Ali Farka Touré

Ali Farka Touré is well known as one of the most influential and talented guitarists that Africa has ever produced. His legacy and impact are hard to overstate. Ali’s sound merged his much-loved traditional Malian musical styles with distinct elements of the blues, singing in local languages. The result was the creation of a groundbreaking new genre, now well known as the ‘desert blues’, earning him 3 Grammy awards, widespread reverence and the nickname of the ‘African John Lee Hooker’. Listen to his catalogue: worldcircuit.lnk.to/AFTCatalogue
'Voyageur' is out now on CD, LP and digital formats: worldcircuit.lnk.to/AFTVoyageur


Ali Farka Touré

"Then came the collaboration with Ry Cooder. ‘I’ve never been so convinced by another artist,’ Touré says. ‘I’m trying to get him to come to Timbuktu for the New Year. I want to stage an African-American concert to see in the millennium, with me and B.B. King and Carlos Santana. That would be something. People call my music the Africa blues. I just call it the music of the people."

Ali on his New Year plans, talking to Songlines Magazine in 1999. What might have been!

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 98

Ali Farka Touré

Ali and his teenage music group ❤️

4 weeks ago | [YT] | 68

Ali Farka Touré

💛

1 month ago | [YT] | 75

Ali Farka Touré

Two titans of West African music.

Listen to In the Heart of the Moon by Toumani Diabeté and Ali Farka Touré today.

1 month ago | [YT] | 100

Ali Farka Touré

'Voyageur' has been lovingly compiled by Vieux Farka Touré, son of Ali, and World Circuit Records' Nick Gold, Ali’s long-time producer. Pre-order your copy today at worldcircuit.lnk.to/AFTVoyageur.

1 year ago | [YT] | 55

Ali Farka Touré

Festival Ali Farka Touré is a three day event in Bamako, Mali, which celebrates the life and work of Ali, organised by Vieux Farka Touré, son of Ali. To find out more and stay up to date with the festival, which features concerts, presentations and more, make sure you're following their new Facebook page at bit.ly/FestivalAliFarkaTouréFacebook.

1 year ago | [YT] | 118

Ali Farka Touré

Seeing a performance by the National Ballet of Guinea in 1956 gave Ali his first encounter with the western acoustic guitar, and the conviction that he must master this instrument himself. With no teacher, he created a revolutionary new way of playing.

He developed a taste for a range of imported music, from Afro-Cuban rhythms that were then hugely popular throughout Africa to American rhythm and blues, including James Brown, Albert King, Otis Redding and John Lee Hooker, whose records felt so familiar to Ali that he was surprised to hear them sung in English rather than a local Malian language.

1 year ago | [YT] | 156

Ali Farka Touré

Ali Farka Touré performs ‘Diaraby’ live on BBC Later... with Jools Holland in 1994.

1 year ago | [YT] | 13

Ali Farka Touré

'Cherie' is the second track released from 'Voyageur', an album of previously unreleased Ali Farka Touré recordings to be released Friday March 10th. The track features the wonderful Oumou Sangaré. Listen in full and pre-order the album at WorldCircuit.lnk.to/AFTVoyageurYT

1 year ago | [YT] | 12

Ali Farka Touré

‘Voyageur’ is a brand new album of previously unreleased gems from the 3 x Grammy-winning King of the Desert Blues, Ali Farka Touré. Released on CD, LP and digital formats on March 10th. Preorder and watch the video for ‘Safari’ now: worldcircuit.lnk.to/AFTVoyageur

2 years ago | [YT] | 33