Talking Timbuktu

Lovely

Interesting. Crisp, clear sounds and good grooves in places. Other tracks drag slightly.

Vibes are immaculate, but unfortunately it gets repetitive quickly.

I think my parents had this CD when I was young. It sounds pretty familiar. Overall pretty cool. I've been listening to a lot of Ry Cooder this year, so was excited to see him on here. I'd never heard of Ali Farka Toure before though. It wasn't my thing, but I did definitely enjoy having it on. My favorite was Amandrai. I liked how they blended more classic American blues with the West African music. Album cover: C. It looks like a compilation sold at the Starbucks checkout in 2003.

I found this album to be a little boring. Lasidan was my favorite song, and I added it to a playlist. I don't think I have the palette for the West African sound, and I didn't enjoy it that much. I have no complaints and it certainly wasn't unpleasant, but I wouldn't listen to it again. 5/10

OK. Decent low 3

Favorite Track: Soukora

This list is definitely improving my knowledge of west African/western music fusion. And I’m generally loving that. I really like the fusion with blues, and this album was super chilled. Ry Cooder did a good job in adding subtle embellishment rather than taking over. For my tastes possibly a bit too laid back and one paced to listen to much again, I’m just a fan of the more up tempo fusions we’ve heard.

Nice and relaxing music but not something I’d put on to actively listen to.

Nice enough sound but didn’t really go anywhere

Very repetitive, but for a reason. It's entrancing. And it actually works on this record. On a lot of other records, it doesn't. But they could have left a couple of songs off. Favorite song: sega.

It's more like a jam session, not really any songs... Nice for background, but not for active listening...

Slightly better than the other African Blues album, 2.5 stars

A little better African music offering

2/3

Good vibes as always

3.75

Chill world chants, blues, dance.

I liked the general vibe, but nothing stood out and I won’t listen again

A good album that i don't want to listen to ever again. Good shit m8

Day 19 - June 20th, 2024 Very fun and catchy. Would make good background music.

Mellow album. If you enjoyed the Paul Simon 'Graceland' album, you have an idea of what you are in for here. The guitar work is sublime... crisp and elegant in its execution.

Good bluesy vibes. Due to the language difference, not sure how often I will pick this up, but enjoyed it. 3/5!

Música africana. Ni fu ni fa.

Bueno, si lo pones ahí bajito, de fondo, como música de ambiente, pero es bastante rollo.

This was pretty cool and relaxing.

Enjoyed the African rythm

It’s interesting the sort of smattering of world music that appears on the list… two from west Africa… I liked this ok but not sure I fully appreciated it but there were several songs I quite enjoyed, and several that were sort of lost on me. Not sure if it is because it is the second time around for this artist, my current context and disposition, or something else, but I didn’t enjoy this as much as Savane, the other album from this artist.

agradable mezcla afroamericana

Pretty calming even if it’s a little monotonous (2.5/5)

Blues sounding

I found the songs to be too long. It was fine for the good ones, but not the bad ones. Stand-out: Lasidan

Some excellent guitar work, but an hour of it felt a little repetitive.

Somehow this went: Mali blues is kinda like American blues. Ry Cooder can kinda play American blues. Let's make a record.

This settled into a nice smooth groove. Soukora was kind of a banger! Also Ry Cooder is a pretty sick name

Alright, yeah. You can tell me more about Timbuktu. I’m into it.

zeker niet slecht... maar misschien iets te kabbelend om echt brokken te maken voor mij...

Great background working music, but nothing that in my case is going to lift it above a three stars. Nothing against the music or the playing which are both great, just personal taste.

It's OK. The nine minute long plodding blues number in the middle of the record bums me out.

I received the Songhoy Blues - Music in Exile album two days ago so I am going to compare the two. Talking Timbuktu has better production, tones, and they are probably "better" musicians, but MIE had much better song writing, song structure, and I found it more more enjoyable to listen to. The songs on Talking Timbuktu tend to drone on one riff for 5ish minutes without really going anywhere. That is fine if that is what you are into, but I just found the other album more interesting. Overall I did enjoy this album, I just thought it dragged on a little long in some parts.

Jiggaboosted!

This was going to be a solid two because the first few songs all blend into one and I began to tune it out, but then Amandrai came on and bumped it up. A 9 Min long blues song yes please!

I was impressed to see Ry Cooder featured but most of the tracks sounded very similar. Pleasant enough to listen to though, 2/3*

Nou, dit is tenminste echt een ander album dan de meeste! Het is een soort Afrikaans jazzy album, laat het de Havermelkelite niet horen! Want dit is toch eigenlijk de echte Ethiopian Jazz ipv dat spul van Spotify. Heel erg relaxed, heel erg vibey, ik kan dit eigenlijk altijd wel waarderen. De zang versta ik natuurlijk helemaal niets van, maar loopt eigenlijk continue volgens het kenmerkende vraag-antwoord wat je vaak ziet/hoort in meer Afrikaanse muziek. Daarbij gepaard en instrumenten die natuurlijk totaal niet westers zijn, tot je de gitaar hoort die erbij zit. Maar eigenlijk past het perfect zo, het is een beetje zomers, het is heel erg vibey en ik vind het eigenlijk gewoon best wel lekker om te luisteren. Met 1 uur duurt het me net ff te lang, maar de nummers die me pakken zijn wel echt leuk! Alles bij elkaar is het gewoon een prima album wat echt eens wat anders is, het is niet wereld schokkend en ik heb het idee dat ik leukere albums in dit genre ken, maar misschien is dat mijn onwetendheid! FAVO: Bonde, Gomni

Alsof je op de Afrikaanse savanne voor je glampingtent zit te chillen bij een knisperend haardvuurtje nadat je eerder die dag triomfantelijk een olifant aan gort hebt weten te knallen dankzij prima voorwerk van je duurbetaalde gids, die je voornaam continu net verkeerd, maar vol gepast ontzag uitspreekt. In mijn geval 'Andrew'. Een verrassend aangenaam album. Deze kun je gerust op de achtergrond aanzetten terwijl je onder je Hollandse overkapping aan een Hoegaarden Wit zit te nippen, terwijl een vervelende, abusievelijk geïmporteerde tijgermug (uit Azië, maar dichterbij malaria en knokkelkoorts gaan we hier niet komen) je misschien heel even laat realiseren dat Mali een gevaarlijk land is. Hoe minder er gezongen wordt, hoe lekkerder het nummer is ook bij deze wereldmuziek weer de vuistregel, als is de zang hier ook nog wel goed te doorstaan. De gitaren of aanverwante snaarinstrumenten en de trommeltjes gaan er in als zoete koekister. Een 3.5 naar 3 want uiteindelijk ben ik hier toch niet links genoeg voor.

first listen this is very nice but doesn't have any standout tracks to me

Bueno, si lo pones ahí bajito, de fondo, como música de ambiente, pero es bastante rollo.

Really enjoyed first three tracks then got a little tired of it.

Chill album, very relaxing. A little repetitive. It’s a 3 for me.

Another "world music" album which are kind of my favorites on here. While it doesn't scream masterpiece, or anything like that, I love hearing these albums because I don't know how I'd find them otherwise. And it's a Grammy winner so that's cool (if you're into that sort of thing). This was really relaxing and just a fun album to work to.

A nice collaboration fusing Blues and African rhythms, these grooves are generally enjoyable and often hypnotic if a little languid. If ‘Talking Timbuktu’ has a drawback, after a while the songs can sound like variations of the same theme, meaning things can feel repetitive, and with the whole record clocking in at an hour, it feels just a touch too long.

Nothing more than background music for me.

Pretty good album, nice guitar work from both main guys, unique sound. But that's it, 3 stars and a big handshake.

Ok!

hippie shit. I was kind of into it, but also didn't want to continue. Extra point for not being the same 60s/70s retread albums you see on this list 3

Good guitar album, not one I’ll rush back to though.

coo

I’m a little torn on this album. I like the hypnotic drums, the guitar tone and the generally chill vibe. However, it’s very similar sounding throughout and eventually just gets to be too long of an album to actively listen to. I might put it on in the background in the future, but most likely not. I’m glad to have heard this though.

African blues folk. It's very listenable. Includes Ry Cooder.

I think another time I would have enjoyed it more, but I did enjoy this. Probably a 3.5 actually.

Een echte mijmerplaat. Dus ik mijmer maar een eind op los. Voor en nadeel daarvan is dat mijmeren nergens naar toe hoeft te gaan. Ik mijmer over de zaken die verdwenen zijn. Waar is Rolf Wouters, waar zijn die Peruanen voor mijn winkelcentrum, waar zijn de strepen op de provinciale wegen? Ik mis het allemaal niet, ik merk alleen de afwezigheid op. Ik mijmer over de gelijkenissen tussen Zuid-Amerikaanse en Afrikaanse klanken. Of komt dat gewoon door de taalbarrière? Ik mijmer over de taal die ze in Mali spreken. En of mij dat voldoende uitmaakt om het te googlen. Tot ik ineens wordt opgeschrikt door een soort panfluit. Weet ik in ieder geval waar die Peruaanse geluiden naar toe zijn. De zang klinkt vaak ook net zo als voor de supermarkt, al is het nu vast in het Bambara. Weet ik ook weer dat het interessant genoeg was om op te zoeken. Ik mijmer verder op het rustige gitaartje. Het wordt nu een soort blues. En ik mijmer verder en ik mijmer verder en niets in mij heeft zin om hier een oordeel over te vellen. De straatmuziek irriteert mij wat en nodig mij tegelijk uit om lekker weg te dromen. Het is gewoon muziek waar je helemaal niets van moet vinden. Gewoon de aanwezigheid constateren is voldoende. De sterren hieronder mijn tekstvak zijn dwingender. Die eisen toch om beroerd te worden. Laat ik het maar in het midden laten.

Categorie wereldmuziek, wat typisch op zondagochtend bij de VPRO vanuit muziekgebouw t IJ op tv wordt uitgezonden. Met een interviewtje van Jan Douwe Kroeske tussen de nummers door, ongecompliceerd, maar wel lekker pretentieus. Ry Cooder verkent in dit geval niet Cuba, maar Mali. Het is wel dus meer muziek voor op een zonnige zondagochtend in juli dan een druilerige dinsdagmiddag in april. Ik voel hem nog niet helemaal wat dat betreft. De jengelige zang van Ali Farka Toure ben ik niet zo'n fan van, maar het luie gitaartje en de trommels zijn wel relaxed. Een nummer als Amandrai is eigenlijk gewoon trage blues, met dat typische bluesriffje en later in het nummer de zelfbeklag van de zanger (althans, dat denk ik, want ik versta geen Malinees). Prima 3+ waard.

A little trip to somewhere different. Nice tunes for today.

Altogether a pleasant time, though the lilting guitar has a soporific effect after a while. Perhaps that's a slightly negative way of highlighting this music's hypnotic insistence. It's not a million miles away from hill country blues. Spotify really wants you to know that Ry Cooder played on this, huh?

Beautiful compositions and guitar tones, and I'm glad to have listened to something I wouldn't have otherwise. But it also went right through me, and I'm not sure I'll revisit. Highlights: Bonde, Gomni

Не дотягивает до vista club. И очень много высоких, но жира маловато. Довольно пережаренный стейк Алкоальбом: разбавленный хайболл

Блин, так круто, что Егор рассказал этот факт, что Buena Vista должны были записываться с малийцами и не записались. И теперь мы слушаем видимо тех самых малийцев... Ну прикольно прикольно, ничего плохо наверное не скажу. Но тут пожалуй более экспериментальное наполнение, чем на буэна виста, напрямую сравнить их конечно хотелось бы, но не получается. Вайбы ещё другие совсем: не ностальгия, а какая-то нуарность, тёмная этника.

A decent album with some nice laid-back sounds. Quickly becomes repetitive though, it works best as background music.

This worked as pleasant/chill background music. I didn't get particularly hooked by any of the tracks.

Love the sound and vibe of this. And, obviously, the skill is amazing. But still manages to largely feel like very good background music.

His son’s album with Khraungbin prepared me for this. I flat out dig “world music” 3-4

Solid 3, could be a 3.5 on a good day

Bonde 3 Soukora 3.1 Gomni 3 Sega 2.8 Amandrai 3.2 Lasidan 3.2 Keito 2.9 Banga 3 Ai Du 3.4 Diaraby 3.2 Score: 3.08

Loved the guitars / percussion on this

Good, easy and enjoyable to listen to.

Enjoyable but essentially musak.

Great listen. The musicianship is on point and the African lyrics...... jamin

Das war mal wirklich etwas anderes. Mir haben die ungewöhnlichen Melodien sehr gefallen.

Good. Always liked Ry Cooder.

Talking Timbuktu is a fine album for what it is. The melodies worked in a majority of the songs and even thought they didn't work well in some of the others, those ones were the shorter ones. It does feel like another elevator album but i do think its better than the other ones (how many times am i gonna keep saying this?). It is a decent album that is worth listening to Best Song: Lasidan Worst Song: Banga (Side note: I don't know why but i find it so funny that there is a song called Sega as in the game company)

a pesar de no ser mi estilo, me pareció bastante genial para escucharlo queriendo relajarse en una tarde de domingo, no guardé ninguna canción 3/5

eh

I enjoyed this, very chill listening. A solid 3.

Ry Cooder is always great and this had flashes of what I’ve liked so much about other World music we’ve heard in this list, but Thais didn’t grab me like the others. Still pretty good, though.

Very upbeat with some French. Not my style but good for a summer party background music.

Like with most of these type of albums it was fun but overstayed

Really enjoyable rhythms with a broad variety of instruments! The lyrics aren't the main part here, but everything harmonises pretty well. It's a little boring over time though.

I generally really like the 'World' music genre in this 1001 list. On this one Ry Cooder and Ali Farka Tore join forces, first songs are nice repetitive African music and just when you think: is this it, the addictive song 'Amandrai' shows up, which could easily serve the music in an alternative US Western, riff reminds me of the riff in Little Red Rooster of Stones. But after that my attention not always there.. 3 Stars

Cool African beats and blues. Some solid guitar work.

Honestly very interesting. It mixed a sort of indie feel that I wouldn't expect from this style. The vocalist also sounds like Ozzy Osbourne sometimes and that's rad. Gomni and Amandrai were my highlights.

Not understanding any of the lyrics really limited my enjoyment of this album. Instrumentals were pretty good. Favorite song was Bonde.

Great guitar playing. 3/5

A decent listen, though my not speaking the language and the samey instrumentation makes this a bit of background music. Bonde was a solid one that I'll come back to, but I don't think this will stay on rotation often.

I like this album, it's got a cracking swing to it. On the downside, I've got no idea what the songs are about - when I searched for lyrics, they weren't available translated. Maybe the album liner notes would clarify, but I streamed the album. But still, just playing the album made me feel great. 4/5

Emh nice to hear..but it feels like background music, excellent background music

A spirited, often uplifting marriage of African and American guitar work and it is the sort of fusion that works wonders and leaves the listener entranced for almost the hour long run-time. Favorites: Bonde, Soukora, Amandrai, Lasidan, Keito, Ai Du, Diaraby.

Fine to listen to in the background. Probably wouldn't listen again though.

Cool but not exactly my kind of sound. Some are pretty relaxing though.

This was pretty good.

Not my genre but interesting and easy listening

I won't pretend and say that this music resonates with me, or that I really enjoyed listening to it. I would never seek this music out, nor would I ever listen to it again after today, but -- I'm glad to have gotten the experience of finding out about it and hearing it. The same goes for most of world music. All that being said, this is one of the more enjoyable records of this genre that I've heard. You feel the charisma and joy that went into creating it, and complementing that is a lot of grooviness brought by the guitar playing. It's particularly obvious on tracks like Soukora, Gomni, and Amandrai.

A relaxing listen, though I agree with others here that I wish Cooder had less influence over the musical stylings. The LP is at its best exploring non-Western compositions and losing itself in lyrical free-flow as Touré wails away on his guitar, and I could listen all day in the forefront or background.

Relaxing Aftican music. Easy to listen to when you need to concentrate in task at hand

#30 | I should like this and I somewhat did but maybe with a lot less trite Blues and a lot more of what makes this Malian music, I wouldn't eventually have snapped out of an ultimately bored experience thinking "Oh, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 nice!", to find the album had ended and something else was playing (N'Gou Bagayoko - Kulu, exquisite, 5/5). I am glad to, after 29 albums, see something in this compilation that acknowledges that the non-anglophone 95% of the world, too, makes music you should hear, but it's an underwhelming, and disappointingly safe pick. Familiar Enough Music To Do The Dishes To.

A bit overproduced, which is sort of a backhanded way of saying it's just not my cup of tea. Not that I didn't appreciate it or acknowledge some decent moments. It's just not anything I'll try to revisit on purpose.

Ratings: 5: I will happily play this album anytime 4: I may occasionally play this album of my own free will 3: I will happily listen to this if someone plays it in the background 2: I will tolerate this if it is playing in the background 1: I will leave the room if someone plays this in the background The downside to this approach to new music is it doesn't allow a lot of time to soak in an album that is completely new. There are albums that immediately make an impact, but those are rare at this age. This album is pleasant enough, but I think it would take several more intense listens to bump it into my active playlist.

V interesting to listen to, I liked the first half more than the second, which had quite a lot of harmonica like instruments. I think this list would be better if we had more albums like this and less classic rock.

Another solid but not too engaging desert blues record

Ok

The stark differences between the songs made this a pleasure

Iterative Repetition is king.

Chill African blues tunes, some quality chops here, perfect with a whisky on Sunday evening

From the get go I thought this may be a gem I'd love and come back to. The more I listened the more I realized I did enjoy but this didn't blow me away. Good album, glad I listened, may relisten someday but not sure. Skilled players. This joins the crew of maybe I missed something or just not the day for me when I heard it.

Very calming album of strings, drums, and light vocals. There were some cool bluesy aspects throughout. This was a nice album to listen to in the background while working. Probably wouldn't listen to it any different way though.

Really solid instrumentals but the chanting started giving me a headache after a little bit :( but still can’t stress enough how differently awesome some of these songs are

12/5/23. I'm familiar with Mdou Moctar, but this felt like a good introduction to the world of Mali Music. A lot of styles of guitar playing I'm not familiar with, but may stay with me. I also loved a lot of the blues influences toward the end. I would revisit this one.

2/10, 20%

I was hoping for a more upbeat album, but this wasn't that bad.

not my style. ok

It just occurred to me that in western music we have a verse-chorus structure but in a African music, in this case anyway, we have verse only, which gets monotonous pretty fast. I like the playing and the singing.

Ry Cooder has done some fine collabs with \"World\" musicians, notably the Buena Vista Social Club and Ali Farka Toure. This album is pleasant enough, but as someone else mentioned with songs that average over 5 mins each and not much variety they seem to blend into each other and it becomes a bit repetitious after awhile. The blues tinge from Cooder is a nice touch though.

It's good. I wish there were more Ali Farka Touré and less Ry Cooder but I guess I know where to go for that.

Solid guitar work. Not too stiff, not too sloppy. I dug it.

Ry Cooder got his start with Captain Beefheart, also on the list, for his guitar work. He would go on to play guitar on many great albums, such as Sticky Fingers, Trio, and Crossroads. He would eventually explore music outside of America to team up with the likes of Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, The Chieftains, and Afro-Cuban All Stars to make all kinda of wonderful albums. One such collaboration was with Ali Farka Touré of the west African country Mali. Together, they would blend blues and the music of Songhai to make Talking Timbuktu. Given that the blues is traditionally derived from Songhai music, it makes sense that west African native Ali Farka Touré to explore the two genres in tandem. This is how he made a name for himself, as the incredibly soulful and roots-driven musician. His songs mosey along at a comfortable pace, giving listeners time to fully appreciate how large these songs are (not long, large). And while the album is quite long, it feels suitable to the atmosphere it creates as it invokes the traditions and landscapes of Songhai.

Ce n'est pas un style qui vient vraiment me chercher, mais c'est un album que j'ai bien apprécié tout de même. Ça faisait une bonne ambiance, il y avait de l'émotion. Les guitares étaient vraiment très bonnes. Même sans avoir été totalement charmé, ça mériterait clairement une deeuxième écoute. 7/10

Melodic world folk tunes.

Ali once again bringing the chill, though this didn't get its hooks on me like Savane did.

This is fun music that really is it's own vibe. It's not really my style, but I can appreciate it.

Music was ok. No idea what the songs are about.

This was really nice.

Hey, it's another world music album that I kind of like. I'll probably never listen to it again but it definitely wasn't bad.

Pretty chill music. Not my favorite. But alright.

Something different at least.

Jújú, þessi var áheyrileg og fín, en ég læt eina hlustun nægja því það er áfram gakk sem gildir í dag.

Cool. Reminds me of Paul Simon’s Graceland and Rythm of the Saints.

Heard before. I kinda forgot what I was gonna say about it. I think I liked the songs in the beginning.

I hadn't heard this album before and didn't know about it, and I'm very glad this project introduced me to it. It's excellent. The compositions and arrangements are so interesting, such a cool blend of styles and approaches, and the performances are superb. I'll definitely come back to this one again.

I'm confused. There's a traditional song called "Diarabi" whose melody I'm head over heels about, and I just *know* for sure that Ali Farka Touré is part of an array of African artists who play it in their repertoire. Yet it's not the "Diaraby" (with a 'y' at the end?) that closes this album, which has a totally different music and overall melody. Can someone explain? Reading the reviews I hear there's another Ali Farka Touré record in the list, and I hope that: a) It's got the "Diarabi" song I'm looking for. b) It's as varied and adventurous as this album with Ry Cooder is, and has as many charming or enticing moments. Mixing American blues and Malian music makes so much sense. But you got tracks on this album that are far more *African*, and they sound good too Malian music is still a genre I'm not fully acquainted with, though, so I would lie if i said that I found *everything* in *Talking Timbuktu* to be striking, though. But reading the "user's reviews" on All Music (written by listeners who obviously appreciated this LP), it seems that this record is a "slow burner". So I'm gonna give it the full benefit of the doubt here and elect for a neutral grade for the purposes of his list, translating to a 8 grade for more general purposes (5+3) Number of albums left to review: 413 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 271 Albums from the list might* include in mine later on: 143 (including this one) Albums from the list I won't include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 179.

cool African guitar playing

Very world blues vibes.

Second African album. I was alive in the 90s and don't remember any of this.

3.5 Really nice!

3.8 - I love the layering of bluesy guitar with plaintive chanting. It sounds like I’m listening to the genesis of American blues music. Throw in some delicate picking on the kora, and tapping on the hand drums, and you get a wonderful hour of listening. Check out “Sega” that switches things up with some Arabesque violin.

Un album que j'ai malheureusement écouté en plein récurage de WC, ce qui n'a pas aidé à le mettre en valeur. Dommage...

Ces recueils d'africanaiseries me sont devenus absolument insupportables, merci Robert de m'avoir rendu moitié raciste, moi qui entretenait jusque là des rapports très cordiaux avec la culture africaine.

this is the sixth world music album i got and all of it was from Africa... not that I'm mad or something i like it a lot but what about other traditional music? Asia? India? South America? what about these?

This wasn't really my thing - it sort of washed over me.

Very chill and quality, but not much diversity in the songs.

Enjoyable world music

African folk/blues. Enjoyable.

Not one I know…. Interesting sounds. I get those Paul Simon vibes when he collaborated with the Africans on his album. Standouts: Soukora Very Strong for a foreign album by someone I don’t know. 3/5

Good vibes, album is long without much variety but it has a natural “jam” element to it I enjoyed

Qué bien suena esto! Cuántas cosas interesantes se hicieron en los 90! Fue degenerando de más a menos pero no está mal.

Rating: 6/10

A 3.5 for me. The music sounds good, but it's just a bit too meandering and doesn't really go anywhere. Some more vocals and additional instrumentation would go a long way. A pleasant listen, but not enough to sustain attention.

West Africa meets Delta Blues. Never heard of Ali Farka Toure before but this album was a nice surprise.

Good record.

Great album. Definitely one of those in-the-room recordings, no doubt because it was. Ry Cooder's purist, naturalistic fingerprints are all over this one. I think presenting these "folk" or "world" artists in these stripped down studio environs could possibly imply a subtle, rarely addressed racism. Or at least classicism. But who knows.

I prefer Ali Farka Toure on his own.

Sounds good and fun but not something I'd listen to more than once I suppose. Maybe just not in the mood.

Another great World Music sound, with the peerless Ry Cooder backing Alli up.

Hressandi að fá eitthvað allt annað en það sem gengur og gerist í popp- og rokkheimum. Tilvalið til frekari skoðunar!

fascinating mix of middle eastern music, folk, and tribal rhythms. very hypnotic at times.

I actually really liked this.

what language is this? couldn't figure it out.

Pretty good, I especially enjoyed the instrumentals.

Washed over me, not my thing too Jazzy

it was nice

Música africana. Ni fu ni fa.

2.5

Something nice to play in the background. Thanks ❤️

i guess i would have liked it more if it was just instrumental

I have never heard of this artist. But when I saw he was from Mali - I got cautiously optimistic because I really liked the album Music in Exile by the band called Songhoy Blues who are also from there. Thoughts while listening... Ok, yeah - this has similarities to the Songhoy Blues album - which is good. It looks like this one came out 11 years before that one - so I'm guessing this guy (Ali Farka Touré) has had some influence on those guys. Or at least they are all swimming in a similar genre lake. I looked it up - Songhoy Blues was definitely influenced by Ali Farka Touré and they covered a lot of his songs when they started out. Cool connection! Never guessed that I would become an "expert" in understanding Malian music but here we are - haha. Ali is definitely more folky/acoustic sounding than Songhoy Blues and quite a bit less energetic. I like some of this, but felt it gets a little samey throughout without enough variation or energy to keep it interesting across the whole album. I ended up liking the first 3 songs - "Bonde", "Soukora", and "Gomni" - plus the last song "Diaraby". None of it is bad, just felt like these 4 stood out from the rest. Liked songs on Spotify: 4/10 Rating: 2/5

I guess this is fine

Not for me

Svag tvåa.

Ännu mer världsmusik. Egentligen är det väl rätt mycket av ett bluesalbum i västafrikanska tappning. Här finns en del fint malande blues som i Ai du och Amandrai. Eller sköna basslingor som i Soukora. Tyvärr blir det rätt enformigt i längden.

Ökenblues som släpar sig fram. Ry Cooder lyckas inte lätta upp det hela. Tvärtom är det lite mindre svängigt än vad Ali Farka Toure kan vara. Precis godkänt.

Wait, a second album from Ali Farka Toure? I didn't know he had two reps on the list. I listened to Savane around 140 albums ago and it was alright. Nothing wrong with a little African blues, though relative to what this genre is I think he might be punching above his weight. Anyways, this album was added first (Savane was added to the 2008 update of the book and much of the reason for its inclusion appears to concern Toure's death), so it evidently has the most staying power. Here goes. Yeah. Not for me, though I can commend this music for being a relaxing listen. I like the warm, mellow, distinctive African guitars. They have a nice sound and work well with the pattering percussion, though I do think the music sounds a little empty whenever they're absent. To compensate for these stretches, the percussion-based tracks typically incorporate more aggressive and layered vocals to fill the emptiness, which is another element that pushes me away. The vocals don't move me. They work well enough whenever they're in the background, but having them front and centre highlights how lackluster the melodies and performances are. There's also the matter of the runtime and how generally repetitious the music is, though these factors didn't bother me as much as they have previously. Overall, I was content with letting this music blow over my head, though I obviously didn't care too much about the particulars of this album. Book time. Won a Grammy. Farka Toure came to prominence when recordings from his early albums were circulated in Europe by DJs, musicians and critics. Apparently, the people who are into this music have gotten into slapfights over whether it's blues, though Farka Toure contends that this music belongs to a more traditional style. The World Circuit label picked him up in '88 and things went from there. Wikipedia says this album has moved 100,000 copies in Europe and 230,000 in the US. It also received middling reactions from the two music publications who reviewed it, though that's about it. I'm not tired of World music being in here just yet, though the level of variety is kind of a bummer. Off the top of my head, I'm pretty sure half of the world music picks are from Africa and a quarter are from India, with the remaining nominations being from South America. East Asia is definitely sorely missing in the world music nominations, though in all fairness the East Asian music industry was pretty insular until around the mid-2010s. Anyways, we're removing this one. Two albums from Toure is definitely him punching above his weight. In place of this album, I humbly submit "I See Seaweed" by The Drones for inclusion on the list.

Some good African jazz vibes. Didn’t blow me away.

Day860 - super talented musicians making super boring album

2/5

I was excited about this one because of Ry Cooder but between the repetition and the awful early 90’s guitar tone, I couldn’t take it

i personally think we should smack the person who came up with the "world music" genre upside the head because i've heard folk music from every continent and somehow all of them are just classified as world music in the west. it's frankly insulting anyway i agree with what most people seem to think about this. it's pleasant listening. really beautiful at times. but does get repetitive quickly. i don't think i'll ever return but i had a good time while i was listening to it fave track: soukura

They should probably start talking about something else ...

Cool instruments, no English. I want to be able to sing the songs I listen to if I like them. I guess this has its place but 🤷 don’t feel like listening to the whole thing. Especially with 7 minute songs, it’s a long listen.

Jeg synes, det er rigtig kedeligt. 1.8

not really my taste. good music, but not something i'd really choose to listen to

This guy again? Really? The first one I reviewed was so bad I blocked his music from being played on my Spotify account. I had to unlock him to get to play this album, then I reblocked him so he never comes up in my mix. Cooder adds some clout but the music is still SO boring and wandering. His guitar work is an afterthought. The listener counts were high, likely because it's tied to Cooder. 33M oplayed "Ai Du", 11M listened to "Bonde" and 9M enjoyed "Soukora", which was the only decent tune on the album. No hits, can't sing along or understand, not into the vibe or instrumentation, nearly every song was utterly boring, the vocals suck. Grab a pillow and enjoy this snoozer. 2 stars.

Some beautiful sounds on here, and each track taken in isolation has plenty to offer. But as an album there’s not enough variety to keep you going for an hour.

It’s great at putting you in a trance, very easy to focus on other thoughts/tasks with it on in the background. Even though I didn’t save many individual tracks, I still enjoyed the whole thing. It just feels like one cohesive piece rather than individual songs. I quite like the desert blues. Whatever he does, something about it does give it more of a “soul” than a lot of Western music. Rating: 2.5

Just so so boring

Just not my thing. The vocals are irritating musically and I connect even less because I don’t understand them. The music is uninspiring to me.

Dnf

I really tried with this one, but it felt annoyingly repetitive.

This is fine, but he didn’t need a second album.

Fine album but not for me

Sadly, no amount of semi-interesting pentatonic guitar fills could make this entertaining to me. I had really hoped this blend of genres and styles would do something for me. I did just find myself very bored. I’ve never been partial to chanted vocals and this album is chock full of them. The whole thing felt like a slog from about halfway through the first song. A worthwhile experiment for me to dip my toe into this sound but unfortunately an unsuccessful one.

2.4/5 interesting jams

Ry Cooder is the master of pretty boredom. As nice as it is to have some African elements here, this just makes me feel sleepy. Too much repetition, too little dynamics, it just lulls you in and...

Great start, solid finish, just OK through the middle - but AFT has an agreed Grammy winner here in (although not sure how many other international folk entries there were in 1994.) Makes for an hour of good, late night background music with some light international fare, maybe tapas. (2.45*s) Always enjoy the world music entries!

World music can be great but it can also be a bit redundant and bland. Talking Timbuktu is the former. The album is not bad but I was pretty over it after song 3. A Malian teaming up with a guy named Ry Cooder...I thought it'd be better but not feeling the vibes as much. Certainly better than Dry Cooter though. I'm feeling sorta like the drummer on the album cover, just going along and looking bored. 1.59 stars.

Surprisingly I have a little bit of exposure to Malian music through Damon Albarn's extensive collaboration with African Express and others. He has a handful of releases that I don't regularly listen to but have given each of them a spin over the years as a completionist. Worldbeat isn't my typical genre in any way, but I found Talking Tumbukto to be pleasant for a little while. The beats and delicate stringwork provide a fine foundation for some low energy background music. There's a wide variance of instruments that I don't expect I would hear in traditional american/english music. After a while it all starts to sound similar and you tune out. Even if I can't understand anything they are singing about I can appreciate the exposure. Like many of the other international releases on the list its not bad and just another reason to gain some insight into music from another culture. A half hour of it is about all I need every year or so. After a while it starts to run together and sound too similar so it gets shelved and I move on. 1.53 stars

I have taken a bit of a break from this because of various parts of my life getting a lot busier, so this is the first album I've heard from the list in a month. It's a fine album, it has some nice chord progressions and melodies played well by the musicians, but it doesn't really have a lot going on. A lot of the songs sound very similar, to the point that I thought a couple of tracks were reprises of earlier ones, and the songs themselves are often very repetitive. This isn't helped by the length of many of the tracks, there are only two on the whole album under five minutes and I don't think any really earn their length. Ultimately, I think this album would make for some good background music for other activities, as it's easy to move your focus elsewhere while listening to it. I struggle to envision someone putting Talking Timbuktu on specifically to listen to it, though I can absolutely see it providing ambience in a chilled out environment. Favourite song: Soukora

The music is beautiful. A bit boring but lovely

Not for me but still not as bad as Jazz.

Started strong but into the end it felt like there just wasn’t enough weight to it.

I had heard this before and enjoyed it a little better this time. Not something I will listen to often, some decent blues / world music

The sound of the album is pretty warm and pleasant to listen to, but track by track, the repetitive nature of most of the songs built up to weigh the full work down by the end It's still a likeable album and it's hard to mind the songs sitting comfortably in the background, but in the context of this list it's held back a little. "Soukora" stands out as having extra warmth and a bit of a different feel from the rest of the tracklist

Not to bad but have you heard 1 song you heard them all (especially if you don't understand the language). It's nice to have in the background but nothing I will remember tomorrow.

i remember when this came out

very dull, even as background noise it gets a little annoying after a while.

Escuché tres canciones, no están mal pero el disco en general no me atrapó.

Held together by, presumably, Ry Cooder

Desertified

Important culturally, not what I’m usually looking for. Songs are fine but I forgot I was listening often.

this was fine but im not sure malian guitar really does it for me

Inoffensive but it sounded like one hour long jam with little distinction between the various tracks. This would make great background music for a game or played in a restaurant maybe. It's music that fits the purpose of being so background that it washes over you and can easily be ignored. Mood music maybe? Two stars for something that was really not special in any way at all.

Not really my style at all unfortunately. Too jammy for my taste. I liked that it was a lot different than everything ive listened to so far. Very relaxing it almost made me fall asleep while listening.

I did not love this album and was hoping I would. two stars

It was interesting listening to something a bit different, but it felt like the album went on for a bit too long.

Eh, I’d take Ry Cooder and leave Ali Farka Toure. This record is like west African stony bro-ness. I dunno, not for me, I guess. 5/10

Just mellow, on the beach guitar tunes. It all just drifts along nicely - whether you think that's a good or bad thing is up to you. However, it does make me wonder - again - whether I needed to hear this before I died. Best Tracks: Bonde; Soukora; Ai Du

Started out good/ok (3 stars) but then dragged on a bit too long and got pretty boring. Might have dropped it a star for me.

This is ok I guess. It all starts to sound the same after awhile

Meditative stuff. Feelers with Same thing all over again.

I like the guitars.

Pleasant to have on in the background, but pretty repetitive for active listening.

Eh, album was fine. Registered as music in the background, nothing I felt myself jamming to. Pretty meh on it.

This was alright. Started off kind of strong but just went on for a bit too long in my opinion. The guitar is nice. I just can't picture myself ever returning to this album. It didn't do much for me, but it wasn't unpleasant.

Enjoyable sonic landscapes, but a dull album nonetheless.

Great guitar Not for me.

It was nice enough music to cook our tea to. One of the tracks reminded me of riding a donkey. Pleasant but nothing to fax work about.

A mix of African folk music and blues. It sounds like a jam session between talented musicians with very different styles, in that it was interesting to listen to but had lots of dead spots that felt like they were trying things that didn't work out. I don't feel like the styles really combined together very well. There were some interesting rhythms though.

2/5. An hour of anemic blues tinted with Malian folk and Malian folk tinted with blues. An album whose claims to fame are (1) having a riff show up on a quiz show segment and (2) appearing in the book that inspired this website. The guitar playing is competent and the composition is too, but that's not saying much given the simplicity of the songs. I'm reminded of my time at college where a friend of mine would excitedly share some music from a foreign artist every other week or so. The music, almost invariably, was a mediocre execution of a genre already available in the West but with foreign singing over it. And this fits that bill just about perfectly. That said: there are some pleasant listening moments here. Not enough to return though.

Рома: прикольное под травку мне кажется

Den Anfang fand ich durchaus spannend, mit der Zeit hat sich das Album aber ziemlich abgenutzt und es ist teilweise eher ins Nervige umgeschwungen.

Scheint ganz gut zu sein. Aber mehr als „normal gut“ erscheint es mir auch nicht.

Two legends, but this album isn't really my bag. Very similar songs, and longer than i would like.

Skilful guitarists just not something I would listen to

I feel like some of these albums were thrown in here simply for "diversity". Honestly there isn't any genre diversity nor culture diversity on this list. It's such a shame. This album isn't at all what I'd listen to. Just not my style. Two songs sound like a bare version of Romanian traditional folk, I think that's cool, that's like all I got to say. Overall it's eh, nothing that special for me, more like calming and relaxing background music. Still, I'd like to listen to more stuff like this instead of the same British punk/rock or American rock/folk. Idk I got a feeling this was only chosen cuz Ry Cooder is involved and he is American. I'm not tryna undermine his work, but seeing how little foreign works are chosen for this project, I can't help but think this way. I'm actually stunned to see African music on here. I'd expect that a guy like this list's author would think Africa is one big country and everyone lives in trees and caves.

Pas fan, je suis pas raciste hein mais bon...

Iif I understood the lyrics this may have been a higher rating. Instrumentation is good; all in all, great musicians but not my scene. Listened before? N Saved some tracks? N Favorite tracks? NA ⭐⭐ Didn't understand it

Boring and too long. Not something I will listen to again.

It was fine? A good vibe but didn't stand out in any way. Definitely above average for a predominantly instrumental album but still not my fave.

I can enjoy what this is but maybe not like it

It's African music, I guess?

Not my favourite listen, but more tolerable than other music I’ve listened to. I quite like some of the instrumentals but that might just be because I’m on holiday so it fits the sunny vibe.

Some great guitar work. Overall kinda one dimensional and not a lot happening. Not offensive, but have to be really in the mood for this.

Bedst når der går Blues. Men det gør det desværre for sjældent

I think this was a little better than his other album on this list, but overall just not for me I guess. Nothing about it gripped me. I could see having it as some background music but even for that there are other options I would prefer

Passa uma sensação de conforto vendo essa capa e imaginando os brothers de culturas diferentes numa casinha, tocando, experimentando sons, improvisando. Bem parecidas as músicas e repetitivas, até a mais famosa é igual. Parece uma sessão de improviso mesmo, os caras são bons, mas não curti muito não. Deve ter sido mais legal para eles criando do que a gente ouvindo. 2*

Tava interessado no início, bem diferenciado, instrumentos diferenciados, gostosinho, tava achando bacaninha, ia dar 3. Mas aí foi passando e foi passando e se tornou extremamente repetitivo. As linhas do violão/guitarra/sei lá ficavam fazendo a mesma coisa over and over and over again. E o interesse acabou se esvaindo, começou a se tornar cada vez mais chato e desinteressante. Se ouvir as músicas separadas, talvez seja bacaninha. Mas ouvindo o álbum como um todo assim, não ficou bacana não. Acabou caindo pra um 2.

Wasn't feeling it 2

Ga meg lite

It came, it went

478/14001 🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑

African mellow rock, okay not My style

There’s nothing wrong with this as a sound but as an album it’s quite dull

Outside of my type of music preference, but most were decent songs that had enjoyable vibes.

Mäßiges nature Album

Vibes are cool - don't need to listen to a whole album of it.

Guitar to start the album was very nice. Sega - not for me! Maked me want to rip my eardrums out! Following it up with Amandrai is like punching someone in the face and then kissing them after. Welp, at least the first 7 minutes of Amandrai. Not a fan of Keito either. Banga sucks too. I have to stop the album I can't keep going. It sucks because the guitar in the first 5 mins of the album was great.

Felt very background music. Didn’t really grab me

sure, fine?

Talking Timbuktu is perfectly pleasant smooth, melodic, and so consistent it starts to feel like one long, uninterrupted track. There’s nothing offensive here, but also not much to grab onto.

Best Track - "Bonde"

A very pleasant listen, but also somewhat of a nondescript listen. The songs really ran together for me, which is a common problem for me with non-English songs. I didn't connect with this one, but that very well might be because I am a dumbass.

Kinda good but also kinda boring

Good guitarist. Good music.

It’s nice that Ry Cooder is doing this and it’s nice that our curator is doing this for Ry Cooder

This was fine, it’s just I won’t ever turn it back on again (never say never)

Clean tones, easy listening tunes. But not groundbreaking or new.

At first, this album may sound interesting, being a combination of blues and Songhai Music, a style of music which originates in Mali, from where Ali Farka Touré comes. The recording is also very very clean. Quite impeccable. But, from my perspective, this record presents some problems: it gets very repetitive and it feels 'flat' and lacking in ideas or depth, which ends up coming across as background music which I wouldn't pay too much attention. It frustates me to think that it could be much better, as I believe the ideas behind these tracks do have great potential. In fact, songs like 'Lasidan' and 'Diaraby' are my favourites and they have some great elements which makes them unique from the rest, the first being the most energetic track and the last one having some nice guitar melodies. Overall, dispite having a great sound, I can't say that I really enjoyed this LP.

pfrtttt

I was excited to finally break away from the UK and get something that was international (even if an American was playing blues guitar on it).My excited quickly evaporated as the second and third songs continued on the same path as the first. By the fourth track, I was pretty much over it, there was no range in this album, it all sounded so very similar throughout. I finally get to listen to an album that isn't from the UK (or the US) and it is one of the most vanilla albums the continent of Africa may have ever produced. I didn't hate the album, but am really starting to hate this list. The album was just so-so. But Dimery and this list so far (134 albums in) get a 3.3/10. 195 countries on this planet and a century of modern music and we only get shit from the UK from 1955 onward. I may just complete this list in a rage and hate on every album along the way or I may lose my shit when I hit submit on this review and see my next album is Dimery's cousin's band that played 3 shows at a local park back in 1987. Bad review for this list, mediocre review for this album. 4.8/10 134/1001

Some of the tracks are not bad if you just want some background music. But overall pretty meh.

not my vibe

I appreciate this for what it is, but most of the songs were just way too long and repetitive for me to find this an enjoyable listen.

Enjoyable in specific circumstances. It does get repetitive as the album goes on and I found myself needing to take a break. That could have also been due to using excel though

Cool, but not my thing. 1001 album worthy: yeah - 101/185

Love the guitar, don’t love the vocals.

Another album that I see something here, but I just don't like it.

I didn't use a private spotify session, maybe I should have. It's interesting, but it's not for me. African rhythms, whiny lyrics I don't understand, still beats Taylor Swift.

Not for me

Really not my thing

Wish this grabbed me a bit more. Very repetitive and I really wished for some variety. Not unpleasant but I won’t be revisiting this. Just background guitar music to me.

Pleasant listen. Good guitarist

Maso

Nice vibe, but this won’t be more than a one-timer for me.

Somewhere on the soporific-stultifying continuum

Thought this was a nice, easy listening album. Not generally my thing, but overall was good background music while working. Seemed to drag on a little long, and there was nothing I really found adverse, but also not something I would revisit. Something about the other dudes name made me laugh whenever I saw it. I though I was seeing a putdown for a lady's private area. Yea, I'm a wierdo. 2

2.5 This is our second outing with Ali on this list, and my opinion is largely unchanged from the first time around - incredibly impressive guitar work, but the songs are too long and repetitive. I liked the sound of just about everything I heard, but each track grew old about halfway through, resulting in this album feeling like a bit of a slog towards the end. That said, I was really impressed with the production on this album. For being over 30 years old, no part of this felt outdated in any way, and the guitars have this great, crisp sound to them that does Farke’s music a lot of favors. That’s probably the most positive thing I can say about this though - while I admire the guy’s guitar work, I just don’t think it’s implemented into great or memorable songwriting, at least not here. Not bad, but would benefit greatly from a bit of trimming - no song here really felt like it needed to be 5+ minutes. Also, Sega had nothing to do with the blue hedgehog (or maybe it did idk I don’t speak Fula).

There was a lot of meandering on this album. Didn't feel it.

Good music but not for me

Ok background noise

Good musicians, just not my thing

Didn't hate it. Actually, kind of liked a few tracks - cool grooves. Wish I knew the language and could appreciate the lyrics.

so boring. also i reconciled with my ex-boyfriend so can i get an album that he loves tomorrow? 2/5

It's okay, just not really my style unfortunately! Nothing really stuck with me from it.