Major upcoming Bluesfest 2010 draw card and virtuoso musician Béla Fleck has just won his 12th and 13th career Grammys at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards that took place on January 31, 2010 in Los Angeles.
The awards were “Best Contemporary World Music Album” for his latest album Throw Down Your Heart and “Best Pop Instrumental Performance” for the album’s title track Throw Down Your Heart.
Throw Down Your Heart, hailed by the LA Times as an “important work of artistic memory and conscience,” is an album and award-winning documentary that explores the African origins of the banjo through on-location collaborations with musicians in Uganda, Tanzania, the Gambia and Mali.
Throughout his 30-year career, Fleck has won 13 Grammy awards and has earned more diverse Grammy nominations than any other musician in history, including pop, country, bluegrass, jazz, classical, spoken-word, composition and arranging.
Béla is coming to Australia at Easter to perform at Bluesfest and select solo sideshows, and will be joined by the inspirational African singer Oumou Sangarè and her band from Mali – for what is billed as BELA FLECK’S AFRICA PROJECT FEATURING OUMOU SANGARE AND BAND.
Interestingly, Béla Fleck beat out his upcoming Australian touring partner, Oumou Sangarè, who was also nominated in the Best Contemporary World Music Album category!
A New York City native, Béla Fleck is regularly considered the premier banjo player in the world. He made a name for himself on countless solo and ensemble projects as a virtuoso instrumentalist unbounded by genre.
Transcending barriers of language and culture, Fleck finds common ground with musicians ranging from local villagers to international superstars to create some of the most meaningful music of his career. Australian fans will now get the rare opportunity to see this documentary come to life as Béla Fleck is joined by Sangarè – one of the greatest African singers you will ever hear. She is recognised as the greatest female African star of her generation, in fact Oumou Sangarè has enjoyed a long and illustrious career, touring internationally and becoming an ambassador for the music of Mali. On stage her natural presence, huge charisma, irrepressible energy and joie de vivre is very much in evidence. Oumou’s latest album Seya (Joy) was released in 2009.
Make sure you catch Bèla Fleck’s African Project Featuring Oumou Sangarè live in Australia at Bluesfest and select theatre appearances – they are bound to be nothing short of exhilarating.
These theatre appearances are as follows:
Bèla Fleck’s African Project Featuring Oumou Sangarè
Sydney Opera House – 6/04/2010 Tickets go on sale 16th of November and can be purchased through www.ticketek.com.au or www.sydneyoperahouse.com.au
Hamer Hall Melbourne– 8/04/2010 Tickets go on sale 11th of November and can be purchased through The Arts Centre Box Office 1300 182 183* or www.theartscentre.com.au*
*transaction fee applies.
Adelaide Festival Centre – 9/04/2010 Tickets go on sale 25th of November and can be purchased through www.bass.net.au or 131 246.
For dates and more information visit www.bluesfest.com.au