American banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck embarks on a pilgrimage to trace his instrument's little-known African roots. Along the way he jams with seemingly everyone he encounters, discovers ancient banjo ancestors, and records an album of the experience. "Mr. Fleck, a gentle, curious man of few words and formidable talents, is a benign presence. In a Ugandan village his banjo accompanies several local musicians playing a 12-foot xylophone. In Tanzania he collaborates with Anania Ngoliga, a master of the African thumb piano, an instrument consisting of metal tines of varying length attached to a wooden board. It is in Gambia that Mr. Fleck encounters the akonting, a primitive three-string forerunner of the banjo whose preservation is the mission of a troupe known as the Jatta Family." Beyond the invigorating musical collaborations, though, the film also presents a rarely seen side of the continent and its people, as Fleck and his banjo journey from Uganda to Tanzania to Gambia and finally to Mali. "Early in the film, a Ugandan villager insists that the common perception of Africa as a continent ravaged by war and disease is "just a very small bit of what Africa is," and Throw Down Your Heart sets out to prove him right." (NY Times) more at throwdownyourheart.com Video projection
2009, color, 1 hour 37 minutes, USA