By Jenni Todd
Murray, KY – Murray State University's Lovett Live Series features B la Fleck in concert with musicians from Mali and Tanzania on Friday, February 12, at 8 p.m. in Lovett Auditorium. Tickets are available through ticketmaster.com or the RSEC box office.
In advance of the concert, MSU's Cinema International screens the documentary about Fleck's Africa Tour,"Throw Down Your Heart," February 4, 5 and 6 at 7:30 p.m. in MSU's Curris Center Theatre.
The "always adventurous" (USA Today) banjo virtuoso B la Fleck brings Bassekouye Kouyate, Anania Ngolia and John Kitime to the MSU concert, a stop on the 33-city Africa Project tour: Collaborations with Amazing African Musicians. All three musicians are featured on the 2010 Grammy-nominated album and award-winning documentary, Throw Down Your Heart.'
"The moment I heard Anania Ngoliga I knew we had to find him," hails Fleck, regarding the blind, singing Tanzanian thumb piano master who will be joined by guitarist John Kitime. "When we did, he exceeded my expectations, which were quite high!" One of the foremost ngoni players (essentially the banjo of Mali), Bassekouye Kouyate, brings his rocking band, Ngoni Ba. Their new album I Speak Fula' (Next Ambiance / Sub Pop) features Toumani Diabate, Vieux Farka Toure and Kasse Mady Diabate.
Throw Down Your Heart' is the 11-time Grammy winner's most ambitious project to date and has earned some of the best reviews of his career ("traditional African music turns out to suit him beautifully" - The New York Times, "the results are wondrous" - USA Today, "an important work of artistic memory and conscience" - LA Times). Through these on-location collaborations with musicians from Uganda, Tanzania, the Gambia and Mali, B la Fleck explores the African origins of the banjo, transcending barriers of language and culture.
WKMS features music from B la Fleck's Africa Tour on Country Music, a weekly program of international music hosted by Kate Lochte, Sundays at 7 p.m. See the station's weekly schedules for 91.3 FM, HD-1 and HD2 online at wkms.org. Information is also available at 800-599-4737 or wkms@murraystate.edu.