From left to right: Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Edgar Meyer, Rakesh Chaurasia
BÉLA FLECK, EDGAR MEYER, ZAKIR HUSSAIN, RAKESH CHAURASIA
SATURDAY 11/4. Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville. 8 p.m. $10.
If you do a Google search for musicians Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer or Zakir Hussain, it won’t be long before you find an article proclaiming their virtuosity. They’re arguably the best in the world at their respective instruments: banjo, double bass and tabla, a pair of bongo-esque Indian hand drums. Known individually for their tendency to confidently buck against genre constraints, the trio first teamed up for “The Melody of Rhythm,” an album they recorded alongside the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2009.
In May 2023, they reunited to release “As We Speak,” which features Rakesh Chaurasia, a bansuri flute player. Once again defying categorization, the record floats mellifluously between Western classical music, progressive bluegrass and the idiosyncratic rhythms and textures of India. Get tickets here.
