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Ali Farka Toure appreciation

roistoroisto 879 Posts
edited November 2006 in Strut Central
Who else is feeling his (RIP) music? I have The Source from 1992 on CD, but which, if any, of his albums are available on vinyl?Tinariwen is pretty cool in the same meditative African blues style.

  Comments

  • coffinjoecoffinjoe 1,743 Posts
    "the river" is great & on vinyl

    also the self titled
    both from mango/island
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/review?oid=oid%3A392304
  • coffinjoecoffinjoe 1,743 Posts
    ALI !
  • rape_donkeysrape_donkeys 615 Posts
    'the river' is on vinyl yeah but that's really not the best record. he has a couple real early ones on sonafric that are hard as fuck to turn up and one on disques esperance sometimes referred to as 'la drogue' (even though i guess it's technically self-titled) from the early 80s that is a little easier and absolutely incredible. there's also one on mango from the late 80s that has its moments but suffers from kind of antiseptic production. savane is also nice yeah but it's got the same problem to me. almost sounds like putumayo in parts. the one that came out right before he passed with toumani diabate is really good - very spare guitar / kora griot stuff. i don't think the man truly made a bad record.

    there's also a documentary about him that is kind of terrible as a film, but interesting nonetheless as far as subject matter goes. 'a visit to ali farka toure' i think it's called. love love love the man's music.

    also check boubacar traore and tartit if you're fiending for something similar along these lines. i know you've got the orchestre mopti record - ali farka is on the orchestre kayes in that barenreiter series.
  • coffinjoecoffinjoe 1,743 Posts
    he has a couple real early ones on sonafric that are hard as fuck to turn up and one on disques esperance sometimes referred to as 'la drogue' (even though i guess it's technically self-titled) from the early 80s that is a little easier and absolutely incredible.

    how do you rate the Ry Cooder lp ?
  • roistoroisto 879 Posts
    ali farka is on the orchestre kayes in that barenreiter series.

    Didn't know that. Thanks for the info!
  • rape_donkeysrape_donkeys 615 Posts


    how do you rate the Ry Cooder lp ?

    ry cooder one is cool. like i said, i don't think any of it is bad - just that there's good and there's 'wait a fucking second, is this even happening' you know? but yeah i'm not really reaching for the cooder too often. in this case.
  • aleitaleit 1,915 Posts
    he has a couple real early ones on sonafric that are hard as fuck to turn up and one on disques esperance sometimes referred to as 'la drogue' (even though i guess it's technically self-titled) from the early 80s that is a little easier and absolutely incredible.

    just pulled out the esperance lp. haven't listened to this in many many years... probably one of the first 10 african records i ever bought.... absolutely beautiful... you shouldn't have a hard time finding this and i'd guess no more than 20 euros. the desert blues stuff is killer.

    there's also a documentary about him that is kind of terrible as a film, but interesting nonetheless as far as subject matter goes. 'a visit to ali farka toure' i think it's called. love love love the man's music.

    i think we talked about the movie, simon... i didn't see the one on Ali Farka.... the one on Boubacar i thought was garbage as well... i actually avoided Demme's documentary on Katrina and New Orleans that was just playing for the same potential reasons- there was something about the imagery he used in the Traore film- almost as if it were national geographic stock footage of malian women and children that just seemed so displaced, distant, and "Other"- not to read too deep but a very colonialist outer shell.

    different style but for more on the traditional front, i'd recommend from Senegal-Thione Seck's solo LP from 1980 - Chauffer Bi (seck was a member of Orch. Baobab).... also definitely check out Virtuouses Diabate (Sekou Diabate from bembeya jazz and Sona Diabate) on syliphone- absolutely beautiful cuban inflected stripped down guinean music. neither should cost you more than $30 - $40.

    hope things are well, risto!

    peace.
  • funky16cornersfunky16corners 7,175 Posts
    I have a disc of his early recordings called 'Radio Mali' that's also pretty cool...
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