Ali Farka Touré | |
|---|---|
 Touré in 2005 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ali Ibrahim Touré |
| Born | (1939-10-31)31 October 1939 Timbuktu Region,Mali |
| Origin | Niafunké, Mali |
| Died | 6 March 2006(2006-03-06) (aged 66) Bamako, Mali |
| Genres | Blues Malian Folk Folk Desert blues World music |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals,Guitar,Cabasa,Njarka |
| Labels | World Circuit |
Ali Ibrahim "Ali Farka"Touré (31 October 1939 – 6 March 2006)[1][2] was aMalian singer andmulti-instrumentalist, and one of theAfrican continent's most internationally renowned musicians.[3] His music blends traditionalMalian music and its derivative, African Americanblues[4] and is considered a pioneer of Africandesert blues.[5] Touré was ranked number 76 onRolling Stone's list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time"[6] and number 37 onSpin magazine's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".[7]
Some years after his death, a group of musicians playing in his style performed as the Ali Farka Touré Allstars (2012), and later the Ali Farka Touré Band (formed 2014).
Touré was born in 1939 in the village of Kanau, on the banks of theNiger River inGourma-Rharous Cercle in the northwestern Malian region ofTombouctou. His family belonged to theSonghai community and moved to the nearby village ofNiafunké when he was still an infant.[8] His father died serving in theFrench Army in 1940.[9] He was the tenth son of his mother but the only one to survive past infancy. "The name I was given was Ali Ibrahim, but it's a custom in Africa to give a child a strange nickname if you have had other children who have died",[8] Touré was quoted as saying in a biography on his record label,World Circuit Records. His nickname, "Farka", chosen by his parents, means "donkey", an animal admired for its tenacity and stubbornness: "Let me make one thing clear. I'm the donkey that nobody climbs on!"[8]
In Malian society, musical performance was the duty of a lower caste known as thegriot. Since Touré was from the "noble" caste, he was forbidden to play any musical instruments. He disregarded this and secretly built amonochord from a tin can and played it with his friends.[10]
Having worked various jobs as a young adult including as a chauffeur and an ambulance boatman, it was a performance by the national ballet ofGuinea in 1956 that would influence Touré to pursue a career in music. It was the guitar playing during this performance that made Ali determined to learn the instrument.
During the 1960s, Mali hosted and held national talent competitions aimed at bringing together the various diverse groups of people that lived within the newly independent nation, such as theBambara in the south, the nomadicTuareg in the North and theFula andSonghai in theSahel. It was at these competitions that Touré soaked up the music of all these different cultures and learned to sing in seven languages.[10]
Touré had great success at these competitions and ended up heading toBulgaria to represent Mali internationally. It was during this trip that he bought his first guitar, and it was also the first time that he heard the music that was being produced by African Americans in the United States during the 1960s, of which Touré instantly became a fan. He was particularly fond of the music ofJohn Lee Hooker and has stated that, “The first time I heard John Lee Hooker, I heard his music but I said ‘I don’t understand this, where did they come up with this culture? This is something that belongs to us.”[10]
Although Touré has been described as "The African Bluesman", he insists that his music is not blues, having stated that, “To me blues is a type of soap powder, my music is older than the blues”.[10]
As the first African bluesman to achieve widespread popularity on his home continent, Touré was often known as "the AfricanJohn Lee Hooker".[11] Musically, the many superpositions of guitars and rhythms in his music were similar to John Lee Hooker's hypnotic blues style. He usually sang in one of severalAfrican languages, mostlySonghay,Fulfulde,Tamasheq orBambara[8] as on his breakthrough album,Ali Farka Touré, which established his reputation in theworld music community.
Touré's first job in the music industry was as a sound engineer atRadio Mali inBamako. This job allowed him the opportunity to use the radio station's recording studio, which at the time was the only recording studio in Mali. Touré sent tapes of his recordings to various record labels inFrance and eventually ended up releasing a series of albums simply titled ‘Ali Farka Touré’ in the late 70s and early 80s. in 1986 Touré captured the attention of the British market when tracks from one of his albums referred to as ‘the red album’ was played on British radio.[12]
British DJAndy Kershaw discovered ‘the red album’ whilst inParis looking for albums that were difficult to find in the UK. He recalls how he purchased the album at random amongst a pile of others as the album cover had stood out to him. Upon listening to the album after he had returned home to NorthLondon he realised that he had found something special. Upon playing a few tracks on his segment onBBC Radio One it provoked an extraordinary reaction from his listeners.[13]
It was this that grasped the attention of Anne Hunt of 'World Circuit Records'. In the mid-1980s, Hunt travelled to Mali to track down Ali Farka Touré, she eventually found him by broadcasting a message on Radio Mali seeking information about his whereabouts. World Circuit records brought him to Britain for the first time in 1987 and Touré went on to record seven records with them. The first few of these albums included some interesting collaborations such as withSeán Keane andKevin Conneff ofThe Chieftains on The River in 1990 andNitin Sawhney and the American blues playerTaj Mahal on The Source in 1992. Although, his most high-profile collaboration of the early 90s was 1994'sTalking Timbuktu withRy Cooder.[14] Cooder later recalled how Touré didn't like recording the album in the Hollywood studio and described it as a place of ‘bad energy’ and The USA in general as a ‘spiritual car park’.[13]
Touré's first North American concert was inHarrison Hot Springs, British Columbia[citation needed]. 1994'sTalking Timbuktu, a collaboration withRy Cooder, sold promisingly well in Western markets,[15] but was followed by a hiatus from releases in America andEurope. He reappeared in 1999 with the release ofNiafunké, a more traditional album focusing on African rhythms and beats. Touré was the mentor and uncle of popular Malian musicianAfel Bocoum[citation needed].
