Vieux Farka Touré

Dirty Linen

This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #131 (August/September 2007).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.

Vieux Farka Touré

The Sound of Jaws Dropping

by Chris Heim

This is a story of families, mentors, and friends, of ties to home, culture, and tradition. It is ironic, then, that in some ways it begins with an act of defiance.

Vieux Farka Touré is the son Ali Farka Touré, one of Africa's best-known and most highly regarded musicians. He carries both the gift of that legacy, and also its burden of responsibility and expectation, all playing out on an international stage. And, as the now fairly well-known story goes, it began with the elder Touré, who regarded the music business as both difficult and treacherous, discouraging his son from following in his footsteps.

"Vieux groomed himself as a musician in (his home village of) Niafunké as a teenager," explained Eric Herman, friend, producer, bandmate, and translator here. "He was coaxed along a bit by Afel Bocoum (from Ali's band), who used to bring him along to rehearsals. It was there he picked up the drum kit, which is what he learned first, and then calabash. When he became a bit older, Ali stepped in and said, 'Look, I'd like you to join the army.' Vieux resisted stubbornly and said, 'No, I want to pursue music.'

"He went against his father's wishes and enrolled in the Arts Institute in Bamako. Luckily, it was a public school, and it was free, because Ali kind of cut him off financially at that point. In the Arts Institute, he picked up the guitar and began playing and quickly showed himself to be kind of virtuosic on the guitar."

Herman and Vieux first crossed paths at the Arts Institute. The Canadian-born student had studied there and then returned a few years later, planning to record a malaria relief benefit album. This was an intended followup to ASAP: The Afrobeat Sudan Aid Project, a compilation put together by Herman and Jesse Brenner, partners in the Modiba production and record company. So far it has raised over $140,000 for Darfur relief efforts.

Herman realized his friend had become an accomplished guitarist and talented interpreter of his father's music, and the focus quickly switched to recording Vieux's self-titled debut [World Village 468065 (2006)]. (The malaria relief idea was not entirely lost -- 10% of the proceeds from the CD goes to a UNICEF-affiliated organization that distributes mosquito nets to children and pregnant mothers in Niafunké.)

There was another reason for urgency. Ali was seriously ill with bone cancer (He passed away in March 2006). This would be the only time father and son would record together, cutting tracks that also honor familial ties -- "Diallo" (a tribute to Barrou Diallo from Ali's band and a mentor to Vieux) and "Tabara" (written by the father of Toumani Diabaté, the famed kora player who has also been a mentor to Vieux and who appears on two tracks on the new CD, as well).

[cover #131]