Bela Fleck: Throw Down Your Heart (1:37) 2008

Did you know that Bela Fleck is a famous American banjo player? Well, I didn't until I came across the title in the Netflix Watch Instantly documentaries section. Fleck tells us that although we associate the banjo with the American south, it originates in Africa. Fleck and his crew fly to Africa to play and record local Africa singers and bands. Fleck first goes to Uganda and then on to Tanzania. It is interesting to see and hear the instruments of Africa and the songs in the native languages. For many Africans, they are seeing the banjo for the first time. While in Tanzania, he meets some young Masai who have come to the city to earn money to buy cows to bring back to their village. We see the Masai sing and dance in their native grab. Fleck moves on to Gambia and then Mali. In Gambia, he encounters a ngoni which is the three stringed ancestor of the banjo. His last stop is Mali, which according to Fleck, is the mother lode of African music. He plays with and records an acoustical guitar player and a famous woman singer. I enjoyed all the songs and music. The words of each song was subtitled in English, many of their songs are about poverty and loss. I later read that his album Throw Down Your Heart was nominated and received Grammy awards. The term thrown down your heart originated long ago during the slave trading period. When Africans was captured by slave traders and taken to the Tanzanian shore to be put on ships, they would throw down their heart because they knew they would not be coming back.