Rita Ray
March 2006 - Ali Farka Toure dies
Greetings! Join me in a tribute to Mali's late great desert blues guitarist Ali Farka Toure.
- Ali Farka Toure
- Five essential Ali Farka Toure tracks
- Toumani Diabate's Symmetric Orchestra
- Rita Ray's recommended CDs
Ali Farka Toure
You probably heard that Africa's legendary blues man, Ali Farka Toure, one of the first superstars of World Music, succumbed to his long battle with bone cancer and died peacefully in his sleep on the 7th of March 2006.
We knew him as a great guitarist but Ali Farka started his musical life as a Ghimbala spiritual musician playing the traditional instruments that communicate with the spirit world, the djerkal one string guitar, njarka a one-string violin, the ngoni, a four-string lute and the bamboo flute of the Peul.
It was in 1956 that he saw the great Keita Fodeba play guitar with the National Ballet of Guinea. 'That is when I swore I would become a guitarist, I didn't know his guitar but I liked it a lot. I felt I had as much music as him and that I could translate it.' He borrowed a guitar and adapted the various Malian musical traditions he'd absorbed to create his unique flowing guitar style.
The great desert blues guitarist drew his unique flowing style from the rich diversity of the Malian people - Dogon and Peul mythology, Tuareg rhythms and Songhai melodies knitting them together to provide the missing link to modern day blues. When Ali Farka first heard John Lee Hooker, the great American blues artist, he was convinced that 'this music has been taken from here'. Ali Farka heard the resonance of Malian Tamasheq music in Hooker's blues. Check out the Martin Scorsese directed film Feels Like Going Home, featuring Ali Farka as it traces the history of the blues from the banks of the river Niger to the Mississippi delta.
He began farming in his childhood, but having to find a livelihood and his love of music took him from his beloved home of Niafunke for many years during which time he honed his musical skills performing in ceremonies and playing with master musicians from Mali's many ethnic tribes, soaking in the huge array of their musical styles, traditions and myths.
Ali Farka's aim, however, was to earn enough to buy a farm and settle down to growing crops and raising cattle. Once he had achieved this goal he rarely ventured outside his hometown of Niafunke on the banks of the river Niger for long. In 2004 he became mayor and spent his own money paving roads, putting in sewers and procuring a generator that provided the town with electricity.
He was fiercely patriotic and during the Touareg rebellion was a peacemaker and unifying force singing in Tamasheq, the language of the Touareg, as well as the other languages of the troubled region. Ali Farka was a great supporter of the Festival in the Desert, which brought together all the different ethnic groups of Mali in a unique annual cultural communion.
A charismatic and compelling performer, Ali Farka was equally in his element on stage or in the recording studio. He won two Grammy Awards, the first in 1994 for Talking Timbuktu, his recording with Ry Cooder and the second for his last scintillating release with kora maestro Toumani Diabate, In The Heart Of The Moon. The great Ali Farka has gone to meet his maker but his music carries on and lucky for us he just completed a new album before he died that will be released around the end of June this year. The album was part of the Hotel Mande trilogy of recordings of which In The Heart Of The Moon was the first release
Five essential Ali Farka Toure tracks
These are my top tunes by Ali Farka Toure:
Heygana - The River - Appeal to the sacred mountain Heygana for safe passage sung in Tamashek and Songhai - a great example of Ali Farka, the spirit musician and the unifier all rolled into one exhilarating track.
Roucky - The Source - 'Mali is the roots and trunk of West Africa. If you go to the Ivory Coast, or Guinea, or Senegal, or Gambia, their culture comes from Mali. That's why my album is called The Source.'
Diaraby - Talking Timbuktu - Probably his most famous guitar riff - and my favourite - I'm not alone, the timeless evocative riff is still used on the BBC programme The World.
Monsieur Le Maire De Niafunke - In The Heart Of The Moon - Toumani's praise song to Ali Farka on his appointment as Mayor of Niafunke
Ai Ga Banj - BBC Awards for World Music 2006 - Better late than never, this is the first Awards For World Music nomination for Ali Farka. Ai Ga Banj means I love you, with Ali Farka in a soulful mood on a gorgeous Cuban Guajira infused track. We love you too.
Toumani Diabate's Symmetric Orchestra
Toumani Diabate and his Symmetric Orchestra have just released a tour de force of a record, Boulevard De L'Independence, the second in the Hotel Mande trilogy of releases on World Circuit. The album was recorded over 14 all night sessions and is the result of 10 years experimenting. This is Toumani's virtuoso innovative kora in a seething, full on dance band setting and dance you will; have a listen to the pumping salsa of Africa Challenge and you'll get the picture. Toumani and the Symmetric Orchestra will be touring the UK in a not to be missed double bill with one of our favourite artists, Senegal's musical mystic, singer and multi-instrumentalist Cheikh Lo. Here are the tour dates:
Toumani Diabate & Cheikh Lo (double bill) : Tue 23rd May, The Lighthouse, Poole / Wed 24th May, The Sage, Gateshead / Thu 25th May, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool / Fri 26th May, The Anvil, Basingstoke / Sun 28th May, Brighton Festival, Brighton Dome, Brighton / Tue 30th May, Symphony Hall, Birmingham / Wed 31st May, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Toumani Diabate's Symmetric Orchestra : Sun 27th May, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
Cheikh Lo : Sun 21st May, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London / Mon 29th May, Bath Festival, The Pavilion, Bath
I promised to tell you about our Shrine Synchrosystem's February adventure in Zanzibar at the Sauti Za Busara Festival but I've run out of room! It was a terrific experience - a great festival and we were really well-received. Don't just take my word for it though have a look at the Sauti Za Busara website for the full story of this amazing festival on the Indian Ocean. Then watch and listen to the Synchrosystem performing Onupa Swarpo at the festival at www.theshrine.uk.com
That's it for now. Enjoy the music. Rita
Rita Ray's recommended CDs
Ali Farka Toure - In The Heart Of The Moon
Ali Farka Toure - Talking Timbuktu
Toumani Diabate's Symmetric Orchestra - Boulevard De L'independence
Check out my recommended CDs this month in the CD Reviews section or go to Music Search to look at our archive of recommended CDs.