Bela Fleck has been around a while, you could say.

The famed American banjo player first broke out onto the music scene back in the 1970s, before starting his successful bluegrass/jazz fusion group Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.

As of late, though, his focus has trailed off into a very different musical area.

With a year-long break from his work with the Flecktones back in 2005, Fleck headed to Africa.

“I wanted to go to where the banjo came from and interact with the musicians there,” Fleck said.

The concept of working with African musicians on an album is not a foreign concept in the music industry, and Fleck has said he drew inspiration from artists like Paul Simon — who released the groundbreaking 1986 Graceland album. Unlike Simon though, whose album had a pop feel, Fleck “mostly tried to play their music.”

While in Africa, Fleck travelled to places like Uganda, Tanzania, Mali and the Gambia, collaborating with a variety of musicians along the way.

“We brought a film crew and recording engineer, set up our gear wherever we ended up and started recording,” he said.

The result was both the critically acclaimed documentary Throw Down Your Heart, and an album of the same name, which won two Grammy awards.

And now he is finally getting the chance to introduce his North American audience to the music first hand, and so far, the feedback has been “incredible.”

While performing live — like at the recent Ottawa gig — Fleck said he makes sure to provide fans with an opportunity to hear both him, and his African tour-mates shine.

“People will hear plenty of me, and also get plenty of everyone else. I am not the kind of band leader who dominates the groups I lead,” said the Boston, Ma. native.

One of those musicians is Bassekou Kouyate, a Malian Ngoni player (the ngoni is a West-African string instrument, and ancestor to the banjo).

With a virtuoso like Kouyate, Fleck said he finds that he is able to play very much like his bluegrass self — at a very fast pace.

Throughout the interview, Fleck came across as a very down-to-earth person. Despite all his critical success, he wants to share the stage with other musicians.

“I want people to know when they come to see me that I will always play with the best possible musicians, and that they will not get 'over-banjoed'!”