KENYA: ALI FARKA TOURE TALKS ABOUT HIS MUSIC AS " THE AFRICAN BLUES" AND HIS COMBINATIONS OF TRADITIONAL AND WESTERN INFLUENCES

Record ID: 278206

  • Title: KENYA: ALI FARKA TOURE TALKS ABOUT HIS MUSIC AS " THE AFRICAN BLUES" AND HIS COMBINATIONS OF TRADITIONAL AND WESTERN INFLUENCES
  • Date: 9th February 2001
  • Summary: (NAIROBI, KENYA) (REUTERS) (RECENT) ALI FARKA TOURE IN CONCERT
  • Embargoed: 24th February 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NAIROBI, KENYA AND NIAFUNKE, MALI
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Entertainment,General
  • Reuters ID: LVA3F367JLGTYY033MXRZCSNH9UQ
  • Story Text: A close encounter with Ali Farka Toure ? Africa's man of blues.
    It is hard to listen to this music without making comparisons. Ali Farka Toure has been labelled by music critics world-wide as 'the African John Lee Hooker' and his music is often classified as 'African Blues'.
    Ali Farka Toure himself has no time for these comparisons.
    The word Blues means nothing to him, and when he first heard Hooker's music, he thought that it was from Mali.
    His own music is a combination of old traditions and the influences that he picked up on his many travels. It's made him a star - although that was never his intention.
    'I didn't choose music as a career. At all.,' he told Reuters. 'It's a natural gift that came to me.It's as if it were a message that God has planted in my heart, in my mind, and which I have to distribute.' His 1994 album 'Talking Timbuktu,' won him an Emmy-award and carried his fame far beyond Africa.
    After a five-year silence, he released 'Niafunke'. With this album, the 60-year old musician came back to his roots.
    Niafunke is his birth-town. It lies on the river Niger, just south of Timbuktu. Even though there's no electricity, the whole album was recorded here.
    It's a tribute to the town.
    'The true meaning of the word Niafunke, is actually Niafoide, which means children of the same mother.' he explains. 'So I think that I have not failed in my duty of recognition.' Toure's life as a musician is a mixture of pleasure and duty. Pleasure because he simply loves making music, and he loves dancing: by his own estimation, he is a mean salsa dancer.
    'My music is mine. It's also the art, the culture of my country, and I am obliged to make it thrive. I want to make it known.' Toure has carried through the world a culture that is rich and runs deep 'an ethereal river, of fishing and farming, and of a century-old city, the city of Gold: Timbuktu.
    'The biggest Library in West Africa is there, it is unique in the world, we call it Sedrab. And all the history of the world is there.' Toure's missions are not only cultural. Recently he was at a UNEP Conference in Nairobi. The link between UNEP and Mali's most famous musician may seem puzzling at first, but for Toure, it's simple, really.
    'The environment, I had to take part in it because I'm someone who loves nature, and who works in that field. I have
    800 fruit tree seedlings back home , citrus trees.'.
    Whenever he is at home, Toure dedicates a considerable amount of time and energy to his farm. So much so, that he calls himself a farmer, not a musician.
    We asked him what he dreams of when he is back where he always craves to be in the fields, on his farm.
    'Peace, tranquillity, agriculture. Because I would love to see my country become another Switzerland. If God gives me the longevity,' he said.
    And if his busy calendar gives him the time. The time to carry on with his work, irrigating land that was previously dust, a work that he feels reaps more rewards than any other.
    There is more to Ali Farka Toure than just a talent for music. He is filled with a zest for life, with a passion for his music and for the messages it holds. And that is hard for anyone to resist.
    --
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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