Awesome Bands

This past weekend, a group of friends and I went to a bar to listen to two fantastic bands. The first, a strange combination of banjo, guitar, and kora, was unbelievable. The banjo player, Jayme Stone, went to Mali to study the west African origins of the banjo. He apparently met a Mali guy named Mansa Sissoko, and they began to sing. Together, they've done an album called Africa to Appalchia. It's well worth a listen. The second band was from Sweden and was composed of three guys, one on the viola, one on the guitar, and one on the nyckelharpa. They were called "Väsen" and played a bunch of polskas for us. Afterward, they hung out and talked with people; random note, Swedes are huge (at least these three--the shortest one was at least 6'2"). I highly recommend the music and the experience for anyone interested random ethnic tunes.