Ali Farka Toure dies

[Robert J]

Very sad news. I saw him perform with Ry Cooder after Talking Timbuktu. His music is always uplifting and profound.

___________________

BBC News Online

Ali Farka Toure, known as the "Bluesman of Africa", was one of the continent's best known musicians.

Outside his home country of Mali, he was seen as blending African music with the blues of the southern United States and he collaborated with US stars Ry Cooder and John Lee Hooker.

Although he generally performed in a cowboy hat, he always insisted that the music he played only had local influences and that blues was a traditional African sound.

His first instrument was the traditional Malian string instrument, the gurkel, but he later switched to the guitar.

The haunting music he played though, stayed the same - conjuring up the slow movements of the River Niger as it sweeps through the Sahara desert near his home town of Niafunke.

Bleak environment

Unlike many African music stars, he rejected the call of the bright lights of Paris, London or New York.

Indeed, late in his career, he became mayor of Niafunke in a bid to use some of his wealth and international connections for the good of his people.

He was born in 1939 in the historic town of Timbuktu on the edge of the desert and did his best to bring together the various communities who inhabit this bleak environment.

While the Tuareg and the Songhai people were at war in the 1990s, Toure sang in both their languages, as well as Fulani - another language of northern Mali.

However, his appeal was largely limited to northern Mali and western blues fans.

Younger residents of southern Mali and the capital, Bamako, are more likely to appreciate the latest US rap releases than his most famous albums, Talking Timbuktu and In the Heart of the Moon, which won Toure his two Grammy awards, respectively in 1994 and just weeks before his death.

Edited March 7, 2006 by Robert J

[king ubu]

Sad news

[WD45]

Terribly sad. He is one of the reasons I picked up the guitar.

[.:.impossible]

How did he die? I did not know he was unwell.

[Shawn]

The article I read said he had been long suffering from an "undisclosed" illness.

[.:.impossible]

Awe man. I can only wonder.

[brownie]

From AP:

African Musician Ali Farka Toure Dies

By ALMAHADY CISSE, Associated Press Writer

4 minutes ago

Two-time Grammy Award winner Ali Farka Toure, one of Africa's most famous performers, died Tuesday in his native Mali after a long illness. He was in his late 60s.

Mali's Culture Ministry said Toure died at his home in the capital, Bamako, after a long struggle with an unidentified illness. He was known to be battling cancer.

Across this deeply impoverished west African nation, people mourned Toure's passing and radio stations suspended regular programming and instead broadcast Toure's signature lilting sounds.

Toure, one of the original progenitors of a genre known as Mail Blues, played a traditional Malian stringed instrument called the gurke.

He was best-known overseas for his 1995 collaboration with American guitarist Ry Cooder on "Talking Timbuktu," which netted him his first of two Grammys.

He won another Grammy this year in the traditional world music album category for his "In the Heart of the Moon" album, performed with fellow Malian Toumani Diabate.

Toure was born in 1939 in the northern Sahara Desert trading post of Timbuktu. Like many Africans of his generation, the exact date of his birth was not recorded.

Toure learned the gurkel at an early age, later also taking up the guitar. He cited many Western musicians for inspiration, including Ray Charles, Otis Redding and John Lee Hooker.

He once said in an interview that his songs examined education, work, love and society, according to the Web site allmusic.com. He released at least 10 albums and toured often in North America and Europe.

Toure spent much of his older age in his childhood town of Niafunke, which has become a pilgrimage spot for many music-loving Africans and tourists.

In newspeak, long illness usually means cancer!

[brownie]

Toure died of bone cancer. He has been paralysed for several months!

[John B]

All of his albums are wonderful, but the track "Cinquante Six," from the album The Source, is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I have heard.

RIP

Edited March 7, 2006 by John B

[porcy62]

Sad, really sad.

I bought all his records I could find since I discover him 15 years ago

[mikeweil]

Read about this only now - very sad news. Such profound feeling! R.I.P.