Throw Down Your Heart: Tales From the Acoustic Planet Vol. 3, Africa Sessions(Rounder)
Four years ago the banjoist Bela Fleck went to Africa with an agenda. He had long been intrigued by his instrument’s ancestral history there; he had also been gripped by the transcendent voice of Oumou Sangare, the queen of Malian Wassoulou music. His journey resembled fieldwork in the sense that he was traveling with a recording engineer and film crew. But he also had his banjo and an urge to bridge musical divides.
Mr. Fleck tends to make that task look easy whether he’s working with his bluegrass- fusion band, the Flecktones, or crossing paths with jazz and classical artists. Traditional African music turns out to suit him beautifully, though some interactions on Throw Down Your Heart, the album inspired by his journey, feel more effortless than others. (An engrossing documentary film of the same name reveals the actual effort involved; it will be screened in San Francisco beginning next week, and in New York next month.)
Two imploring songs with Ms. Sangare and her band, recorded at a studio in Mali, exude a serene professionalism. (On one, “Ah Ndiya,” the kora master Toumani Diabate plays lilting obbligato.) A similar undercurrent runs through one track with the guitarist Afel Bocum, and a handful that Mr. Fleck recorded in the United States with the South African singer- songwriter Vusi Mahlasela and the Madagascan guitarist D’Gary.
But the heart of the album is the field material, which takes many forms.
