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
Description
Ali Farka Toure is a guitarist from Mali whose style draws almost equally upon the folk music of his homeland and American blues, particularly the dark and minimal repetitive-trance style of John Lee Hooker and acoustic country blues guitarists such as Mississippi John Hurt. In the past, his (uniformly fine) albums have featured guest shots and collaborations with Ry Cooder and members of the Irish trad-folk group the Chieftans, but here it's back to the roots.
Recorded in a Toure's home village in Mali, with a small group of singers and players, NIAFUNKE is delightfully low-key and captivating. Beautifully picked acoustic guitar combines with shimmering electric guitar percussion, voices, and violin to weave the spacious, circular melodies that explore the common ground shared by the blues and African folk music. "Tulumba" glimmers like a desert mirage, and "Pieter Botha" sounds like a Delta blues tune played by a wandering musician while travelling through Spain and England in the Middle Ages.