Posted on 03.10.2023 at 5:27 p.m. by Aly Asmane Ascofaré
A legend never dies, they say. The proof with the release of a new posthumous album by Ali Farka Touré this Friday, March 10, 2023. The initiative, taken by the British label World Circuit of his friend and producer Nick Gold, and implemented in collaboration with his son, Vieux Farka Touré, aims to perpetuate the work of the singer, who died on March 7, 2006. In Safari, a title unveiled from the new album “Voyageur”, we rediscover the beauty of the music of the Malian virtuoso guitarist, who illuminated the planet with its know-how.
17 years since Aly Farka Touré died, his art continues to amaze the world. His friend and producer Nick Gold and his son Vieux Farka Touré are launching a new posthumous album by the artist this Friday. “It will soon be almost 20 years since he is gone. Being the President of the Ali Farka Touré Foundation, I try to do my best to preserve his name. He deserves it for everything he has done for Mali. All our actions [un festival sera également organisé du 17 au 19 mars Ndlr], which are repeated from year to year, aim to perpetuate his art,” explains Vieux Farka. The posthumous album, entitled “Voyageur”, is a collection of eight tracks that Ali Farka Touré had recorded for other albums during his lifetime. “Before his death, he had side projects and recordings. Each time an artist records an album, he produces several tracks. But there are always two or three titles that are left out when the disc comes out. Its producer, Nick Gold, therefore wanted to take a few pieces that he had left from left to right to make a posthumous album, “explains the son of the late musician, who says he spent” the two years of Coronavirus “working on his father’s music.
In the album, which revives the richness of the music of the “Malian king of the guitar”, we will find him featuring on three tracks with the Wassoulou diva Oumou Sangaré and also with the musician Cheick Tidiani Seck. The combination of traditional Malian music and blues used in the tracks on the disc recalls the immense greatness of the music of Ali Farka Touré, ranked by American music magazines Rolling Stone and Spin 71st and 37th respectively in their lists of the 100 best. guitarists of all time. As well as the immortality of the artist at the three Grammy Awards, including one posthumous.
