Celebrating the life of the original African Bluesman
By Matt Yanchyshyn
Ali Farka Touré, one of the most internationally acclaimed artists in West African music, has died today after a long illness. He was 67.
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You can read the many obits floating around the web for yourself, but personally his music had a huge influence on me. Way, way before I ever even thought of moving to West Africa – or even out of Canada – I was into Touré’s albums.
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Talking Timbuktu, Radio Mali and Niafunké were a gateway into the rich world of contemporary African rock and blues, and ultimately helped shape my musical taste for the region.
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Talking Timbuktu, Niafunke and In The Heart of the Moon remain some of the best West African albums in my collection. Red/Green, The River, The Source and Radio Mali are also on that shelf and get routine play on the African shuffle.
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If you can believe it I was still in high school when Talking Timbuktu hit Toronto record shops in 1995. At the time I would’ve been rocking to whatever hiphop, pop, etc was cool in the mid-nineties. I’d always been into music a bit out of the norm, but Ali Farka Touré really helped me break-out of the North American sound and explore folk, blues and rock from other countries, notably Mali, Brazil, Senegal and South Africa.
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I can thank Touré’s albums along with some Nigerian funk compilations I picked-up in the late-nineties for what is now nearly a 10-year obsession with world music, African in particular.
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Rest in peace, grand Touré.
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Yanchyshyn is an expert on African music and the Associated Press’ (AP) correspondent in West Africa. He blogs at mattgy.net
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Ali Farka Toure:Tribute and Podcast
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