Ali Farka Touré, 1939-2006

Earlier today, the Malian Ministry of Culture announced the death of one of my favorite musicians, Ali Farka Touré. Touré was a blues singer and guitarist as well as a rice farmer from northern Mali, whose work was influenced both by traditional Malian music and by American blues and soul artists like John Lee Hooker and Otis Redding. Despite a nearly 60-year musical career and more than two decades of international acclaim, Touré always humbly referred to himself as a farmer rather than a musician.

Touré died last Wednesday after a protracted battle with cancer and was buried in Niafunké, the town where he lived and worked. Touré was one of the few blues musicians to recieve acclaim in his home continent; he rose to inernational prominence in 1987 with a debut self-titled album and solidified his reputation in 1994 with the Ry Cooder collaboration, Talking Timbuktu. Feeling that his international acclaim had distanced him from his African musical roots, he took a hiatus and returned to his hometown. In 1999, he released Niafunké, which returned to more traditional African sources for inspiration.

The following is a site with samples from Touré's albums. One of my favorites is the last track on Niafunké; it takes its name from Pieter Botha, the staunchly pro-apartheid President of South Africa during the 1980s. This song has always stuck out on my mind because it takes a hard subject- the leader of one of the most oppressive authoritarian regimes in modern Africa- and handles it with lyrical beauty. I grew up hearing a lot of songs about apartheid in South Africa, and although I heard this one for the first time several years later, it is the only song I can remember which treats the subject with such grace.

For clips, click here.