|
This CD was bought after seeing the film 'Unfaithful' (the 'Unfaithful' soundtrack does not include all music in the film), which included a track by Ali Farka Toure and Ry Cooder. The rest of the CD is great and I find myself humming the tunes all the time. A fantastic joining of talent.
Here the guitars are electric as well as acoustic, and there is a type of flute and more drums and other Malian instruments. I bought this CD at the same time as the one named Ali Farka Toure because I couldn't decide between the two. The bluesy element is more apparent on some numbers due to Ry Cooder's influence, I suspect, as well as the dragging rhythm similar to that associated with John Lee Hooker, but others are distinctively African. It is a good combination. The other album is acoustic and a small number of musicians and types of instruments. One of the songs, Soukora, was popular even as far away as East Africa, where I heard it often, and is a personal favorite. The songs are very interesting both vocally and rhythmically and the instrumentation is excellent.
It's as if I have seen music as it used to exist many thousands of years ago, now being spoken in the present day in a language that I recognize instantly.This is music reaching beyond the drama of the individual and purely personal emotion, beyond even hope, ambition and certainly fear of any kind. A friend introduced me to Toure with this album and I'm overwhelmed. As a classical musician, my personal listening experiences often get limited to a different sphere than the world of this artist. A friend of mine works on Wall Street and I've recently wondered what would happen if the Ninth Symphony and the B Minor Mass were played during work hours there. I do not find it merely entertaining. There is an other-worldly, magical quality which shakes me to my musical roots. I now earnestly hope that that industry puts down its telephones and looks away from its computers to listen to music from an artist like Toure. And I wish our fractious America as a whole would listen in as well.
I haven't been this pleased with an album in its entirety in a long time.
I got this CD because I liked the song from the movie, "Unfaithful". I like a couple of other tunes also.very unique CD.and love the guitar.
|
