Throw Down Your Heart

I’ve been writing a bio for Casey Dreissen who’s new CD, Oog which comes out on May 12, 2009. I finally finished it and sent it to him. A couple of days later I called him up and he told me that he was going to be playing in Durham NC with Bela Fleck and a bunch of African Musicians. He invited me to come out and told me that he would put me on the guest list. Actually he told me that I HAD to come out because this was something incredible and not to be missed. I’m unemployed. It’s only about 75 miles away. I ain’t got nothing better to do. So I hopped in the truck and I drove out there. He was right. The show was incredible.
The performers were:
Bela Fleck - USA
Vusi Mahlasela - South Africa
Toumani Diabate - Mali
John Kitime - Tanzania
Anania Ngoliga - Tanzania
d’Gary - Madagascar
Mario - Madagascar
Casey Dreissen - USA
The tour was in support of a Cd and Documentary called Throw Down Your Heart about Bela’s journey to Africa to trace back the origins of the banjo, and his subsequent collaborations with African musicians.
The show was structured so that each artist would come out and do a couple of tunes, then Bela would come out and duet with them. There were a variety of instruments being played from traditional acoustic guitar to the Kora a harp-like traditional African instrument.
The thing that struck me was how little I know about Africa and the different musical traditions there. Tarzan movies, and the occasional 15 second news blip about famine and inter-tribal violence does not an education about Africa make. Africa is just as diverse a continent as is Europe or Asia or North America. Different regions, different tribes, different traditions, different musical stylings.
The musicians involved with this tour were all mind-blowingly talented. They were also all extremely intelligent and personable people. Vusi Mahlasela speaks 17 different languages. That’s right SEVENTEEN. He is a UN Musical Ambassador and does all different type of Human Right work.
The percussionist Mario works as a fisherman when he is not on tour. I sometimes get to feeling sorry for myself and thinking I got it bad. I got no job. No prospects for a job. I got a bunch of minor medical crap going on. But I got a House to live in. I got electricity. I have clean water. I own four guitars and a couple of mandolins. One of these guys made his first guitar out of fishing line and a 5-gallon tin that held cooking oil. The percussionist Mario was playing an evaporated milk can filled with glass, and getting incredible tone and rhythms out of it. Vusi Mahlasela told about being 11 years old and organizing protests against Apartheid and how the police would come drag kids out of their houses and night and beat and often kill these kids just because they wanted to speak their own language instead of Afrikaans. He talked about the importance of Forgiveness and the power that it held and how we all need to wear Forgiveness like a crown. Anania Ngoliga a blind musician played a kalimba or thumb piano in such a way that it seemed impossible for one person to be getting all of that out of such an instrument. In fact, most people would be hard pressed to get all of that out of a traditional 88-key piano. Him and Fleck did a call and response duet that had the entire audience spellbound, and the joy on everyone’s face was just incredible and infectious as well.
These guys are all Rock Stars at home, Springsteen and Clapton level Rock Stars. Toumani Diabate is known as the prince of the Kora and has collaborated with Taj Mahal, Peter Gabriel, Bjork, Spain’s flamenco-fusion band Ketama, and countless jazz musicians.
Here is the trailer for the documentary. You DON’T want to miss seeing this.





For those who are interested, I also found the following YouTube links:
Vusi Mahlasela - http://www.youtube.comwatch?v=LW0SMk-HJ3M
Toumani Diabate - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DEKQjj6Ga0
D’Gary - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aYOpLWqiMk