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Sample Track 1:
"Ana" from Vieux Farka Touré
Sample Track 2:
"Ma Hine Cocore" from Vieux Farka Touré
Layer 2
CD Review

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Harp, CD Review >>

- By Evan Hag

VIEUX FARKA TOURE

Just as David and Kinney Kimbrough carry the blues- joogaloo torch stoked by father junior, so does Vieux Farka Toure echo his papa, the late Malian bluesman Ali Farka Toure. On this international debut, Vieux harbors all the elements that made his pop an institution; flowing guitar impro visations over spellbinding vamps, an exalting voice, elegiac lyrics that both contemplate and celebrate God, family and Malian life, and an ancient African gift for melody. "Dounia" is especially gorgeous, and on "Tabara" and "Diallo," the elder Tbure's final record ings, father and son meld into a single traditional voice, But Vieux isn't Ziggy, and he builds on his old man's work as much as he leans on check the rid- dimson "Ana" or the jook-worthy blues-rock of "Courage" for respectful stylistic growth. Clearly West Africa was a musical forebear to North Mississippi, and whippersnappers raised on Fat Possum will find pro found common ground here.
 05/01/07
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