The Banjo Strikes Again

Last April I blogged about the documentary featuring Béla Fleck entitled Throw Down Your Heart. I'm not a film critic, so I won't comment on its cinematic merits, but I did find the soundtrack to be a moving tribute to the banjo, an instrument Mr. Fleck has devoted his music career to. Apparently, the Grammy judges also liked the album. He walked away with two awards last weekend: Best Contemporary World Music Album and Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

The recording that resulted from his trip to Africa doesn't sound like pop to my ears, but it does include examples of tremendous ability performed by people who in all likelihood, have never before released their music in physical or digital form. Track down a copy of it and listen for yourself. I'm sure you'll discover a song or an instrumental phrase, captured live, thousands of miles from your speakers, that you'll want to hear again. And again.

For me "Jesus Is the Only Answer" packs a wallop the way few songs do. When the singers' voices rise in unison during the refrain, their joy lifts me up; it sounds supremely hopeful. But my happiness is fleeting. There's a sadness hiding behind the lyrics, and when the music stops, I feel like my heart could too.

Wordy Wandering

With iTunes, YouTube, and Twitter to entertain us around the clock, I suppose a bundle of paper glued together and perfect bound can seem like a rather old-fashioned form of escapism. But I like my books anyway. Because even though a shrinking bank account has limited my wandering to the lower 48 this summer, my little library of travel literature still affords me plenty of opportunities for vicarious globe-trotting. A few titles that I've recently added to my collection really impressed me with their honest wit and wisdom so I thought I'd post about them today:

• The last great book I finished was Jeffrey Tayler's Angry Wind, a riveting account of his journey across the Sahel from Chad to Senegal. The small sounds, smells, and sensations that he captures as he navigates the landscapes and customs of Muslim Black Africa greatly enhanced my understanding of the region.
  
• For reasons that I'll explain in another post, I've been steadily working my way through a sizable stack of graphic novels. One my favorites is called Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon. Inspired by a true story, it imagines Iraq's chaotic liberation in 2003 through the eyes of a family of lions.
  
• The next hardcover I'm eager to crack open is David Farley's An Irreverent Curiosity, a zany tale that could accurately be described as The Curious Case of the Missing Foreskin. His chapter entitled "The Semi-Retard's Guide to Learning Italian" got plenty of laughs at the last Restless Legs night on the Lower East Side.

And finally, for people who insist on doing their reading online, I have one more recommendation: my friend Nick Gill's new journal of Latin American food, drink, and travel. I can practically guarantee that his restaurant reviews, slideshows, and hotel suggestions will have you itching to book a flight to Chile, Ecuador, or Peru. Perhaps all three. So what's in your summer pile of reading materials? Which authors have transported you somewhere lately?

The Original Banjo

This time last year I was convinced I could teach myself to play the banjo. I had a brand new instrument (a 22 fret Dean Backwoods 3), a fair amount of dexterity, and several musician friends who were willing to learn some old-timey cover songs. Then I broke a finger. I'm not particularly proud of my progress since, and quite honestly, I've lacked inspiration. It turns out that a film recommendation from a friend was all I really needed.

Currently touring small theaters in the US and Canada, Throw Down Your Heart is a feature documentary that follows acclaimed performer and recording artist Béla Fleck through Uganda, Tanzania, The Gambia, and Mali as he seeks to learn something about his chosen instrument's continent of origin. Speaking with NPR at one point, he explains his motivation for making the five week trek around Africa: "I thought it was important for people to realize where the banjo comes from because it's been associated so much with a white Southern stereotype. A lot of people in the United States don't realize that the banjo is an African instrument."

I wish the director, Sascha Paladino, had included an interview with a musicologist, or perhaps just delved deeper into the folk history of the ngoni or the akonting (both thought to be closely related to a chordophone more familiar to American ears), and I could quibble over some of the edits, but taken as a whole, Throw Down Your Heart is a joyous and poignant film crammed with incredible musical collaborations. It's absolutely worth seeing on a big screen now, or at home this fall once the DVD is released. As for my inspiration, I walked out of the IFC Center on Sunday night with conflicting desires: should I research airfare to Dar es Salaam, order a copy of The Zawose Family's debut album, or simply go home and tune my banjo?
Photo of Béla Fleck © Argot Pictures 2008. All rights reserved.