Bela Fleck and Toumani Diabate
Just saw two of the world’s greatest musicians perform together. Bela introduced Toumani as “the greatest living African instrumentalist,” and then Toumani showed us why. Many in the audience had their eyes shut during this set, letting the cascades of notes tumble over them here in the late afternoon sun. This felt like one of the big event sets of the festival, with John Cowan, Jenny Lewis, and others sitting all around me, getting drenched by these exquisite sounds. The last tune was a funny and amazing cat-and-mouse spin on “Dueling Banjos.” A mind-blowingly gorgeous set.
