Banjo master Bela Fleck returns to Mountain Stage for an intricate, conversational performance with friends Edgar Meyer on double bass and Zakir Hussain on Indian tabla. Moving between the realms of bluegrass, classical and world music, Fleck, Meyer and Hussain are widely considered to be the leading virtuosos on their respective instruments.
Arguably the world's premiere banjo player, Fleck has reinvented the image and sound of the instrument in a remarkable recording career that has taken him across the musical universe. Bassist and composer Meyer was hailed by the New Yorker as "the most remarkable virtuoso in the relatively unchronicled history of his instrument," and in 2002 was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship. Hussain, a master of the classical Indian hand drum known as the tabla, is often credited as a chief architect of the contemporary world music movement.
The trio's most recent collaboration is called The Melody of Rhythm.
This story originally aired on May 16th, 2011.
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