As the afternoon faded into the evening, master banjo player Béla Fleck and kora expert Toumani Diabaté took the stage. Diabaté had just flown in from his native country of Mali. The two artists hadn’t played together for over a month but they came together as though they had been playing all day.
They began with a call and answer number, each trying to outdo the others superb virtuosity. The banjo and kora sound great together. In case you’ve never seen a kora before, like I hadn’t until tonight, it’s a 20 or more stringed lute/harp made from a calabash gourd. Its strings are plucked with both hands. It’s typical of Western Africa. Diabaté is one of its most famous players. Here’s a picture.

After a few tunes Béla convinced Diabaté to play some traditional kora for everyone. The number of strings would provide a challenge for most but not for Diabaté. As soon as his hands began moving it was magic. Then Béla did a solo song he learned during his journey to Africa.

Béla had a pretty good sense of humor. He told the crowd that on his flight into the city from Seattle, a woman on the plane asked him what he was doing in New York. When he told her that he was playing at SummerStage she said, “Oh you must be in Béla Flecks band!” That woman was in the crowd and she began jumping up and down and waving to him. Béla said, “See! There she is, proving that my story is really true . . . or that I paid some lady off to make it seem that way!”

Afterwards the two reunited to play Throw Down Your Heart, the title track from the soundtrack of Béla’s documentary. They averaged something like 10,000 notes a minute! It was really a treat to see two incredible musicians come together to make music.

The layout for this show was a little different than most SummerStage shows. Everyone was sitting in preparation for the screening of the documentary. However, when the two ended the set with Dueling Banjos, in this case banjo vs. kora, the crowd jumped to its feet and started dancing! They left the stage to a standing ovation by everyone. Throw Down Your Heart was screened there after.

The documentary detailed Béla’s 2005 trip to Africa where he visited Uganda, Tanzania, Gambia, and Mali to trace the roots of the banjo. He recorded with local musicians and learned about the ngoni and the akoting, both believed to be the predecessor of the banjo. The film was an interesting portrayal of the importance of music in African culture. After the film, Béla was available for album signings before running off to play with The Roots on the Jimmy Fallon Show. What a night!