Ali Farka Touré
It can be hard, sometimes, to know what to say to Richard when you meet him casually. I work at a standing work station and one time he walked by and asked me what the deal was and why I was standing up. I began to explain to him about reports of ill effects of sitting all day long when I realized I was telling a guy who dodges bullets and bombs for a living about the perils of restricted bloodflow to my butt. Ug.
But thankfully the other day when we arrived at the same elevator at the same time I had something more relevant to share. I told him what I'd been reading about Mali and the musicians there.
Oh yeah, he said, the music in Mali is great. It's where American blues came from. You should check out Ali Farka Touré, they call him the African John Lee Hooker. He's very famous.
We parted ways in the building lobby and I pulled a scrap of paper out of my pocket and wrote "Ali Forkature." Luckily, Google knew who I was looking for.
And it turns out they really do call Touré "the African John Lee Hooker," literally. And he really is famous. And Malian music really is seen as the forebear of American blues.
Khaira Arby
Ali Farka Touré died in 2006, so if you were Googling the musicians who participated in that song a couple of weeks ago, you wouldn't have found his name. One name you would have found, though, is Khaira Arby (more).
Described as the grand dame of Malian music and nicknamed "the Nightingale of the North," Arby fled Timbuktu when she was threatened by the Islamic extremists who had been taking over the northern towns in Mali and are presently being pushed out by French and Malian forces.
"Arby's own music studio in Timbuktu was raided by the local religious police. "They destroyed my instruments — guitars, mixing equipment, the production studio," she says, costing the loss at nearly £100,000."
Yesterday we learned the horrible news that in addition to targeting Malian musical culture, the religious extremists burned down several buildings over the weekend, including a Timbuktu library, the Ahmad Babu Institute, full of ancient, irreplaceable texts (more on those here and here).
And yet even with this escalation to a global offense against human heritage, it is the music of Mali that stays at the center of the story:
Residents of northern Mali's largest city poured out of their homes to celebrate the expulsion of Islamist fighters who had held their town for months, playing the music that had been forbidden under the militants' harsh interpretation of Islamic rule and dancing in the streets.
...
The prohibition of music was particularly tough on Niafounké, Mr. Kané said, because it was the home of one of Mali's most celebrated blues musicians, Ali Farka Touré.
The album Baltimore's City Paper said illuminates the connection between Malian music and American blues through the playing of Ali Farka Touré is called Ali and Toumani. It's not in Grooveshark, but you can listen on Spotify for free if you've got that installed. As for Grooveshark's collection, the one I like the best so far (and on which the John Lee Hooker comparison is most evident) is Savane.
If you'd like to add Timbuktu and Niafounké to your mental map of Africa, you can see they're farther north than the towns we looked at last time:
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New addition to the play list
Definitely.
And Will, Richard has no greater immunity from deep vein thrombosis than you do. Long plane rides. Riding in cramped tanks, trucks, buses.
A lot of field journalism is sitting around and waiting, for a source, an event, a person to walk past. Schmoozing breakfasts, lunches, dinners. Not standing up all that much.
Oh you have a wonderful journey of music ahead of you if you're just cracking into the Malian scene. One of the highlights of my two years in Bamako as a Peace Corps volunteer was the opportunity to dance the night away under the open skies to these amazing tunes. World-famous musicians would play local bars and clubs on any given weekend and since it was Mali where everyone knows everyone and people are so warm and welcoming, it was always casual and fun. I met Ali Farka Toure at one such gig. Incredible guitarist and he had such a great smile and sense of humor. Watching him play, you could really sense how much joy he got out of music. And he certainly gave joy as well.
You need to check out the following artists as well: Habib Koite (more of a classical guitar style), Bassekou Kouyate (plays the ngoniba, sort of a precursor to the banjo), Rokia Traore (we used to joke that she was the Malian Ani DiFranco), Salif Keita (that VOICE), Toumani Diabate (master of the kora, 21-stringed harp), and Oumou Sangare (also known for her powerful voice). I've included links to youtube for each. But go forth and explore on Spotify. And there are so many more.
Also, one positive ray of news...it would appear that the reports of the libraries of Timbuktu being lost were precipitous. Most of the manuscripts had already been smuggled out to avoid just this scenario.