In 2002 Touré appeared with Black American blues and reggae performerCorey Harris, on an album calledMississippi to Mali (Rounder Records). Toure and Harris also appeared together inMartin Scorsese's 2003 documentary filmFeel Like Going Home,[16] which traced the roots of blues back to its genesis in West Africa. The film was narrated by Harris and features Ali's performances on guitar andnjarka.
He was very supportive of director Manny Ansar's idea to moveFestival au Désert toTimbuktu, after its first two years in theKidal region of Mali. He said that he had always wanted to bring people home, but did not know how to do that, and that now that this festival had been organised, he would support it; he would be their "godfather". He started performing at the festival, bringing in a lot of his fans, more visitors, tourists, and journalists. He performed the closing concert every year from 2003 until 2006.[17]
In September 2005, Touré released the albumIn the Heart of the Moon, a collaboration withToumani Diabaté, for which he received a second Grammy award.[8] His last album,Savane, was posthumously released in July 2006. It was received with wide acclaim by professionals and fans alike and was nominated for aGrammy Award in the category "Best Contemporary World Music Album".[citation needed] The panel of experts from the World Music Chart Europe (WMCE), a chart voted by the leading World Music specialists around Europe, choseSavane as their Album of the Year 2006, with the album topping the chart for three consecutive months (September to November 2006).[18] The album has also been listed as No. 1 in the influentialMetacritic's "Best Albums of 2006" poll,[19] and No. 5 in its all-time best reviewed albums.[19] Ali Farka Touré has also been nominated for theBBC Radio 3 awards 2007.[20]
In February 2018 Idrissa Soumaoro's song Bèrèbèrè, featuring Touré, was used inBlack Panther.[21]
In 2004 Touré became mayor ofNiafunké and spent his own money grading the roads, putting in sewer canals and fuelling a generator that provided the impoverished town with electricity.[8]
On 6 March 2006, theMinistry of Culture of Mali announced Touré's death at age 66 inBamako frombone cancer, which he had been battling for some time. His record label, World Circuit, said that he had recorded several tracks with his son,Vieux Farka Touré, for Vieux's debut album, released in late 2006.[citation needed].
The Ali Farka Touré Foundation was created in his honour and to further his musical legacy. The foundation was represented by Ali Guindo at a 2017 show inNew York City.[17]
Musicians playing in his style played as the Ali Farka Touré Allstars at the last Festival au Désert in Timbuktu in 2012.[22] In 2017, the Ali Farka Touré Band (which had formed in 2014) played as part of the "Caravane culturelle de la paix" inNew York City, with a line-up led by lead vocalist Afel Bocoum, and includingdjembe player Souleymane Kane, guitar and vocalist Aly Magassa, guitar and vocalist Mamadou Kelly, and electric bass guitarist Oumar Diallo.[17]
Some of Touré's songs and tunes have been used in different programmes, films and documentaries.[16] For instance, his guitar riff on the song "Diaraby", from the albumTalking Timbuktu, was selected for the Geo-quiz segment ofThe WorldPRI-BBC program, and was retained by popular demand when put to a vote of the listeners.[23] This song is likewise used in 1998 as a soundtrack for the filmL'Assedio (Besieged) by the Italian directorBernardo Bertolucci. His songsCinquante six,Goye Kur andHawa Dolo from the albumThe Source are also used as a soundtrack in the French filmFin août, début septembre (Late August, Early September) directed in 1998 byOlivier Assayas.[16] The song "Lasidan" was featured in the award-winning documentary "Sharkwater" byRob Stewart.
| Year Awarded | Nominee/work | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Talking Timbuktu | Best World Music Album | Won | |
| 1999 | Niafunké | Best World Music Album | Nominated | |
| 2005 | In The Heart Of The Moon | Best World Music Album | Won | |
| 2006 | Savane | Best Contemporary World Music Album | Nominated | |
| 2010 | Ali and Toumani | Best Traditional World Music Album | Won |
Bibliography
