Vieux Farka Touré
Boureima "Vieux" Farka Touré (* 1981 in Niafunké , Mali ) is a Malian singer and guitarist who combines the traditional music of his homeland with influences from Western music. He is a son of the famous Malian musician Ali Farka Touré .
In addition to his father and well-known Malian musicians from his environment, he names u. a. Salif Keïta and American blues musicians such as John Lee Hooker and BB King were important musical influences in his youth.
Childhood and beginnings as a musician
Vieux Farka Touré was born as one of the twelve children of two-time Grammy winner Ali Farka Touré in Niafunké in central Mali. However, he first grew up with his father's younger brother in Youwarou in the Mopti region . When he was about 12 he switched to the school in Niafunké and stayed there until the end of the ninth grade. In contrast to his eight brothers - only one sister is also a professional musician - he also turned to music; initially against the express will of his father, who warned him of the problems of a career as a musician and would have preferred to see him as a soldier. Vieux convinced his father, however, and he began in 1994 as a percussionist in the band of singer and guitarist Afel Bocoum , a musical companion of his father. At the age of 18 he wrote in 1999 for four years at the Institut National des Arts (INA) in the Malian capital Bamako in order guitar to study the instrument through which his father became famous.
After graduating, at the insistence of his father, he gained international experience as a tour musician in the band of the well-known kora player Toumani Diabaté , a good friend of Ali Farka Touré. From this, Vieux, who comes from a Songhai family, was also instructed in the kora game and in the musical traditions of the Mande culture.
Solo career
In 2005 he came into contact again with the Canadian music producer Eric Herman, whom Vieux had met two years earlier when he was still attending the INA. They agreed on a cooperation that resulted in the production of the debut album Vieux Farka Touré . This was first published on the Internet in October 2006, then on CD in February 2007. It contains u. a. two pieces in which Toumani Diabaté took part and two songs that were created in collaboration with Vieux's father, who was seriously ill at the time, and which were also Ali Farka Touré's last recordings before his death in March 2006. The pieces were recorded in the well-known Bogolan studio in Bamako, where Damon Albarn , Björk , Keziah Jones and Youssou N'Dour have also recorded, and mixed by Eric Herman , who also played various instruments during the recordings.
Remixed - UFOs Over Bamako , a CD with remix and trance versions of the songs from Touré's debut album, also produced by Herman , was released in 2007 . Professional DJs and producers such as Karsh Kale and Yossi Fine took part, but the album also contains two remixes of the song Ana , which were created as part of an official competition of the Modiba record label and for which Touré made the audio track available under a Creative Commons license .
Debut album and remix album was favorably received by music journalists and critics worldwide. "Strong influences of Malian music are unmistakable and sometimes makes you look reminiscent of the characteristic guitar playing of his father, but Touré would present its own style, from the classic Malian" desert blues "a bridge to Western music forms such as reggae , rock and funk beat Jeff Tamarkin of the All Music Guide stated.
This was followed by appearances in Africa, Europe and North America. a. at the WOMAD festival, where he earned a good reputation as a live musician. His shows are characterized by variations of the pieces on his studio CDs, which often develop into trance-like jam sessions live.
As a result, Touré switched to the world music label Six Degrees Records . His second studio album, Fondo , climbed to number 5 on the Billboard charts in 2009 in the Top World Music Albums category . This time Afel Bocoum, in whose band Touré began his career, took over the vocal parts of three songs, including the interpretation of a traditional Malian song called Walé , which comes from the Timbuktu region . All other songs were written by Touré himself. Toumani Diabaté can also be heard again in the song Paradise , in which Touré's guitar and Diabaté's kora play skilfully complement each other. The album was recorded in Bamako in November 2008 and in California in January 2009 and produced and mixed by Touré and Yossi Fine . Again a remix version of the album was produced with various DJs, which was released in December 2009 as a pure MP3 album.
In 2010 Touré's first live album was released, on which he presented some new songs in addition to songs by Fondo .
Vieux Farka Touré had his biggest TV appearance to date at the opening concert of the 2010 Soccer World Cup on June 10, 2010 in South Africa , where he played the songs Fafa and Diaraby Magni from his album Fondo , which was broadcast in over 192 countries.
Discography
- Vieux Farka Touré (2006, Modiba / World Village)
- Remixed - UFOs Over Bamako (2007, Modiba)
- Fondo (2009, Six Degrees Records)
- Other Roads: Fondo Remixed (2009, MP3 album on Six Degrees Records)
- Live (2010, Six Degrees Records)
- The Secret (2011, Six Degrees Records)
- Touristes (2015, Six Degrees Records)
- Samba (2017, Six Degrees Records)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Interview from 2007 with Vieux Farka Touré, ( Memento of the original from June 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. directed by Banning Eyre and Sean Barlow for afropop.org
- ↑ a b https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mn0000629445
- ↑ Article from the Malian weekly newspaper Bamako Hebdo (French) ( Memento of the original from July 1, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://ccmixter.org/vieux
- ↑ http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=27411
- ↑ Record review of Remixed - UFOs Over Bamako on the BBC website by Ilka Schlockermann on November 8, 2007
- ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0000577998 Record review of Remixed - UFOs Over Bamako in the All Music Guide by Michael G. Nastos
- ^ Review of Vieux Farka Touré in the All Music Guide by Jeff Tamarkin
- ↑ Chart positions in the All Music Guide
- ↑ Chris Nickson's review of Fondo in the All Music Guide
- ↑ Digital booklet of the album Fondo ( Memento of the original from November 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 2.5 MB)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Touré, Vieux Farka |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Touré, Boureima Farka; Touré, Boureima (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Malian singer and guitarist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1981 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Niafunké , Mali |