Being a weeklie podcaste from Madison, Wisconsin featuring several remarkable curiosities therein occurring being a compendium of live music from divers artistes
Show #109: Ali Farka Touré
March 6th, 2007
Today marks the first anniversary of the death of Ali Farka Touré.
(Photo found here.)
Touré was an African musician from Mali and he gained a reputation for mixing the folk music of his homeland with American blues. This melding earned him the moniker of “the African John Lee Hooker”. Here’s part of his bio up at World Music Central:
Ali Farka Toure was born in 1939 in Gourmararusse (in the Timbuktu region), Mali, into the noble Sorhai family. Being of noble birth, he should never have taken up music. His family disapproved because the musician profession is normally inherited in Malian society and the right to play belongs to the musician families. However, being a man of determination and independence, once he decided to take up music, there was no stopping him.
Ali Farka Toure took up the guitar at the age of ten, but it wasn’t until about age 17 that he really got a handle on the instrument. In 1950 he began playing the gurkel, a single string African guitar that he chose because of its power to draw out the spirits. He also taught himself the njarka, a single string fiddle that is today a popular part of his performance. Then in 1956, Ali Farka Toure saw a performance by the great Guinean guitarist Keita Fodeba in Bamako. He was so moved that he decided then and there to become a guitarist. Teaching himself, Alila Farka Toure adapted traditional songs using the techniques he had learned on the gurkel.
During a visit to Bamako in the late 1960’s, artists such as Ray Charles, Otis Redding and most importantly John Lee Hooker introduced Ali Farka Toure to African-American music. At first, he thought that Hooker was playing Malian music, but then realized that this music coming from America had deep African roots. Ali Farka Toure was also inspired by Hooker’s strength as a performer and began to incorporate elements into his own playing. During those years Ali Farka Toure composed, sang and performed with the famous Troupe 117, a group created by the Malian government after the country’s independence.
(Photo found here.)
Touré would go on to achieve international fame and record with American guitarist Ry Cooder. I’ve also seen pictures of him playing with Bonnie Raitt. His 2005 album, In the Heart of the Moon, garnered a Grammy. His son, Vieux Farka Touré was recently featured on the 1 February edition of the NPR program All Songs Considered.
Today’s performance was recorded on 11 May 1994 at the Aladdin Theater in Portland, Oregon. It’s a nice soundboard recording.
Setlist:
Soukora
Gomni
Keito
Bonde
Goye Kur
Diaraby
Amandrai
Download show
Ali Farka Touré
Courtesy of YouTube, this is a live performance by Touré from the Festival in the Desert from January 2003 which took place in Mali. Here he peroforms “Goye Kur”:
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This was perfect listening as I relaxed before studying this morning.
Thanks for posting it.
The D.
You’re welcome!
Do you know if the show Ali did on the national mall in washington, DC was his last US concert in 2003? I was there that night and feel lucky to have seen him..
Chris – are you asking if that was his last performance in the US ever or just of 2003?