String Theory
Bela Fleck plays Clowes Hall.
When bela fleck arrives in Indy on Feb. 19, the banjo player will be accompanied by a host of African musicians, with whom he recorded his recent Throw Down Your Heart album while traveling in Africa. Here, he talks with IM about encountering the handmade instruments there that were the predecessors to his own. What drew you to Africa? I was very aware that the banjo came from Africa, and I wondered whether anyone there was still playing instruments like it. A lot of people don’t realize that it was just another thing taken from African culture and connected to Southern whites. What did you learn there? I wouldn’t say that I was surprised by what I found as much as I was inspired. I connected with some of the musicians like brothers when we started to play. They were very much like me—open and loose players who like to improvise. Where does the title Throw Down Your Heart come from? It’s the literal translation for a village [Bagamoyo] in Tanzania. This was where slaves were processed, and they “threw down their hearts” there. You can’t really do a story about the banjo in Africa without dealing with slavery. But the title can mean whatever the listener wants it to mean. It can mean I threw down my heart for the banjo. It could mean falling in love. Do you think there’s still a stigma associated with the banjo? It’s more mainstream now. By the 1990s, people weren’t saying “Yee-haw! Pick that thing!” when they’d see me in the airport with a banjo. I used to hate that. The instrument isn’t just about Southern heritage. I mean, I’m a New Yorker. When I look at the entire history of the banjo—from its African origins up to the jazz era here—I make a little more sense to myself.
8 p.m. $30 to $40. 4602 Sunset Ave. 940-6444, cloweshall.org.
