Farka & Haïra

This is one of my favourite cassettes by Ali 'Farka' Touré. It features Ali on guitar and occasionally on vocal, accompanying singer Haïra Arby (also known as Khaira). Haïra appears to have become rather famous, even outside Tombouctou (see below). But this is from the 1980s, when she was only popular on a regional (and - to a lesser extent - national) level.

The cassette has a rare and beautiful intimacy, primarily as a result of Ali's fantastic guitar playing. At times it is almost like he is singing with his guitar, either guiding or following Haïra. But then the guitar takes off, meandering, curling and dancing in circles.

As far as I can tell, Haïra is singing in sonrai and tamachek. Personally, I prefer her pure singing on this cassette to her later work, including the acclaimed cassette "Ya Rassoul" which she made six or seven years ago.
Comparing the version of "Aigna" (sonrai for "mother") with the one on "Ya Rassoul", one can almost touch the deep emotion in the version on this cassette. It is, by the way, the only title which I have been able to trace.

Farka & Haïra (local cassette)

For good measure I am borrowing the video of the "Ya Rassoul" version from afropopstar.


(posted in loving memory of my ex-mother-in-law Assitan Sango)

P.S.: Shortly after posting this, it was brought to my attention that the same cassette has been posted on the VOA blog. That post adds a lot of information about the setting in which these recordings were made.
I was initially inclined to withdraw this (redundant) post, but have decided not to do so for two reasons: 1. the tracks appear not to be the same and 2. the quality of the cassette is not the same. The latter may be a result of the fact that my copy was obtained in the early 1990s, and is perhaps closer to the original.
P.S.2: The brilliant photo of Ali was taken by the great Ton Verhees (also responsible for that great photo of Remmy Ongala, and many many other...)

Vingt kilomètres

I copied this cassette from Ali Farka Touré in the early 1990s. He used to bring cassettes along on his travels, usually from local celebrities*, and occasionally of his own work. In turn I made copies for him of music which over time had become rare in Mali, - like for example the Koni Coumaré lp on Fiesta, or (good quality) cassettes of Toumani Koné.

The cassette contains private recordings made by Ali himself, of a concert in Dofana by his group Asko, featuring Ali, Hamma Sankaré and Amadou 'Affel' Bocoum. So the recordings were made 'chez lui', and if you ask me, this can clearly be heard in the result. Ali is obviously in his element. Take the last song: this is music for wide horizons, for the slow flow of water in the nearby river.
I haven't checked this, but I wouldn't be surprised if all of the songs have - in one version or another - been released on the many cd's Ali has left behind. I do know the first song was re-recorded a few years later for the album "The Source".
But this cd-version, in my opinion, can't compete with the version on this cassette.

In case you're wondering about the surrealistic picture on the right: I have added this partial screenprint from Google maps to give you a (very rough) idea of the layout of the village that is the subject of this song. The yellow line on the top right is a road. So to get from Niafunké (the principle village in the cercle, as Affel remarks) the river seems the easiest way. And the 'vingt kilomètres' (twenty kilometers) must be the distance from Niafunké to Dofana by pirogue. The song celebrates a project in Dofana to use water from the river for irrigation (thus enabling some agriculture to take place in this remote locality) and the initiator of this project.

Ali himself followed this example some years later, and eventually even retired from music all together to concentrate on this original form of culture....

Dofana Oct. 1990

I found this video on YouTube, which seems very appriopriate with this post:


PS: alternative download link.

* I'll post some of these later (...oh oh, there he goes again, promising things....)

Farka (2)

This is a very short post. There is more than enough information about Ali 'Farka' Touré on the web (here or here or here), and there will be plenty of other occasions to write about this interesting artist from Niafunké, Mali.

This is the second of two wonderful cassettes released in 1988 and produced by Mahmoudou Maïga in Bamako. The first I posted earlier. Like the first volume, the second volume features Ali on electric guitar.

MM 5002

Kanaga

The first regional orchestra of the Mopti region of Mali was the Bani Jazz, named after the river that joins the Niger near Mopti. Founded after the coup d'état of 1968, Ali 'Farka' Touré was the first chef d'orchestre. He was also the first to exploit the enormous variety of traditional music from the Mopti region in a modern orchestra, with tracks like "Manden Po".

According to Ali (in an interview in 1989) things turned sour after two years, due to his relationship with Sory Bamba. When he discovered he lacked the support of the regional authorities, Ali left the orchestra. And the orchestra was taken over by Sory Bamba and renamed Orchestre Kanaga de Mopti.

The lp Kanaga recorded in 1977 for the Mali Kunkan label is certainly one of their best. It is also, unfortunately, one of the few in which the orchestra is credited and which is not -like the albums released on the Songhoy and Sonafric label- presented as a solo project by self-acclaimed superstar Sory Bamba.

I am somewhat cautious in labelling it The Best, because I suspect there may be more by Kanaga which at least I haven't (fully) discovered. After discovering some fragments of tracks on a cassette I bought in Bamako, I have been looking for more; but so far I have only found more of the same...
I am sure you will understand my frustration about this when you hear the two and a half minute fragment I have added as a bonus.

I have several versions of this lp and can't make up my mind which one to post. So here are two versions for you to download: the first is from a cassette I bought in 2000 and is at least almost complete (there is a bit missing in the track "Kanaga") and of a consistent quality.
Mali Kunkan KO 77.04.15

The second file consist of the best versions of several sources. The tracks "Gambari", "Sory Bamba" and "Sare Mabo" are so clean that one could be inclined to think they were reworked from an original tape. I have no idea if this is the case.
Mali Kunkan KO 77.04.15 (alternative) plus bonus track

EDIT November 10, 2012: The links have been renewed.

Farka (1)

"The John Lee Hooker of Africa". If there was one thing that got Ali Farka Touré going it was being labelled like this. "I don't know the blues", he told me several times, "I only know 'la tradition'".

And this he knew very well.

Culture to Ali was primarily man's interaction with nature. That's why farming to him was a logical step from being a travelling musician.

In future posts I will certainly post more of his work; and not the tracks which have been released on CD, but the more private recordings of this unique person, plus some excerpts of my talks with him.

Here is a cassette which Ali recorded in Mali in the 1980s, and which is one of my favorites (especially the 11'47 min. version of "Gambari"!!). It features Ali going wild on his electric guitar. It is one of two volumes produced by Mahmoudou Maïga in Bamako (I'll post the second one later if you like).

And to calm down after that cassette, here is a video from Malian television. Is there anyone who can tell me the name of this track?