Mali is such a special place with amazing people, rich culture and a proud long history. One can only hope that this current trouble will pass and that it will return to the peace and stability it has known.
Thank you for including the links and info in your pleasant post. Your share is appreciated.
Will, thanks for the article and music links. Wonderful.
And mali muso, enjoyed your post and the links as well. I'm glad to hear the manuscripts were smuggled out. The loss of heritage and cultural places is a sad part of conflict we often forget.
mali muso, what a great post. Thank you for sharing that stuff, and you too, Will. I'm on it. Blues rules, after all, as does John Lee Hooker.
The collaborations between Ali Farka Toure and the incredible Kora Griot Toumani Diabate are among my music favorites. I also very highly recommend the Rough Guide to the Music of Mali for an exquisite compilation of a variety of Malian musical artists. Grammy World Music Award winners this year, Tinariwen from North Mali, Amadou and Miriam blind Malian musician who have taken Europe by storm, and many others are well worth adding to your playlist. You might also want to check out Episodes 39, 43 and 65 of the Playing For Change series for more Malian musicians (and all the other episodes for that matter for great international collaborative music). Let the Google be your guide.
samcdc, Thanks for the music. Playing for Change is one of my favorite sites. I have listened/watched "War, We Don't Need No More Trouble" a hundred times and I get a thrill every time.
Very good recommendations, samcdc. The two albums "In the Heart of the Moon" and "Ali and Toumani" are, imo, new classics. Destined for a place on my musical shelf forever, anyways. These two master musicians were able to just sit down and jam organically, drawing on shared musical tradition as well as their own unique abilities to improvise. If I recall correctly, the first album was essentially a one-take jam session. For me, the song that evokes sitting beside the Niger River and watching the sun set in Mali would be Howa Dolo (link provided). Married couple Amadou and Mariam are also a treat.
Rachel, I love your show
Great post Will. Thanks for that first paragraph (I will now picture you standing, not sitting and stop worrying about your butt's bloodflow). I can't wait to explore Malian music. Thanks for the introduction. Maddow fans are so fortunate to have you - may we never take you for granted.
Quite a few years back Ali Farka Toure cut an album with Ry Cooder -awesome! Also, Bruce Cockburn played and was inspired by Ali Farka Toure!
So, Mali is indeed a place of some mighty fine music, and musicians around the world have known it for some time now!
Welcome aboard! -Kevo
kev, I have that Ry Cooder album on cassette. I forgot all about it. I'm going rummaging tomorrow! Wow!
Talking Timbuktu is the name of the album. Won a grammy in 1994. Definitely worth looking up. My personal favorite track is Soukora as it used to be one of the tunes we listened to on our way from Peace Corps training site to our host village. It will always make me think of scrubby trees outlined against the endless sky and the burnt red dirt of the surrounding landscape.
The torching of the Ahmed Baba Institute should have been the lead. Thank you.
Actually, Will, now that you have gone here... as we continue to watch conflict and change throughout the world, feel free to introduce us to other performers. I have been doing an around the world on Youtube and have grown to love middle eastern and eastern European music. Unfortunately, the performers aren't always listed. I have also enjoyed the tunes on Maddowblog. Thanks.
On Inauguration day, Engle complained, "Obama said a decade of war was over. Tell that to the guys on patrol in [some part of Afghanistan]!"
But of course, Obama *hadn't* said it was over. The President had said it was *ending.*
The torching of the Ahmed Baba Institute may not have destroyed as much as is being widely reported. I happened to catch a radio segment last night on NPR in which a speaker who appeared to be intimately familiar with the situation in Timbuktu reported that the vast majority of the Institute's holdings had been removed and hidden prior to the Jihadist's takeover of the city, to save it from exactly the sort of destruction that ended up happening.
But the story still merits a great deal more coverage. The library's texts document a cultural flowering in the center of Africa, more or less contemporaneous with the Rennaisance, but virtually unknown to westerners.
Ali Farka Touré? Any connection with The Cycle's Touré, by any chance?
Inquiring minds want to know...
Toure is a very common family name in W. Africa. A little like Smith or Johnson. So probably no connection. :)
Anyone who is not familiar with Ali Farka Toure's music: go out and listen to some RIGHT NOW. Sadly, he died and there will be no more from him but it's FABULOUS!