When African musicians break into the international scene, they usually move to a major cultural center, most often Paris, London or New York. But that does not appear to be the case with Vieux Farka Toure, who has been hailed as the latest African guitar hero. When I asked him in a recent interview if he has plans to continue residing in his native village on the fringes of the Sahara desert in Mali, he responded with an emphatic, “Of course, always.”
This was no ordinary phone interview. I queried Toure while he was in a car traveling between tour stops in Ithaca, N.Y. and Pittsburgh. After the 28-year-old artist struggled to answer my first question, he handed the phone to his manager, Deborah Cohen, who translated my English into French and vice versa.
Vieux Farka Toure is the son of international music legend Ali Farka Toure, who died from bone cancer in 2006. Ali was the prime exponent of what has become known as Sahara blues, a hypnotic, guitar-centric style with an uncanny kinship to rural American blues. Picking up the torch, Vieux has added modern elements to his father’s approach, and collaborated more frequently with Western players. The band for his current tour includes a Malian percussionist and rhythm guitarist as well as a drummer from New York. The guitarist’s current instrument of choice is a Godin electro-acoustic prototype built in Montreal.
Vieux’s loyalty to his home village of Niafanké, near the medieval city of Timbuktu, was passed down from Ali, who used his relative wealth to build an irrigation system for farmers in the community and gladly played the role of overall benefactor. “Ali Farka Toure was considered a great man in Mali,” said Baye Kouyate, a Malian percussionist who lives in Tampa and will open for Vieux Farka Toure at the State Theatre. “Everyone love Ali. I love him. He always bring happiness. His son carry on the legacy.”
