Ali Farka Toure - Savane (Mali 2006)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

African Music Month

01. Erdi

02. Ye Bounda Fara

03. Beto

04. Savane

05. Soya

06. Penda Yoro

07. Machengoidi

08. Ledi Coumbe

09. Hanana

10. Soko Yhinka

11. Gambari Didi

12. Banga

13. N´jarou

A quick review before I head off tramping for the long weekend and especially as I ran out of time last night to post the days review as I was trying out Linux on this new machine, couldn't get the browser to work.

There is no doubt from listening to this album that Ali Farka Toure deserved the international recognition he received. This is a powerful mix of American blues and traditional Mali music and the guitar sound is like nothing I have heard before. Very Mesmerising playing and lots of wonderful atmosphere on this excellent set. I wonder what Leadbelly  or Robert Johnston would have thought of this music. There is a lot of talk about this representing the roots of American blues and there is a strong recognisable blues sound  complementing this African sounding music. I seem to remember the African musician on Scorsese's "The Blues" Doco' saying he had been playing that music all his life. With American slavery ending with the American Civil War in the 1860s and I believe the importing of Slaves direct from Africa declining considerably much earlier, I believe the blues we are hearing on this LP has been Incorporated into this music from African Musicians being exposed to early American blues records and although the origins of the blues certainly lie within the music traditions of  Continental Africa at the time of the slave trade, I think the roots of The Blues is a bit more indirect than this.

I have been aware of Ali Farka Toure, since some of his songs appeared on  a couple of Uncut magazine's Sampler CDs, but hadn't really given his music any serious consideration until now.  After getting a sense of the excellent quality of this release while at work, closer inspection with the headphones on the Cyrus reveal the beauty of the intricate playing and rhythms as well as the considerable quality of the recording. This Musical blend is magical and I have to rate it 4.5/5.

Have a listen Here