Mali’s musical heritage has produced world renowned firebrands such as Toumani Diabate, Djeli Moussa Sissoko, Sidiki Diabate and Salif Keita to mention a few.
The country’s brand of desert blues now enjoys contemporary global appeal through new generation artists like Vieux Farka Toure, the son of singer and multi-instrumentalist, Ali Farka Toure. Vieux Farka Toure is a frequent visitor to South Africa, and once more braced the stage at Newtown’s Bassline on 18 January 2013. His performance came amid the political tumult that is rampant in his home country, specifically in the Northern regions. The upheaval in Mali has exacerbated to levels of culture clamping, where musicians face prosecution at the hands of fundamentalists holding the country siege.
It was in line with this plight that Vieux Farka Toure’s rock inspired offering backed by tribal beats emanating from a Tabale (a calabash drum) and modern live instruments, had an overwhelming impact. Though not overt in channeling the politics of Mali amid performance, Farka Toure’s music did the most talking by touching on narratives of humanity and global unity.
During the Bassline performance, the song’s infectious refrain was poignant enough to appeal to the crowd, which on its own accord reciprocated by a show of solidarity through a sing along. Dubbed the Hendrix of the Sahara, Farka Toure’s latest album The Tel Aviv Session, imbues electronic guitar synths and is a collaborative effort with Israeli Idan Raichel. The show also had Bongeziwe Mabandla as the opening act with his neo Xhosa folk. Mabandla’s showmanship had world class eloquence; his coming of age enabled him to deliver songs from his latest album Umlilo with maturity. (Source: Freelance blogger, Kagiso Mnisi attended a performance by Mali musician, Vieux Farka Toure after a visit to the country earlier/standardbankarts.co.za)