WATCHING VIEUX FARKA TOURÉ'S HANDS

A live performance by Vieux Farka Touré, a Malian musician, is all about the hands. A few songs into his band’s recent set at the Jazz Café in London, I became fixated on Farka Touré’s ability to pluck and strum out his quick, precise, bouncy melodies without a pick. The rhythm-guitar player also performed without a pick, as did the bass player. Fingers walked from string to string quickly but calmly, effortlessly but exact. It’s not shocking that a Malian band would play without picks, but to watch their hands at work, gliding through difficult syncopated rhythms, was fascinating.

Much has been made of the fact that Farka Touré is the son of Ali Farka Touré, a legendary Malian guitarist who is credited with mixing traditional Malian music with American blues. Rolling Stone named him as one the top 100 guitarists of all time.

Vieux Farka Touré seems to be doing his own thing musically, despite his father's expectation that he would enter the military. He was in London promoting his new album, Fondo (“the road”), which mixes traditional Malian music with rock and roll, reggae, pop and salsa--something Farka Touré has described as Koroboro rock or black African rock. But other influences have crept in as well, reflecting Farka Touré's admission that his iPod includes everything from hip hop to American country to Bollywood soundtracks. He even has a soft spot for pop ballads from the likes of Phil Collins and Bryan Adams.

On stage his band was in sync, musically and mentally. They smiled at each other as they danced and moved around, and they pushed each other through solos that would rise in volume and intensity. Farka Touré wasn’t much for bantering with the audience, perhaps owing to a language barrier; after every second or third song, he’d say, “You alright? Everything alright? Alright.” He’d smile, and slide into the next song.

I came across Farka Touré’s self-titled debut album in 2007 after first hearing Remixed: UFOs Over Bamako, an electronic, dance-floor interpretation of it. UFOs Over Bamako is a well-produced, slick piece of electronic work that takes the basic aesthetic of Farka Touré–his distinct, energetic voice and optimistic, blues-influenced Malian melodies–and makes it a little more mysterious, haunting, bass-heavy and dance-club hip. For more than a month I listened to the remix album and then the original, back to back, repeatedly. It’s a great introduction to Farka Touré, but not entirely representative of his live set, or his new album.

A New York Times critic recently praised the “watery tone” and “heavy lightness” of Farka Touré’s new work. The rock influences (aggressive, louder) are also definitely there and so is a jam-band sensibility. Live, his rhythm section lays out long, extended passages for Farka Touré to riff on top of. Those sections build in terms of volume and energy, and then chill out into a hush.

Vieux Farka Touré is on tour in America and Europe through August.

~ GARY MOSKOWITZ

Picture credit: Laura Williams