UNIVERSITY PARK — Superstar banjo player and 13-time Grammy Award winner Bela Fleck returns to Penn State in The Africa Project, a concert collaboration with guest musicians from Mali and Tanzania, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 3, in Eisenhower Auditorium. The concert features, from Mali, Bassekou Kouyate and his rocking band Ngoni ba and, from Tanzania, Anania Ngoliga with John Kitime.
Tickets for the Center for the Performing Arts presentation are $42 for an adult, $27 for a University Park student and $32 for a person 18 and younger. Buy concert tickets online or by phone at 814-863-0255. Outside the local calling area, dial 1-800-ARTS-TIX. Tickets are also available at Eisenhower Auditorium (weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), Penn State Tickets Downtown in the Downtown Theatre Center (weekdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.), HUB-Robeson Center Information Desk (weekdays 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and Bryce Jordan Center (weekdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.). A grant from the University Park Allocation Committee makes Penn State student prices possible.
The Africa Project concert is an offspring of Fleck’s exploration of the origins of the banjo, the prototype of which was brought to America by African slaves. In on-location collaborations with musicians in half a dozen African countries, Fleck found common ground with artists ranging from local villagers to international superstars. Two albums and a film document Fleck’s search for the earliest branches on his musical family tree. The concert with African musicians serves a generous sampling of the eclectic sounds the banjoist discovered on his journey.
“Together,” writes an Austin American Statesman critic, “they evoke naked humanity, tears, laughter, passion and the unalloyed bliss of making music.”
Throw Down Your Heart, a CD featuring music Fleck recorded on his journey of discovery, earned a Grammy last month for best contemporary world music album. The album’s title track also won a Grammy for best pop instrumental performance. Throw Down Your Heart: Africa Sessions Part 2, Unreleased Tracks, which includes 14 additional songs from Fleck’s African sojourn, was released Feb. 2.
Don and Mary Ellen Fisher sponsor the concert. Artistic Viewpoints, an informal moderated discussion featuring Fleck, is offered in Eisenhower Auditorium one hour before the performance and is free for ticket holders. Artistic Viewpoints regularly fills to capacity. Seating is available on a first-arrival basis.
Learn more about Fleck and the concert online.
In conjunction with the concert, the Center for the Performing Arts presents a screening of Bela Fleck: Throw Down Your Heart, a musical documentary about the virtuoso’s travels through Africa, at 1 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28, in downtown State College’s State Theatre.
Tickets for the Feb. 28 film screening are $5 per person. Save $2 by showing a ticket for the March 3 Fleck concert when purchasing a film ticket at the State Theatre box office. Tickets for the film may be purchased online, by phone at 814-272-0606 or in person at the State box office weekdays 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturdays noon to 5 p.m. The State box office also opens one hour before each event.