ALI FARKA TOURE

Ali Farka Touré was born in 1939 in the village of Kanau on the banks of the River Niger in the north west of Mali. In 1968 Ali made his first trip outside Africa when he was selected to represent Mali at an international festival of the arts in Sofia, Bulgaria. They performed arrangements of traditional music with Ali on guitar, flute, djerkel and njarka. It was in Sofia on 21st April 1968 that he bought his first guitar.

In 1970 he began a decade working for National Radio Mali as a sound engineer. He also played as part of Radio Mali's orchestra until it was disbanded in 1973. Throughout the 1970's he brought his unique guitar style to the attention of the country via many radio broadcasts. On the advice of a journalist friend he sent a number of recordings of these broadcasts to the Son Afric record company in Paris. In a matter of months the first Ali Farka Touré album (amongst the very first commercial records of Malian music) featuring Ali on guitar and vocals and Nassourou Sarre on ngoni was released.

In 1986 one of his Radio Mali recorded albums (re-released on World Circuit as part of Red and Green in 2004), started to generate great interest amongst radio d.j.'s in London including Andy Kershaw and Charlie Gillett. It also came to the attention of Folk Roots magazine; with no information on the record sleeve the journal puzzled over this African musician who played the blues in such an individual way.

Anne Hunt from World Circuit travelled to Bamako to seek out this mysterious man. With the help of Toumani Diabate a broadcast was made on Radio Mali asking Ali to present himself. An invitation was made for Ali to perform in the U.K. and in 1987 for the first time since the Sofia Festival in 1968, Touré played his first concerts outside Africa.  Showing no signs of nerves or unfamiliarity with his surroundings, and with absolute and supreme confidence in his music, he played a masterful series of shows winning audiences everywhere.  In the same year his first recording outside Africa was an instant success for the World Circuit label.  

Since then he has undertaken extensive tours of Europe, U.S.A, Canada, Brazil and Japan and has recorded a further five albums for the label, including 'The River', 'The Source', and the GRAMMY Award winning 'Talking Timbuktu', a collaboration with Ry Cooder which served to confirm Ali's status as an artist of international repute.  

In 2005 the first of a trilogy of albums recorded at Bamako's Hotel Mandé was released. 'In the Heart of the Moon' a duet album with Toumani Diabaté won a GRAMMY award making Ali the only African to have received two such prestigious honours. Shortly following the album's release Ali played a series of brilliant European concerts with his unique down-home ngoni band featured on his new album, 'Savane' the third in the Hotel Mandé series.   Toumani accompanied Ali on those live dates, prior to which they spent 3 days in a London studio recording the follow up to 'In the Heart of the Moon'.  Featuring contributions from Orlando 'Cachaíto' López on bass, the album 'Ali and Toumani' is released in February 2010.

Sadly, Ali would not see the release of 'Savane'. Just a few weeks after winning his second GRAMMY and approving the album's final master, Ali succumbed to the bone cancer with which he had suffered from for the preceding two years. He died in Bamako on March 7th 2006 and was buried in Niafunké.


Original text by Lucy Duran
(updated by Nick Gold & Dave McGuire)