VIEUX FARKA TOURE (Modiba/World Village 468065)
Music history is littered with the offspring of famous people who tried to carve their own musical career. They may have a novelty appeal (like the Lennon or Marley kids) or even a hit (Nancy Sinatra) but for the most part we think, How sad, and their dad was so talented. Vieux Farka Toure is hamstrung by a name which suggests he is the elder here, but you get an an immediate sense that this is different. His album starts confidently in mid-stride and you know here is a serious contender for his late father's still-warm mantle. Though it is his debut album, there is a relaxed sense of accomplishment: the arrangements are full, the sidemen (some of whom backed his dad) well chosen, and there's the bittersweet element as Ali Farka makes a guest appearance as his swansong. Ali Farka, in fact, didn't want his son to be a musician, knowing full well the years of struggle and hardship that entails. This is traditional Malian music, mess less rooted in delta blues (as his father's was) with njarka (spike fiddle) and calabash percussion. The cathedral-like chimes of Ali's guitar float majestically into the opening of the third cut, "Tabara," with a sacramental tone, but Bassakou Kouyaté's ngoni ruptures the ascending cloud and brings us back to earth with some gutsy skirling. It's a mood more than a tune and drifts off aethereally to make way for a reggae groove that is unoriginal yet accomplished. (I've always been intrigued that African reggae seems stuck on Peter Tosh, not only as opposed to Marley, but as opposed to the musical evolution of reggae in the last two decades.) Mamadou Fofana is double-tracked on bass and that wild Peul flute on the next song, sung by Sekou Touré. Abruptly we gear down for a duet between Vieux and Toumani Diabaté, the virtuoso kora player, on a traditional piece about the last king of the Manding empire, Samory Touré. It's a beautifully done trancelike give-and-take & makes you eager for a whole album of the pair. But there's so much more to hear. Ali Farka pops back from beyond with his rocking "Baby please don't go" guitar lead on "Diallo." Again we are grounded in the savannah by the rocking ngoni contributed by Bassekou Kouyaté. Toumani Diabaté returns for another duet to close the album. All in all a superb production worthy all the superlatives being bandied about it.
By: Alastair Johnston
12/19/07 >> 
