Throw Down Your Heart and an 'I saw you!'

Last night we went to a gig at the royal Concert hall. I am writing about this because it was brilliant.

I hadn't paid too much attention to the gig as it was one that Jeremy had highlighted to see. He has 'interesting' taste in music and it doesn't always work for me!

So we ended up taking the boys with us...due to a mix up I won't go into. Lucie was at a sleep over so it all worked out great!

The night was billed as "'Throw down your heart' with Bela Fleck." Here's what the programme said:-

US banjo legend Béla Fleck journeyed through Africa in search of his instrument’s roots. This unique musical odyssey was chronicled by his filmmaker brother, Sascha Paladino, and released in 2008 as the award-winning documentary Throw Down Your Heart. For his first ever concert based on this project, Fleck is joined by three of his star collaborators from Mali: the stunning singer Oumou Sangare, pioneering kora maestro Toumani Diabaté and Bassekou Kouyate a contemporary virtuoso of the ngoni, an ancient, lute-like antecedent of the banjo. A recent collaboration of these artists was described by The Guardian as “one of the events of the year”.

Completing this magical reunion of kindred spirits and cultures will be Scotland’s own highly acclaimed Gaelic singer Kathleen MacInnes and Ireland’s Liam Ó Maonlaí. Liam strongly believes every country has its own séan nos, “when in the company of other cultures, the singing of this style opens a window into what it is that connects us”.

It was a fantastic night and Oumou was stunning. A true diva who totally filled the stage. I have never heard anything like Toumani Diabaté's Kora playing. I swear that if I closed my eyes I would have imagined a stage full of musicians when this man played solo. He is surely the Man with a Million Fingers!

The biggest sin was that the place wasn't packed to the seams with this caliber of musicians!

Looking around in the break I noticed a fellow Garscuber....I didn't manage to catch him to speak to so took a long distance snap. I wonder what he thought of it all?

Do you recognise this couple?