Celebration of the Banjo – April tour

A unique series of concerts celebrating the African and American history of the Banjo and tracing the instruments roots back to Africa and featuring - on the same stage for the first time - some of America's foremost young Bluesmen and contemporary musicians together with Africa's finest exponent of the Ngoni - the Banjo's African predecessor.

For Recapturing The Banjo's UK tour Otis Taylor is joined by: Guy Davis, Corey Harris, Alvin Youngblood Hart and Don Vappie, - 5 contemporary American musicians from very different backgrounds: Otis plays trance blues, Guy Davis plays folk blues, Corey plays reggae, Don plays jazz and Alvin plays Hendrix-style blues rock – yet all of them come together, using the banjo in a captivating mix of traditional and innovative musical styles, in a desire to take the banjo forward as a 21st Century black American instrument.

Otis Taylor's Recapturing The Banjo album was released on Telarc Records on 31st March, 2008.

RECAPTURING THE BANJO April 2008 UK tour dates
(Otis Taylor, Guy Davis, Don Vappie, Corey Harris & Alvin Youngblood Hart)

27/04 Gateshead – The Sage2 *
www.thesagegateshead.org
0191 443 4661

28/04 London – Barbican centre *
http://www.barbican.org.uk
020 7638 8891

29/04 Brighton - The Komedia
http://www.komedia.co.uk
01273 647100

30/04 Basingstoke – The Anvil
www.anvilarts.org.uk
01256 844 244

01/05 Canterbury – The Gulbenkian Theatre
www.kent.ac.uk/gulbenkian
01227 769075

*with BBC Radio 3 World Music 'Album of the Year 2008' winner, Malian Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba at the Barbican, solo at The Sage.