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Niafunke
 
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Niafunke

~ Ali Farka Toure
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
Price: £10.98 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Niafunke + Talking Timbuktu + In the Heart of the Moon
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Product details

  • Audio CD (21 Jun 1999)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: World Circuit
  • ASIN: B0000257Q2
  • Other Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 43,882 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Samples
Song Title Time Price
Listen  1. Ali's Here 3:17£0.69
Listen  2. Allah Uya 4:31£0.69
Listen  3. Mali Dje 5:41£0.69
Listen  4. Saukare 2:51£0.69
Listen  5. Hilly Yoro 3:39£0.69
Listen  6. Tulumba 5:22£0.69
Listen  7. Instrumental 4:13£0.69
Listen  8. Asco 5:49£0.69
Listen  9. Jangali Famata 3:23£0.69
Listen10. Howkouna. 5:59£0.69
Listen11. Cousins 4:19£0.69
Listen12. Pieter Botha 3:20£0.69

Product Description

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

CD 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.

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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Mali's blues legend, 3 Sep 2003
By Mr. C. W. Smith "karyobin@hotmail.com" - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
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.
The joyful praising of God in ‘Allah Uya’ and the majestic simplicity of the slowly simmering ‘Mali Dje’ where Toure pleads for Mali to educate it’s young for the future follow.

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.
‘Hilly Yoro’ see’s the return of one of Toure’s trademark licks in a song about co-operation and stability.
‘Tulumba’ has a traditional Malian rhythm dancing guitar figures and a political message.
‘Instrumental’ seems to be a free guitar piece rather reminiscent of John Fahey.
‘ASCO’ another breathtaking ballad dedicated to the musicians Toure has worked with over the years.
‘Jangali Famata’ Once again has Toure on the Njarka Violin in a quick tempo plea for the right of education.
‘Howkouna’ slows the pace for a call and response Malian style.
‘Cousins’ a lovely acoustic guitar workout dedicated to the people he grew up with.
‘Pieter Botha’ inspired by the end of apartheid and played spontaneously.

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.

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars amazing talent, 23 July 2004
By Zamby (England) - See all my reviews
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.
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6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars cool but woth african rhythm; grows in intensity; spiritual., 22 Mar 2000
By T. Hopkins "Trevor Hopkins" (England, near Poole, Dorset) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This CD is very cool and controlled, and has a spiritual depth. It woult appeal to Ben Okri who writes amazing novels about the spiritual intensity of Africa. You can also sense the 'roots' of American blues returning to its place of origin. The more you hear, the more intense the feelings. You can also imagine yourself somewhere in the depths of Africa, isolated, yet close to mother earth. A deep spiritual work as well as a cool CD with amazing African rhythm.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Master class from Toure's Desert Home.
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... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Bob Salter

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