Another Ali Passed Away

Ali farka Toure

We are loosing many Alis in the Berber land and sahara deserts. Those who shaped our understanding of what art has always meant.
Ali farka toure dies at the age of 66 this past week. He was an outstanding figure in musics of the desert. He survived cancer and lived to rinse all the ears of his people and others with beautiful music. He was the hero of tones and rhythms. He played and sang for love, for the desert for more than thirty yeas.
He is seen by many music ‘specialists’ in the US as the best blues player and singer in Africa. He always responded to that is a very Ali way “ Americans play good Malian music” but they do not really understand much of it
Crowds of musicians like Ray Cooder, Taj Mahal and others made the ‘pilgrimage to Mali to meet Ali and learn from his talents. they discovred him Ali played his ancestral music that spirits tell him about. He played a music that echoed tones from the desert. He knew what it all meant. Was he discovered like all the other things the west likes to call “great discoveries”
In his visit to Essaouira Morocco. 1999 he played for the Moroccan crowds and all the internationals who came to the concert. He played with the Moroccan Grawa who had the same background as he had. The music that cleanses the souls and brings hope to people who are looking at there homes being more and more invaded and devastated by the gurus who want everything even sacred sounds.
Ali refuses to record anywhere else he made a crew come o record in his home village.
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( from National Public Radio, USA)