Search - Vieux Farka Touré :: Fondo

Organic and hypnotic.

unplug and listen | 05/27/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ali Farka Touré, the late great Malian and Grammy Award-winning guitarist, didn't want his son Vieux to follow in his footsteps, he thought the musical life would be too hard.

Thanks to kora master Toumani Daibate's intervention, Vieux never obeyed his father's advice to avoid the music business and join the army. Thus Ali finally was persuaded to let his son enter the lists.

On this his second album, rich in heavily-reverbed, shimmering, unmistakably Malian guitar, Vieux showcases an instrumental mastery inherited from his father.

While Ali - who has proved the soul of the blues could be found in West Africa - tends to stick to west African traditional songs with added modern sheen, Vieux, who is a more radical artist than his father, rethreads his native rhythms with funk, blues, reggae and even drum 'n' bass.

Impressively, the tracks have an organic feel and don't suffer the generic box-ticking of much world music.

Vieux Farka Touré here sets down his marker : he is now showing that those Western Sahara roots can be heard in things as far removed as indie rock and Jamaican club.

And "Fondo" really is a guitar showcase. There's plenty of evidence of finger-picking virtuosity, powerful bursts of quasi-reggae, and much inventiveness with acoustic percussion.

On the best tracks (like "Souba Souba") he effortlessly combines a commitment to his Western Saharan musical roots with a love of modern musical forms such as blues and reggae, which, despite their African roots, are now considered thoroughly Western.

Thanks to the widescreen sound and language-barrier ambiguity, many of his songs seem simultaneously mournful and celebratory.

The album can be seen also a moving tribute to his native Mali, and on the final track a guitar-kora duet between Vieux and his mentor, Diabate.

"At times the hypnotic grooves acquire a psychedelic tinge; elsewhere they affirm his connection to tradition. A dazzling piece of work". - Neil Spencer



Savane

Vieux Farka Touré

The Mande Variations"

This is a FANTASTIC album. Only a handful of reviews??!!

Carrie W. | Nashville, TN | 07/16/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Just goes to show you there's no justice - if there were, this album would be on every playlist across the U.S. and (various other tripe) you often hear would not be so heavily promoted. Anyway....



I was lucky enough to see Vieux Farka Toure live at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in June 2009. The live show was absolutely incredible and I ordered the album as quickly as humanly possible. Since that time I've purchased every other VFT album for sale and honestly, the strides the artist has made in only a couple of years are really mindboggling.



I'd put this album head and shoulders above the original album and 'UFOs'. The difference, to my ear, is the sophistication of the melodies but also VFT's amazing guitar work. Having lived in Nashville for a while, I've been lucky enough to see plenty of performances by masters like Steve Winwood, Bela Fleck and Richard Thompson, and The Police's Andy Summers. Farka Toure, the younger, is well on his way to achieving similar distinction.



Most of my tastes run towards Brazilian artists like Jorge Ben and Gilberto Gil and I know very little about contemporary African music, but I'd put this album into a category with the best releases those two artists have to offer. This CD hasn't left my car CD player in some weeks, and likely won't any time soon. BUY IT!"

Certain To Be The Top African Album of 2009

Leif Sheppard | United States | 06/12/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"African music is a sort of indulgence I return to at least a few times a year. At its best it's exotic, longing, and gut-wrenchingly beautiful. Last year two of my favorites were Chiwoniso's Rebel Woman and Seprewa Kasa's Seprewa Kasa



This year, without question, I'm absolutely emamoured with Vieux Farka Touré's "Fondo". Most already know this is the son of the late, great musician Ali Farka Touré. Based on that, many more can probably guess the sort of genre this record fits into. But don't let that pigeonhole this album for you, there's wonderful guitar work here along with vocals that would be superlative in any genre.



If you only download one track, make certain it's the gorgeous "Fafa". Were you to do that, however, you'd miss out on an album that rewards in spades when taken as a whole. In fact, it's difficult for me to single out 'favorites' because I enjoy the entire record immensely.



It's well worth spending a few minutes trying out the samples here. Because if you're a fan of beautiful or exotic music, I'm willing to bet you'll find yourself owning this album within minutes. I certainly did."