Ali Farka Toure took up the guitar at the age of ten however it was only at the age of 17 that he really mastered the guitar. At 14, he began playing the gurkel, a single string African guitar that he chose because of its power to draw out the spirits. Then in 1956, Ali saw a performance by the great Guinean guitarist Keita Fodeba in Bamako. He was so moved by the performance that he decided then and there to become a guitarist. Teaching himself, Ali adapted traditional songs using the techniques he had learned on the gurkel.

It was a prophetic choice or else the world would have never got a chance to listen to ethereal music that Ali gave to us. His highly distinctive blues style, a mix of the Arabic-influenced Malian sound with American blues brought him accolades from all over the world and two Grammies. One for Talking Timbuktu, a collaboration with Ry Cooder, the legendary American slide guitarist, and the other for In the Heart of the Moon, a collaboration with Toumani Diabaté, considered by many to be the world’s finest kora player. Both these albums are standouts and I would recommend readers to give them a try.

His recording career began in France in 1976 with the release of the self titled album Ali Farka Toure, but that phase ended poorly due to the poor compensation he received. Ali also trained as a sound engineer, a profession he practiced until 1980, when he had saved enough money to become a farmer. Throughout the 80s he followed a successful career in West Africa adapting traditional songs and rhythms in ten languages from Mali’s enormous cultural wealth. This career was combined with a life rooted in his village. In 1990, Ali abandoned music in order to tend to his farm, in his native Timbuktu. However, his producer managed to convince him otherwise and to return to his guitar. Two years later, he recorded the Grammy winning Talking Timbuktu.

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For his studio recordings, Ali was never willing to leave Mali. His producer once set up a studio in an abandoned brick hall in his hometown using portable equipment and gasoline generators to compensate for the fact that Ali’s hometown had no power lines. This is what sets apart Ali’s music from all the others. His honesty and integrity in making elemental music is incomparable. Ali once said "We were in the middle of the landscape which inspired the music and that in turn inspired myself and the musicians…In the West, perhaps this music is just entertainment and I don’t expect people to understand." In all of Ali Farka Toure’s music, there was always a message to his fellowmen. Lyrics which conveyed notions for development in his homeland and to get rid of the omnipresent poverty, disease and other afflictions, we all know about. In 2004 Ali Farka Toure was appointed mayor of the Niafunke region of Mali. He dedicated his life to his fellowmen and this was a fitting tribute to the “Godfather of African Blues”.  

Just before his death, he recorded Savane, a triumphant end to a glorious career. The last solo album by the best-known and best-loved guitarist in Africa, is simply outstanding. He described it as "my best album evera" and he was absolutely right. Try the stunning title track where Ali’s single-string guitar intro develops into a sturdy reggae song. All the songs in the album are pure bliss and I would recommend readers for a Sunday afternoon listen. I assure you just listening to the album will help you de-stress. Though the lyrics are in Malian dialects, they too are worth checking out. Ali himself once said, “It’s not so much the music that’s important, as what you’re saying. But the music has to be good for people to listen to the words”. The songs deal with traditional stories to the need for modern technology to deal with the desertification of his home region.

Ali was a musician and for whom virtuosity came naturally and who gave the world a demonstration that Africa was the real source of the blues. Ali Farka Toure may be gone, but his history and legacy lives on.

(A drifter by nature, Abhishek Borah has dabbled in advertising, public relations and is currently working in an analytics setup of a consulting firm. For one from the slanted domains (read: Born in the hills), he shows the usual inclinations of a north-easterner. Listening to music, drinking a lot of booze, and playing the guitar. He admits to be an encyclopaeida of most genres of western music having followed it since the early 90s. Genres not included would surely be prog rock, black metal, classical music.That’s Abhijit’s territory.)

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