Ali Farka Touré is well known as one of the most influential and talented guitarists that Africa has ever produced. His legacy and impact are hard to overstate. Ali’s sound merged his much-loved traditional Malian musical styles with distinct elements of the blues, singing in local languages. The result was the creation of a groundbreaking new genre, now well known as the ‘desert blues’, earning him 3 Grammy awards, widespread reverence and the nickname of the ‘African John Lee Hooker’. Listen to his catalogue: worldcircuit.lnk.to/AFTCatalogue 'Voyageur' is out now on CD, LP and digital formats: worldcircuit.lnk.to/AFTVoyageur
“Touré had great success at these competitions and ended up heading to Bulgaria to represent Mali internationally. It was during this trip that he bought his first guitar, and it was also the first time that he heard the music that was being produced by African Americans in the United States during the 1960s, of which Touré instantly became a fan. He was particularly fond of the music of John Lee Hooker and has stated that, “The first time I heard John Lee Hooker, I heard his music but I said ‘I don’t understand this, where did they come up with this culture? This is something that belongs to us.” While Toure’s work is wonderful, he heard a unique concoction coming from the cotton fields of the American south and then merged it again with is own culture. Other than vocals, because that’s all we had, the Blackman in America with the use of the guitar created the blues. The only thing we had of Africa was a subconscious rhythm, stripped of everything else, and we then produced a unique sound (with the use of European instruments, our hands and feet) that rocked the globe.
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