1976 - Mali
Songhai Music
The concept of a “first album” for Ali Farka Touré can be misleading. Touré started making music during the fifties, but the first time he recorded songs in a studio was only in the seventies we he travelled to France and met the label SonAfric. If the second album by Touré is light-hearted, mostly thanks to his sense of humour, Ali Touré “Farka” is a much more serious album. With only four tracks, but each one longer than five minutes, the Malian guitarist already proves everything he is able of. In the liner notes of his second album out the same year, Ali Farka Touré, le jeune chansonnier du mali (The young Malian singer), it is said that these songs are melodic and poignant poems about his peers. For instance, Harsani is dedicated to Mariam Barry, a famous peul woman in his region. Out of the seven albums he recorded with SonAfric, his first one probably is the most simple in terms of instrumentation. With his voice and his guitar, Touré makes us feel the emotions he was spreading along the Niger river, walking near the spirits, delighting his peers with his talent as a guitarist, singer and lyricist.