World banjo music on CBC tonight

Mansa Sissoko and Jayme StoneAnd yet even more great music on the radio today… Tonight (10/26) at 8:00 p.m., Canadian banjoist Jayme Stone will be featured on CBC Radio 2’s Canada Live program.

CBC will be broadcasting a pair of concerts featuring Stone’s eclectic tastes and inventive banjo style. The first pairs Jayme with Mansa Sissoko, a singer/songwriter from Mali in West Africa, with whom Jayme will be recording next year. The other is from the 2007 Small World Festival’s World On A String concert this past September.

The musicians featured with Jayme hail from far-flung parts of the globe, and each contributed on their own instrument, a few of which may be unfamiliar to US and Canadian audiences. Joining Jayme are Aditya Verma playing sarod, Amir Koushkani on the tar, Mansa Sissoko on the kora, Levon Ichkanian on the oud and Rich Brown on the bass.

Jayme shared a brief description of the program:

“The World On A String concert featured many original pieces as well as some traditional ones. We did a version of my tune Garuda (from The Utmost) with a Persian banjo-like instrument called a tar. Mansa (from Mali) and Aditya (from India) even wrote a piece together the first day of rehearsal! Rich brought in an arrangement of a beautiful lullaby from an island near Jamaica, and Aditya had an original piece full of these complex Indian rhythms and cadences that rocked my world. I even taught Amir (from Iran) how to play the old-time fiddle tune ways of the world, but it never made it onstage.

We spent three days rehearsing and creating new music, and then premiered it all at the beautiful Enwave Theatre in Toronto. For me, it was honor to play with such extraordinary musicians!

This was an exciting collaboration and everyone in the audience could feel the camaraderie and joy in the group. There’s even talk of a possible tour and recording project one day.”

Listen in for Canada Live tonight from 8:00-10:00 p.m. (ET) on Radio 2, or via live streaming on the CBC web site. The concerts will also be available in their audio archives (Concerts On Demand) after the program is broadcast on Friday night.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2006 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.