Music Festival.
The film was directed by B?©la's brother, Sasha Paladino, and has already won awards from Silverdocs...
The Sparrow Quartet will be kicking off this year's Woodstock Film Festival with a concert. The concert will take place at the Bearsville Theater west of downtown Woodstock, on October 1, 2008.
The Sparrow Quartet is lead by Abigail Washburn and features banjo master Bela Fleck, along with Casey Driessen...
Jazz sax man Bill Evans made waves in 2005 with the release of his Soulgrass project, merging jazz, funk and R&B grooves with bluegrass and traditional string music. It included such acoustic luminaries as B?©la Fleck (who also co-produced), Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas and Stuart Duncan along with Evans...
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