- Audio CD (18 May 2009)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: Wrasse Records
- ASIN: B001W63DP0
- Other Editions: MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 56,861 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product Description
Review
The offspring of famous artists rarely fare well with their own musical ventures. And if your Dad was as legendary a figure as Ali Farka Touré, the chances of filling his shoes would seem slim indeed. Yet, with his eponymous debut, Ali's son Vieux has revealed himself as an equally gifted guitarist with his own more accessible sound, which takes in contemporary styles such as dub and rock, while remaining true to his Malian roots.
As anyone who has seen him play live will attest, he's a virtuoso, but like many of the greatest at his craft he knows it's what you don't play that counts, never sacrificing quality or timing for speed. He also values collaboration, enlisting for this project the skills of local luminaries such as kora player Toumani Diabaté (in whose band Vieux learned his trade), vocalist Issa Sory Bamba and his father, who made his last recordings for this album.
The results are varied in style but stunning in execution. 'Ana' is lilting and authentic reggae, written for his sister. 'Courage' (with Bamba) is an expansive, undulating rocker that builds to a wall of sound from a few roughly plucked notes of the ngoni (Malian lute), while Vieux and Diabaté get a myriad of variations you'd never think possible from a single poignant phrase in the closing jam, which bears the kora master's name.
But Vieux Farka Touré is a good deal more than these constituent parts. Every track is necessary to the overall mood, and the entire album flows from one piece to the next as an integrated whole. So, while no one will ever take his father's place in history, Vieux is entirely his own man. This is an astounding debut from a fully formed talent who'll carry the family name far into the new century. If you only buy one 'world music' album this year! you know the rest. --Angus Taylor
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CD Description
Vieux Farka Touré, the son of the great Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré, has already stepped out from his late father’s shadow. Ali proved that the soul of the blues could be found in West Africa. Vieux, however, is turning heads with a more radical idea: that those western Saharan roots can be heard in everything from the jam band scene to Jamaican dub. Fondo, Vieux’s newest effort, is more than a stirring mix of traditional instruments and a world music artist embracing the sounds of rock, it is the sound of a young man coming into his own. In fact, Vieux’s career in music would never have happened if his illustrious parent had his way. Ali felt that the music business was a harsh place to work. But young Vieux found a mentor in Toumani Diabate, and his own guitar skills eventually convinced the elder Farka Touré that a second generation of family musicians was inevitable. This is music from a contemporary Africa--urban, sophisticated, globally connected but deeply proud of its ancient heritage. This is the old/new Africa that Vieux represents. Fondo is the music of an Africa that rocks, and yet still hears the camel’s tread in the sand.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Getting there,
This review is from: Fondo (The Road) (Audio CD)
Vieux' second album develops on his 2006 self-titled debut, which was altogether too polite, as proved by some of the lovely versions released on the remix album "UFO's Over Bamako",......but... The 'but' is that, having seen him live and been completely blown away by an ambitious, technically dazzling and, most importantly, awesomely rocking young musician who was up for moving his father's somewhat stately Malian blues into a blistering, Hendrix-inspired electric/sonic maelstrom, I'm still waiting to hear a recording that does justice to that live self. "Fondo" is a great piece of work, no doubt about that, and it gives tantalising glimpses of what he is capable of delivering live. I just wish he and his producers were confident enough to break out of the world music ghetto and present him as the potentially world-conquering artist and musician his live set suggests. In the meantime, this new album will do, but he is capable of producing scorching, scintillating music that could cross any sort of boundary, musical, cultural,, linguistic, geographical, you name it. So, "Fondo" is great for now, but surely his live ambition should translate to a recording soon. Or even, maybe, a live set? That would be something else again!
4.0 out of 5 stars
Better than his dad?,
By David G (UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Fondo (The Road) (Audio CD)
Better than his dad? Probably not, but as good and a bit different. Above all I think there's more variety here than you'll find in his Dad's work. The laid back duet with Toumani Diabate ("Paradise") lives up to its name and wouldn't have been out of place on "In the heart of the moon (Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate). Not sure Dad ever turned his hand to reggae though, as Vieux does here to good effect ("Diaraby Magni"). Well worth four stars!
4.0 out of 5 stars
good but not quite great.,
By
This review is from: Fondo (The Road) (Audio CD)
This album is in a similar vein to the first VFT album, lots of intricate guitar playing, a bit more 'rock' than the first, but still some great songs and plenty of variety with the occassional more accoustic track such as Paradise which features Toumani Diabate.If you liked the eponymous VFT ablum then you will not be disappointed by this, recommended.
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