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Shakori's collaborative energy
by Ashley Melzer
The centerpiece of the programming at Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival this spring is almost certainly banjoist Béla Fleck and singer-songwriter Abigail Washburn, two career collaborators who wed last year after playing together in the Sparrow Quartet for years. They'll both bring separate projects to the stage this weekend in Silk Hope. We spoke to Washburn and Fleck about the challenges and benefits of seemingly always working on something new.
Béla Fleck, native speaker
Béla Fleck has been nominated for and won Grammys in more categories than any other musician, in large part because he recognizes the versatility of his instrument—among the names with which he's slung his banjo are Doc Watson, Sam Bush, Chick Corea, Edgar Meyer, Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Nelly Furtado and, of course, his innovative jazz-bluegrass fusion quartet the Flecktones.
Fleck's latest project, Throw Down Your Heart, finds the virtuoso traversing Africa, digging into the roots of the banjo while collaborating with folk musicians in Mali, Uganda, Tanzania and Gambia. One of those musicians, Malian ngoni player Bassekou Kouyate, will join him this weekend at Shakori Hills, where Fleck also sits in with festivals hosts Donna the Buffalo and former Sparrow Quartet collaborator Abigail Washburn, while performing his own set with a brand new backing trio.
The Indy caught up with Fleck between a full slate of rehearsals and gigs to get his thoughts on the evolution of the banjo and the inside scoop on the collaborations we can expect this weekend and later this year.
INDEPENDENT WEEKLY: What events specifically motivated you to explore the African origins of the banjo to the extent of traveling the continent for a significant amount of time a couple years ago as opposed to 10 or 20 years earlier?
BLA FLECK: This was when the Flecktones took a year off, after 15 years of extreme traveling and building. Finally I had time for some other projects, and I was trying to figure out what to do with an open year. I really wanted to do something I couldn't do in a normal Flecktone year, and going to Africa was at the top of my list. I had been in love with African music for some time, and the fact of the banjo's African origins really interested me as well.
Also, I had the resources, because of all the hard work I'd been doing. I ended up having to fund this myself. My brother, Sascha Paladino, was the director of the film, and we basically partnered on the whole project. He did a great job.
What has the reception been like for the African musicians performing with you on the Africa Project when touring the United States?
These tours have been highlights of my life. They have been so much fun. The audiences have totally fallen in love with the musicians and their music. The musicians really appreciated having a chance to spread their music around and see the U.S. Playing with these guys on tour actually allowed a deeper connection than going to Africa did.
This is because when I was there, I would have only a few days with each of these people. On the tours we were together for weeks. Playing the music every night also allowed us to get deeper into it.
With the banjo becoming increasingly fashionable with artists who don't play using the traditional approach (Scott Avett of The Avett Brothers) or that remove the instrument from its traditional context (Sufjan Stevens), how do you feel the role of the banjo is changing in both the pop and folk spheres of today's music culture? What do you expect, hope or fear it might become?
I am happy that the banjo is turning up in cool modern music. It used to be that the banjo carried such a strong image, that it would only fit into music that wanted that connotation added to it. Now more often it is seen as a cool part of America's heritage, and hearing it on a track can actually make that track special. For a long time it wasn't even welcome in country music, as they were trying to get away from a rural sound. Now it's even turning up there on occasion. [I have] no fears. I just like to hear it played well.
When you played with non-English speaking musicians in Africa, how were you able to communicate? Are there any ways in which you feel that inability to verbally communicate ideas actually improves collaborations?
We did have interpreters but tried not to use them too much. I think that not speaking the same language made the parameters of the collaboration simpler, and that was kind of cool. We couldn't talk about details much, so there was a purity to it. I couldn't change what the other person was doing, so I didn't try.
Besides the sets we know about—with Bassekou Kouyate, Abigail Washburn and Donna the Buffalo—who else do you hope to collaborate with at the Shakori Hills festival next weekend? What can we expect from those performances?
I am bringing a new band to the festival for my set. Originally I had planned on doing a solo set, but I am very excited about this new group and I decided to invite them.
The musicians are Jeff Sipe on drums, Casey Driessen on fiddle and Roy Agee on trombone. We got together to do Earth Day here in Nashville last weekend, and it really was fun. I will also play a banjo workshop, so there'll still be a chance to play solo.
04/22/10 >> go there
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