Kaiden and the Blog

“Throw Down Your Heart”

Buy,Download, Or Stream Bela Fleck: Throw Down Your Heart! Click Here

Following Bela Fleck

Amos Lassen

Buy,Download, Or Stream Bela Fleck: Throw Down Your Heart! Click Here

“Throw Down Your Heart”, a documentary film, follows American banjo virtuoso on his tear to Africa to seek for the African roots of the banjo and to relate an album there. We go with Bela to Tanzania, Uganda, the Gambia and Mali and we gaze the beauty and complexity of “the sunless continent”. We bag a peek at Africa that is very different than the diagram it is portrayed in today’s media. We so often hear that there is nothing gracious in Africa and that the people are beggars and are at war all of the time and that is a continent beset by HIV/AIDS. We learn that these statements only assume a little allotment of the continent and we recognize places that are rich in beauty and in music.

Many of us are unaware that the banjo was originally an African instrument and Fleck is passionate about the banjo. He has made the banjo a allotment of all kinds of music–jazz, pop, classical and world and Fleck has won eleven Grammys and has garnered 27 nominations in more determined categories than anyone else.

Fleck had heard many stories about the origins of the banjo and it surely gives up ideas of being an American instrument. We learn here that the American banjo is unprejudiced a descendant of an African instrument and it has been played in West Africa for years. When slave traders came to West Africa, many of the slaves brought the precursor of the banjo to America with them as well as the knowledge of how to build it. Since slaves were not allowed to play drums on plantations, they played the banjo and it was not long before the white man began to copy it. Slowly the banjo evolved to what it is today and then became share of the culture of this country. Flack felt that a travel to Africa was critical in order to fully understand the instrument better.

There was another motive that Fleck had as well and that was his tremendous care for for African music. He found the music to be enthralling and he often heard places where his banjo would fit. So he took a year off to spy. We behold and hear several of his collaborations with all kinds of musicians from local villagers to international superstars. As he traveled, he customary his banjo to transcend whatever barriers there were–speech, culture, etc and he found a celebrated ground with musicians from all over and was able to earn the most meaningful music of his career.

I impartial had the opportunity to watch this documentary at a local independent theater. I plan “Banjos and Africa? Random! But could be fun…” I was so so so underestimating the power of this film! The music is nothing short of tall (one section in particular, in the first quarter of the film, is virtually guaranteed to leave you breathless and astounded), Fabulous, passionate voices and powerful instruments combine to manufacture sounds that will grab your soul and shake it.

Bela is fun to witness as he interacts with African musicians of various calibers. I appreciate how unassuming he is, and how he speaks (as one of the African musicians points out) perfectly through his music, although his mouth sometimes fails him. What a remarkably talented and humble guy!

All in all, 5 stars +++. I went home and bought the MP3 album immediately, and can’t wait to select the DVD.
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