Ali Farka Toure

Ali Farka Touré was one of the true giants of African music, the greatest ambassador of desert blues, and a consummate performer and composer. Amazing, then, that he did not even see music as his central life’s work.
The album flows like a river, at times, tumultuous, at others placid, but always full of life and movement. Mixing his instantly identifiable electric guitar sound with a band that includes bamboo flute, ngoni (a four-stringed lute), traditional percussion instruments and a one-stringed violin called an njarka (all of which Touré himself played well), he conjures an elemental thrum on Savane as organic as the soil of his farm. Harmonica and saxophone make cameos, and Touré’s raw, powerful voice is answered by understated chants and choral vocals.