The point of his journey was to bring the banjo back to Africa since a huge misconception in America is that it is a white southern instrument. He visited Mali, Tanzania, Uganda, and Gambia. His engineer Dave played a major role in helping with the recording of the instruments. The documentary also spoke about how important music is to daily life in Africa in that it is everywhere, in death, daily chores, and marriages.
I really enjoyed the documentary and the humility Ben showed towards African musicians. An example of this is when his engineer suggested he sit in front of the other African musicians and he said he did not want to do that he wanted to sit on a stool in the back blend in as much as possible . This reminded me of the Paul Simon discussion we had in class about stage presence and positioning. I was wondering whether the music in the scene where Walusimbi Haruna and Ben were playing and Walusimbi started crying after they finished playing was an improvisational piece or whether they put it together? This scene really struck me because it showed how important the song was and how powerful music can be.
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