Track Listing

1. Bonde
2. Soukora
3. Gomni
4. Sega
5. Amandrai
6. Lasidan
7. Kelto
8. Banga
9. Ai Du
10. Diaraby

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2085 in Music
• Released on: 1994-03-29
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Talking Timbuktu is a groundbreaking record that vividly illustrates the Africa-Blues connection in real time. Ali Farka Toure, one of Mali's leading singer-guitarists, has a trance-like, bluesy style that, although deeply rooted in Malian tradition, bears astonishing similarity to that of John Lee Hooker or even Canned Heat. It's a mono-chordal vamp, with repetitive song lines cut with shards of blistering solo runs that shimmer like a desert mirage. Toure may be conversant with some blues artists, but it is unlikely that artists like Hooker or Robert Pete Williams ever heard these Malian roots, which makes the connection so uncanny. Ry Cooder, well versed in domestic and world guitar styles, is the perfect counterpoint in these extended songs/jams, his sinewy slide guitar intertwining with his partner's in a super world summit without barriers or borders. --Derek Rath

Customer Reviews

Unbelievable "Feel Good" Bluesy Music of Mali - The Best
I have 6 or 7 CDs of music from Mali and find myself listening to this one most often. While I love them all --- the combination of musicians: Ali Farka Toure and Ry Cooder is unbeatable. Track #1 "Bonde" sung in Peul begins with a fantastic guitar introduction by Ali Farka Toure. Each note is drawn out just right to hook the emotions. The congas played by Oumar Toure provides an infectious rhythm. One male voice begins while a chorus responds in rhythmic unity, telling the story of why some women are unsuitable for marriage. Track #2 "Soukara" is sung in the Bambara language ... it has the sound and feeling of music from the Caribbean with a suitable ambient melody. The male vocalist pours his heart out to his lover at night, so say the liner notes. Another favorite track is #5 "Amandral" sung in the Temasheck language. The rhythms and sounds of this desert tribe is familiar. They are unforgetable on the CDs "Festival in the Desert" and "Radio Tisdas Sessions" both of which are highly recommended. As each guitar note is plucked, the feelings of the listener are hooked. The feelings rise ... ever higher in resonance with the melody and mood expressed on the slide, acoustic and bass guitars, drums, calabash, and congas.

Without exaggerating, I feel this CD contains some of the finest guitar playing on the planet. Other favorites are: #6, "Lasidan" (#6) which has a peppy, cheerful and upbeat tempo and #7, "Keito", which has musical elements of India and Pakistan or is it the Meditarranean? Ry Cooder plays the tamboura, Ali Farka Toure plucks and strums the electric guitar. There is a syncopated rhythm played on the congas and calabash. The music of Mali is highly distinct and very appealing. It is the best music from Northern Africa, and to this listener, the best from the whole continent of Africa. Erika Borsos (erikab93)

Tuore's Jem
On the surface, this is a very simple album, simple in that it is accessible, unpretentious and easy to listen to. On repeated helpings, however, Talking Tmbuktu becomes an extraordinarily beautiful ensemble of the rock-pop (Ry Cooder) and the trad and bluesy (Toure). Take Gomni, the heart rendering tune about "hard work". The rich rhythmic tapistry and haunting melody that shifts back and forth among variations with amazing fluidity touches any soul.

On the other hand, Lasidan, a song about happyness is groovy and multi-layered. Blues aficiandos attempt to catalogue Toure as the "West African John Lee Hooker" due to the similarity in the low-pitched vocals and mid-tempo, foot-stomping rhythms found in so many of his songs (like Ai Du). But I found his music richer; technically its combo of instruments ranging from the emblematic accoustic guitar to the calabash drums to the najarka lute create an inimitable style. Culturally Toure's songs draw from several sources. This is universal music, capable of reaching any heart despite the obvious language barrier.

For a mere mortal like me who picked this album on word of mouth, it also opened a whole new doors into music from Mali.

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