Ali Farka Toure - Niafunke

(World Circuit)

****

Review: Graham Reid

Toure - the singer/guitarist from Mali who sounds like the living link between Africa and the Delta - has taken his time getting this album together.

The 1994 Talking Timbuktu album with Ry Cooder took him out of the "world music/Womad-only" niche when it sold in quantities that some second-tier Britpop bands could only hope for. But this is Toure's first album since then. He went back to his village on the banks of the Niger, started farming again and took time out.

Niafunke (the name of his village) is more "rootsy" and "authentic," if those are permissible, appropriate words, as he wields his razor-wire guitar, unwavering vocals and scraping violin through mostly contemplative, mesmerising songs.

That blues element is still there (although the now-threadbare reference to John Lee Hooker is best dropped, these are more like slo-mo Hound Dog Taylor), but with his band on djembe, traditional violins and guitars, this comes from a very different heart.
It might send his career back into that "world music" niche (shame), but the rewards are considerable for anyone prepared to spend the time.