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Amazon.co.uk Review
The extraordinarily talented Malian guitarist and singer-songwriter Ali Farka Toure will probably have come to the attention of most western music lovers through his 1994 release Talking Timbuktu, which featured Ry Cooder. Since that time he has stayed almost exclusively in Mali, working on his farm. He felt that touring and working abroad were undermining the bond with his homeland and the productive work which were central to both his happiness and artistic creativity. Thus Niafunke--the name of his village--was recorded on site using only friends and local musicians. The sound is generally more stripped down than Talking Timbuktu, but Ali Farka Toure's gorgeously ornate yet flowing guitar style still guides you every step of the way and the extraordinary space and texture of the music is still as overwhelming as ever. The difference lies deeper--as he himself says, "this record is more real, more authentic". Both albums have soul, but this one required no translation of musical forms or explanations--it speaks pure and straight from the heart of all the musicians involved. --James Swift
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mali's blues legend,
By
This review is from: Niafunke (Audio CD)
This is the first new recording from Toure in five years and it has been well worth the wait, recorded in his Malian hometown of Niafunke, situated on the banks of the Niger at the edge of the Sahara, this is a rewarding trawl through the ages and genres of African music, you can feel the heat and taste the dust in every one of the twelve superlative tracks. Those of you who loved his recording with Ry Cooder (Talking Timbuktu on World Circuit) will not be disappointed. Toure has, perhaps unfairly, been compared to John Lee Hooker and it is true that both men share a shimmering intensity in their solo playing, both are easily the most dominant voice in a group context and neither has real respect to the regimentation of a song, it’s as long or as short as it happens to be, but where Hooker is angular, rattling line after line of sparse menacing notes, Toure seems to glide, his tone brighter, with less distortion than his American counterpart, it is the light to Hooker’s dark. The CD’s opening track ‘Ali’s Here’ is possibly the most Hooker like in the repeating lines but the comparison ends as the Arabian sounding drums enter setting the stage for the chant like vocal that declares Toure’s gratitude and thanks to his people. I’ve put a summery track by track, but no review will do real justice to this very, very fine recording ‘Saukare’ see’s Toure playing the Njarka Violin on a beautiful ballad that he says he learnt in 1946 at a wedding. Overall this, as I’ve already said, is a great set of recordings and if you only have 1 African blues recording in your collection this is as good as it gets.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
amazing talent,
By Zamby (England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Niafunke (Audio CD)
This album has a great feel to it. Recorded in a minimal studio, with mostly acoustic backing (except for Toure's incredible guitar work), it is African "blues" at its best. Only, where the blues is about coming home to your shack with a hangover and finding your best friend with your wife, this source-of-the-blues music is more often about traditional values and unchanging virtues. Amazing enough, and then you read his offhand remark that the last track was improvised on the spot. The man is unbelievable.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Master class from Toure's Desert Home.,
By Bob Salter "Captain Spindrift" (Wiltshire, England) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (TOP 50 REVIEWER)
This review is from: Niafunke (Audio CD)
This happens to be one of my most cherished CDs. Listening to the haunting and beautiful music from "The King of the Desert 'Blues' Singers" Ali Farka Toure you realise what a sad loss he is to the world of music. How tragic that his life was cut so short when he was at the peak of his powers. One of my deep regrets was missing him performing live in London shortly before his death.
I must be honest here and say I only have two of his CDs. This one and "Savane". Niafunke is a remote village on the river Niger in Mali where Toure was born and lived. He even recorded "Niafunke" in this village. Of the two CDs I find "Niafunke" the stronger. It has no discernible weak points and has two particularly powerful songs in Tulumba and Cousins. All his music gives off a heady scent of the desert. Aside from visiting a museum about the Sahara in Marrakech, listening to Toure is about as close to that great desert as I am likely to get. It must have been a wonderful experience to hear the great man singing for the pleasure of himself and his friends in his desert home. That is how his very special musical gift would be best enjoyed. "Savane" was Toure's last work, and I willed it to be his best. This was not to be. "Niafunke" stands as a beautiful memory of this man and his home on the edge of the great ocean of sand.
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