Banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck brings his Africa Project to Katonah on July 3 for Caramoor’s 64th International Music Festival. Appearing alongside Malian singer Oumou Sangaré, Fleck will present the music he researched in travels through Uganda, Tanzania, Senegal, Mali, Gambia, South Africa and Madagascar, journeys that are chronicled in “Throw Down Your Heart” — the title of his latest CD and of an accompanying documentary. Fleck answered some questions via email.

The Africa Project began with you wanting to find out where your instrument came from. Will some of those banjo forebears be at Caramoor on July 3? The akonting? The kora?
At Caramoor I will be joined by the incomparable Oumou Sangaré and her amazing band. Her musicans do not include the banjo forebears, but they are great nontheless… Oumou comes from Mali and is one of my all time favorite musicians. We will perform separately and together.
Have you tried to play these instruments? How steep is that learning curve?
I did play the n’goni and the akonting while in West Africa. It would take another lifetime to really get good on these, I suspect!
You have said that the voice of Oumo Sangaré, the songbird of Mali, drew you to Africa. What has working with her taught you?
She mostly sings and plays in a pentatonic scale, but a different one than the ‘blues scale’ we use so much here. It is a good challenge to stay within that mode. Mostly I just love her music and am inspired by playing with her.
The first track on “Throw Down Your Heart” is a welcome song, sung by the local women who served your meals. Does everyone in Africa sing or play? Even local chickens took part in that first song.
Music is a big part of life, but I don’t think absolutely everyone plays or sings. The chickens all sing.
“Throw Down Your Heart” was filmed as a documentary while being recorded for a CD. Did that change the way you approached the project? These were akin to really high-tech field recordings, documenting a culture and art form.
We did it all at once. The documentary sound man and the CD recording sound man worked together as a team. When we got home we chose the best music for the CD and the best music for the video based on different criteria.
Music has the power to transport the listener. Does it do the same for the musician? When you play these songs now — when you play them in Caramoor on July 3 — will your mind take you back to Mali, to Gambia?
I guess I won’t know til I get there! But when I played with Oumou in Scotland earlier this year, I just got lost in the music. It was fantastic.
You did a lot of legwork in advance of your Africa trip, setting the itinerary and having an idea of whom you?d be playing with. Still, were there surprises?
We left open days in each country so we could find unexpected treasures. Everywhere we went we asked about interesting musicians and then found them. It ended up being some of the best stuff we did.
You went into Africa without your band and found bands to play with and learn from, with music as your common language. Once you got familiar with a band and started playing, how different was it than, say, playing with the Flecktones, with whom you have a long relationship?
It was different in many ways. Part of it was about giving up control and just getting on the train and riding it to wherever it went. I tried to be open and responsive and not be afraid to jump in and try things. Yet I also loved just fitting in and trying to make it sound like the banjo was indigenous to their music. Not having a common language made it simpler if I just played along and found my way. WIth many musicians I do share a language with, there is much more talking about the music. But with the Flecktones we actually don’t talk about it that much.
This experience must have changed you. Do you think you’re a different bluegrass player, having had this experience?
I would like to be a different player and I think I am in some ways. Some of the rhythms have crept into my playing, for sure. But I try to play to the situation I am in, so when I play with musicians playing bluegrass, I tend to access that musical language. The two-year period when I was editing the project gave me a lot more exposure to the music and a chance to understand everything that happenned during the trip. This trip changed my word view and my musical perspective and I loved getting to do it.

Béla Fleck’s Africa Project featuring Oumou Sangaré and her band
What: Banjo great Béla Fleck and Malian singer Oumou Sangaré
Where: Venetian Theater, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah.
When: 8 p.m., July 3
Tickets: $15, $30, $40, $55
Call: 914-232-1252
Web: caramoor.org.
Also: Groups of 16 or more may purchase discounted tickets at 914-232-5035 ext. 266.

Photo of Bela Fleck, courtesy Bela Fleck; photo of Oumou Sangaré by Ed Alcock