Béla Fleck Announces 33-City Tour, The Africa Project

DENVER, CO (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — The “always adventurous” (USA Today) banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck continues exploring the instrument’s roots in 2010 with the
help of Bassekouye Kouyate, Anania Ngolia and John Kitime during the
33-city Africa Project: Collaborations with Amazing African
Musicians. All three musicians are featured on the 2010 Grammy-
nominated album and award-winning documentary, ‘Throw Down Your Heart.’

Originally planned as a double album, ‘Throw Down Your Heart: The
Africa Sessions Part 2, Unreleased Tracks’ will be available February
2nd. “Honestly, I ran out of time to finish the first album,” says
Béla. “This stuff needed to be heard! More of the great artists
from the documentary will be brought into the light.”

“The moment I heard Anania Ngoliga I knew we had to find him,” hails
Fleck, regarding the blind, singing Tanzanian thumb piano master who
will be joined by guitarist John Kitime. “When we did, he exceeded
my expectations, which were high!” One of the foremost ngoni players
(essentially the banjo of Mali), Bassekouye Kouyate, will be joined
by his band, Ngoni Ba.

Tour dates:

2/2/10 – Fort Lewis College – Durango, CO
2/3/10 – Lensic Performing Arts Center – Santa Fe, NM
2/4/10 – Aggie Theater – Fort Collins, CO
2/5/10 – Wheeler Opera House – Aspen, CO
2/6/10 – Avalon Theater – Grand Junction, CO
2/8/10 – Boulder Theater – Boulder, CO
2/10/10 – Granada Theater – Dallas, TX
2/11/10 – Lyric Theater – Oxford, MS
2/12/10 – Murray State University – Murray, KY
2/13/10 – Liberty Hall – Lawrence, KS
2/14/10 – TBA – Urbana, IL
2/16/10 – Oberlin’s Finney Chapel – Oberlin, OH
2/17/10 – University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, MI
2/18/10 – Ohio University – Athens, OH
2/19/10 – Butler University – Indianapolis, IN
2/20/10 – Holland Performing Arts Center – Omaha, NE
2/21/10 – Old Town School – Chicago, IL
2/22/10 – Miami University – Hamilton, OH
2/24/10 – Grand Opera House – Wilmington, DE
2/25/10 – University of Connecticut – Storrs, CT
2/26/10 – Opera House – Waterville, ME
2/27/10 – Bucknell University – Lewisburg, PA

3/1/10 – Ottawa Jazz Festival – Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
3/2/10 – Bowdoin College – Brunswick, ME
3/3/10 – Penn State University – State College, PA
3/4/10 – Jefferson Center – Roanoke, VA
3/5/10 – Weinberg Center – Frederick, MD
3/6/10 – Georgia Tech University – Atlanta, GA
3/8/10 – Plaza Theater – Orlando, FL
3/9/10 – Sunrise Theater – Fort Pierce, FL
3/10/10 – Florida Theater – Jacksonville, FL
3/11/10 – BAMA Theater – Tuscaloosa, AL
3/12/10 – Orange Peel – Asheville, NC

–by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers