Savane

A brilliant musician.

Great African music

great

This is a very nice album from Ali Farka Tour. Songs are strong and unique. Highly recommended.

Good if you like this sort of stuff!

Recorded live at the Hotel Mande in Bamako, this CD is the last release of the late, great Ali Farka Toure, and it serves as a fitting farewell to the 'King of the desert blues singers.' Ali Farka Toure's deft, soulful guitar-playing and eagerness to collaborate with other artists led to recognition throughout both West Africa and the rest of the world, and rightly so if I do say so myself. If you are a fan of Ali Farka Toure, or Malian music in general, then you no doubt know exactly what I am talking about. If not, then this is as good a place as any to start familiarizing yourself with his works.Perhaps its fitting that this last release is a masterpiece. Singing in Peul (Fulani), Sonrai (Songhai) and Zarma (or Djerma, another Songhai language), Ali Farka Toure skillfully blends Sahel tradition with broader foreign influences, all while accompanied by ngoni, calabash and other percussion. Toure is joined on this album not only by a number of non-African blues artists, but also his own protege Afel Bocoum. The songs are all captivating and powerful, from the soulful title track 'Savane,' to 'Machengoidi,' to the delightful 'Penda Yora.' As I mentioned, there are a couple more traditional songs on here, like the spirit dances 'Banga' and 'Beto,' as well as the circumcision song 'Hanana'. The final song, 'N'jarou,' is a dedication to the Fulani hero Boubou Ardo Gallo, a contemporary and rival of Cheikhou Amadou. The liner notes provide background and translation for those not familiar with West African languages.But the music really speaks for itself. As I said before, this is actually part of a series of recordings made at the Hotel Mande; the other two CDs are 'In the Heart of the Moon,' a collaboration between Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate, and Diabate's 'Boulevard de l'Independance,' featuring musicians from across the Sahel region of West Africa. Both are available from Amazon and well worth checking out in their own right, though going into very different traditions. And 'Savane' itself remains a fitting goodbye from the late master of Africa's desert blues...

Ali Farka Toure looks and sounds like a man at peace with himself on this his final recording. The man who turned his back on the popular Afrobeat rhythms of his day, also turned his back on Western recording studios, returning to his roots in Mali, where he set up his own farm and recording studio, nurturing a village and a new generation of musicians. Savane, like Niafunke before, is a straight forward album, accompanied by local musicians, with a guest appearance by Pee Wee Ellis on two selections, and drawing on a wellspring of traditional Malian rhythms. In his music Ali Farka Toure demonstrated the connection between traditional West African music and the Delta Blues. Numerous comparisons were drawn to artists like John Lee Hooker and Lightnin' Hopkins, but he had a sound all his own, and at his peak was a towering figure in the world music industry, inspiring numerous Western as well as African musicians, resulting in the annual Festival in the Desert, which was captured in a 2003 recording on CD and DVD. Ali Farka Toure was also featured in Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues - A Musical Journey. For those who would like to sample some of his earlier recordings, I would suggest the recently released boxed set Red & Green.

This is the second Ali Farka Toure album that I've purchased, the previous being his fine collaboration with Ry Cooder, TALKING TIMBUKTU. As much as I liked TT, SAVANE blew the earlier one away.Much has been made of the late Toure being the great missing link between Africa and blues artists such as John Lee Hooker. One listen to Toure's work and you can see the parallels quite clearly, but this is so much more. Like the best of the blues, these songs are natural reflections on everyday life. While the American blues tends to focus more on carnal concerns, this concentrates more on ones place in society and more spiritual concerns.The playing is superb throughout, and the vocals are packed with a passion that comes through even if the lyrics are in a different language. There is not a wasted note, let alone a wasted track on this whole album. Ali Farka Toure in his passing has left a great body of work to explore, and a superb album in SAVANE. I would highly recommend this to any fan of the blues and/or world music styles.