Radio Mali

Ali Farka Tour? - Radio Mali

Radio Mali
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Music CD Cover

Artist: Ali Farka Tour?
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1999-09-28
Music Label: Nonesuch
Soundtracks:
  1. Njarka
  2. Yer Mali Gakoyoyo
  3. Soko
  4. Bandalabourou
  5. Machengoidi
  6. Samariya
  7. Hani
  8. Gambari
  9. (njarka) Gambari
  10. Biennal
  11. Arsani
  12. Amadinin
  13. Seygalare
  14. Terei Kongo
  15. Radio Mali
  16. Njarka (excerpt)

Free Music Notes for Radio Mali

Free Music Review: Solid Stuff
Hit: 5 Stars

Radio Mali was the first Ali Farka Toure release I had ever bought or heard. At the time I was listening a lot to Blind Lemon Jefferson and found some interesting parallels between the two musicians. I like the dry, intimate, non-produced, straight to the microphone sound of Radio Mali. Like Lemon Jefferson, Ali Farka Toure has a deep, resonant and booming voice that equals or betters his guitar playing. My brother noted that some of the songs are akin to Celtic music in that they are built from a single melody line that is repeated with variations. Simple but subtle. I'd use the word pastoral to describe this music, since it is very relaxed in feel and rhythm. For a guitarist, Radio Mali is an endlessly fascinating (and at times, frustratingly hard) batch of songs to play along with. Like Lemon Jefferson, Toure is an extremely deft fingerpicker who relies on just a few basic chord positions (open C in particular) and independent bass and melody to sketch out a very full arrangement with just six strings. His rhythmic sense, and use of some very offbeat rhythms (most likely traditional Malian rhythms) add a great deal of depth and complexity that rewards repeated listening. I just really like this stuff and am glad it was recorded and is available.

Radio Mali Poster

Previously available as a 1996 import on the World Circuit label, this nearly 72-minute collection of recordings were originally made for radio broadcast between 1970 and 1978. As a single collection, this is the finest yet of Toure's slow-burning music, characterized by nimble, expressive guitar playing and strong, expressive singing. Lyrically, the songs are mostly devotionals, praising a loved one, Allah, and various government initiatives (including Radio Mali itself). Half the tunes feature Toure alone on guitar and vocals; elsewhere he is backed by the ngoni's beautiful rattle-buzz, a full choir, a smattering of percussion, and a violin player whose sliding, high-pitched notes echo the fiddle playing of Appalachia. Throughout, Toure's singing has a wider range than you'd expect (considering that he's known as the "African John Lee Hooker") and his bluesy guitar playing is always melodic, modal, and meditative. Toure repeats musical phrases over and over again, subtly changing them. But he never gets fancy for its own sake--his style (which adapts Sonrai, Peul, and Tamascheq techniques) sounds as natural as a babbling brook. Strands of sing-songy, seemingly simplistic melodies wrap around each other, coming together and unwinding like strands of RNA. This is some mind-blowing stuff. --Mike McGonigal
One of the most internationally successful West African musicians of the last decade, guitarist and singer Ali Farka Toure was approaching the age of 50 when his self-titled album came to the attention of the world music audience in the late '80s. Since then, he's toured in North America and Europe and recorded with artists such as Taj Mahal and members of the Chieftains. But it was his Grammy-winning 1994 collaboration with Ry Cooder, "Talking Timbuktu," that won him on a larger scale. Inspired by African rhythmic and musical traditions extending back for generations, this album features materials originally recorded for broadcast on Radio Mali from 1970-78, and loaned by the station's archive. It was these tapes that introduced Toure's unique guitar style to the attention of his countrymen. Once available in France on vinyl, these were among the very first commercial records of Malian music. Available briefly as an import CD, this treasurable collection comes to the U.S. at last with major distribution, and arrives as his latest release on Ryko hits the #1 spot on the CMJ world chart.

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