Touré’s ambivalence about the music profession stemmed from his noble heritage. Touré obtained his first ax in 1968 in Bulgaria, and within four years, he was making recordings for Radio Mali. Guitarist Fodeba Keita, founder of Guinea’s National Ballet, inspired him with the idea that music could teach people about culture and history. It was only in 1956 that he set his sights on guitar. He garnered a local reputation but found himself moving away from spirit music, fearing the dangers of the occult. For that, you must have music.” As a boy, Touré was seduced by the mystic appeal of the plucked, one-string djerkel and the bowed njarka, both used in Songhai spirit possession ceremonies. “When you don’t work with the spirits,” he once said, “you can’t reveal the mysteries-the secrets. Educated minimally, Touré grew up in a world where Islam and animism commingled. The only survivor out of 10 children, he earned his first nickname, Farka, or “donkey,” for his evident tenacity. Touré was born in 1939 in Kanau, a small town on the Niger River. Diabaté recently suggested an apter tag line for Touré: “the lion of the desert.” If there was one thing Touré stood for, and fiercely, it was the patrimony and culture of Mali’s arid north. But he held on long enough to learn he had won a second Grammy for his 2005 collaboration with kora player Toumani Diabaté, In the Heart of the Moon. It doesn’t come from beer and whiskey.” Touré died on March 7, after a protracted fight with bone cancer. It comes from history, from the land, nature, animals. It comes from Africa and particularly from Mali. “I am a mechanic, technician, chauffeur, and farmer-all that is before music.” As for Hooker, Touré said, “He plays tunes whose roots he does not understand. When Malian guitarist and singer Ali Farka Touré won a Grammy for his 1994 collaboration with Ry Cooder, Talking Timbuktu, his reputation as the “African John Lee Hooker” spread worldwide.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |