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Feature/Concert Preview : Out of Africa
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Maine Today, Feature/Concert Preview : Out of Africa >>
By: STEPHANIE BOUCHARD
At 25 years old, guitarist Vieux Farka Toure finds himself facing gigantic expectations: his own, those of his home community in Mali in west Africa, and those of the music industry and his father's fans.
Toure is the fourth oldest child of the renowned Malian guitarist Ali Farka TourÈ, who died a year ago of bone cancer. He released his self-titled debut album last fall and is currently on his first North American tour, stopping at the Strand Theatre in Rockland Friday.
The elder TourÈ, a two-time Grammy Award winner, was considered a trailblazer in African music, partly because through his music he demonstrated the links between American blues music and traditional Malian music. He forbade his son to follow in his musical footsteps.
"My father wanted to spare me from all the evils of the industry -- the hypocrites, the swindlers, the backstabbers, the liars, etc.," TourÈ wrote in a translated e-mail interview (TourÈ speaks several African dialects and French, but not English). "He would advise me that the industry most often brought out the worst in people, which is why he didn't approve."
But TourÈ was as determined and stubborn as his father, who had himself defied his family's wishes to become a musician. "His disapproving didn't make me any more motivated than I already was to become a musician," said TourÈ. "All it meant was that I had to go about it more or less in secret until he was ready to accept my path."
TourÈ enrolled, secretly, in the National Arts Institute in his hometown of Bamako and added guitar skills to his talents as a drummer and calabash (gourd) player. A good friend of his father's, Toumani DiabatÈ, a renowned kora (a lute-like instrument played like a harp) player, recognized TourÈ's talent and encouraged the elder TourÈ to accept his son's musical future.
Ali Farka TourÈ did accept his son's decision to follow in his footsteps. His last recordings, and the only recordings of father and son playing together, are on TourÈ's debut album.
With the elder TourÈ gone, his son faces the expectations of those who see him as his father's successor. Story after story written about TourÈ says the torch has been passed to him.
TourÈ recognizes his responsibility to his father's legacy but shrugs off others' expectations. "The responsibility of spreading his messages and carrying on his musical tradition is with me now," TourÈ said. "But other people's thoughts and expectations are for them to have, not for me."
Instead, TourÈ is focused on giving back to his homeland and furthering his music. Ten percent of the proceeds from his album benefit BÈe Sago, a UNICEF-related organization that provides treated mosquito nets to children and pregnant women in Mali, where malaria is a serious problem.
As for his music, TourÈ has already set himself apart by adding contemporary rhythms, such as reggae and rock, to traditional Malian music. "I want to be able to reach out further than my father was able to -- further than African artists in general have been able to," he said. "I want to connect with the world and have them see me for more than an 'African' musician. I want them to see me as a musician first, and at that, a musician with something to say."
To hear audio clips from TourÈ's debut album, go to entertainment.mainetoday.com. 03/01/07 >> go there
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