Savane

did not understand a word of what he is saying - but it matters not! Great vibe and music! Expand your horizons

This Ali Farka Touré gets a low 4 from me, love the guitar playing

This is proof that the blues can be sung in any language. While I did not know a single thing he was saying I could feel it, and isn't that what the blues are about.

Not for me

I'm glad Ali Farka Touré has two albums on this list, maybe he needs another

It's good, but not as transcendent as a lot of the roots/world music that is on this list.

This was super cool! African traditional mixed with blues, this is the exact kind of thing I love to find in this list, a genre I am not familiar with at all but is totally up my alley! "Erdi" "Yer Bounda Fera" "Machengoidi" and "Soko Yhinka" were the standouts for me

i liked it. jazzy fun

Nice guitar

Didn't love this at the beginning, but it really settles into a groove in the second half. A little better as background music than I may like, but this man is obviously talented Favorite Songs: Soya, Ledi Coumbe

#267 - I like the earthy bluesy sound this album gave off, but i started tuning it out as background music. I will probably revisit this album again today and re-score it later

blues meets africa. not terrible but not my thing

Suffered through this one.

Cool and unique. May have rounded up if I could understand the lyrics. Dig the music tho. 3.25/5

This was a fun and enjoyable album. It’s pretty much African folk mixed with blues. Once you get a little ways into it, it definitely draws you in with its meditative and trance like atmosphere. Turns out Ali Farka Touré had been battling cancer, and during that battle he managed to create this album, but unfortunately, he passed away just a few months before it was released.

4 stars

Hardly essential.

Really unexpected but interesting

Desert Blues has been hands down my favorite genre discovery on this list! More Ali Farka Touré is extremely welcome!

An interesting last album from Ali Farka Toure. Fantastic musicality and one of his best.

Este disco pone a los blancos a recoger algodón

Lyrics - did not understand. Music - very varied with instruments and play, enjoyed it a lot. Overall - fun album to listen to!

Fantastically skilled guitarist, but the style of music isn't my favourite - the instrument in "Hanana" was really grating and I found the riffs overall to be on the repetitive side. The vocals are good but again not always my thing. Can't say anything for the lyrics because I don't understand them. Generally OK as background, a few tracks I'd consider re-listening to, some I wouldn't.

I do not know what he is saying, I do not know the Mali language. I can appreciate that he has created good song structure and the instruments punctuate it well. Reminds me of traditional Japanese music at points. Not sure what to rate it, something draws me to it, but at the same time, would I replay it...

No thanks

Listens: 2 Standout Tracks: ? Super chill and relaxing desert blues music. Just put it on and go do other things while it effortlessly fades into the background. This is made possible (at least for me) because I don't know any of the 5 or 6 different languages used on any of the tracks. So, for me, this album is strictly an exercise in listening to the melodies and rhythms present in the songs. I also took the opportunity to go back and listen to Talking Timbuktu with Ry Cooder, which was just as good as I remember it being.

Pretty solid albeit samey throughout. My tastes trend towards timbre and rhythm over other qualities so this was easy to listen to. Did not understand a single word but usually that only serves the song.

The first half of Savane was a disappoinment mostly, it reached the boring threshold and made me wait for it to finish. However, later on there was a number of better tracks. So that is a collection of African music works, with instruments resembling the guitar and in a language I wouldn't identify. As I've, it was not making much sense, but with tracks like Bange and N'jarou I started to like how the repetitive motives are utilized, I'd say the record finally reached a feasinble rhythmic approach. So perhaps Savane could be shorter, but it has some blues motives, for example. Its overall attitude is relaxed, even nearing a lullaby at times. So I wanted to rate it two but it ultimately deserves three: not particularly oustanding, but also has enough material to make it worth giving a try.

Had to speed listen; not much there

Fun and different

Really enjoyed this one- it’s been fun to get African artists

Added to my playlist for working and reading. The combination of intentional drone, repetition, focus on tone, and skilfull musicianship just works for me. Something you can listen to actively and appreciate deeply, or let fade into that back of your attention and let your mind wander.

Loooved this

um bom encerramento tá bem bonito, por mais que não totalmente minha praia

essa capa eh mto foda. blues africano daquele naipe. o bicho sabia tocar um instrumento de corda, né. bem suave e dá um climinha de fim tarde, sei lá. enfim, uma bela despedida do mano. que deus o tenha.

I've listened to one album (Talking Timbuktu) by Ali Farka Toure from doing this project. I liked about 4/10 songs on that one and gave it 2 stars. Looks like this one is from 12 years after that one - so curious to see how he's developed and progressed over that time. Some of this gave me similar vibes to English Folk music like Fairport Convention. Since I can't understand what he's saying I kinda just go on the feeling of the music and vocals. I like the background singers that join in and swell the sound. I like the circular guitar patterns. And like the sound of the guitars - especially in songs like Savane (where it sounds like flamenco) ... AND cool how a saxophone appears and just adds to the ambiance of the song and not overpowering it (like in Beto). Also in Savane, keyboards make an appearance and give a different feel adding to the overall sound. Ended up liking 8 of these and will be interested to hear them pop up on my playlists. I think this one has more energy than the Talking Timbuktu album. Good stuff! Liked songs on Spotify: 8/13 Rating: 3/5

This is one of these albums that's hard to know how to rank (which is why ranking is arbitrary and reductive) because I don't have a frame of reference to compare it to. However, as someone (apparently Teddy Roosevelt, maybe?) once said, and as someone I know more recently said to me, "Comparison is the thief of joy," so maybe I can just be OK with feeling like I enjoyed this album quite a bit.

Loved this from the John Lee Hooker of West Africa-a true fusion of styles.

A great variety of sounds held together by his homage to the blues.

I like the vocals and the beat but ultimately it drifted in to the background rather than really grabbing me

For me it's at its best when it's at its blusiest. But then I'd probably rather listen to John Lee Hooker. Decent outing. But realistically not for me. 2*

This is a fabulous listen. Great music.

Pretty interesting

I can’t competently articulate why this is only a 4 and not a 5, so there.

I'm happy I listened to this with my Grados because the acoustic instruments sounded very cool. I can't judge the lyrics, but I like what I hear.

This is the kind of album I started doing this for, not my twentieth album from some mediocre punk band or yet another Elvis Costello album. It shows off a good artist and the international nature of music in a different way. This is Delta blues transposed to Mali and then made inherently West African. More of this please. 4.5 stars rounding up.

ganz gut anzuhören, mehr aber nicht

ok

5/10 Of the thousands of musicians on the continent of Africa, this list decided to select two albums by Ali Farka Touré as representative examples of music people should listen to - this is, frankly, some racist nonsense, particularly considering how mediocre this album is. While it's interesting in its own way, it's not particularly good, and his first album stands head and shoulders above this one in quality. (Fun fact - I got this album 2 days after I got his first.)

Great sounds. Wish I understood the words

This was super interesting. Will revisit.

Not as good as Paul Simon

even though i couldnt understand him, i really liked the music.

This was odd. The "King of the Desert Blues". I guess he is the best of this genre. But if that's the case, I never want to visit this genre again. It wasn't bad or annoying, but it was just hard to listen to. Tough to call it music.

Not in my 1001 top alblums but can understand why it might be on the international list. About average background music.

Not impressed. Not my jam.

Didn't know African blues was a thing really, but despite the language barrier I liked this well enough.

has a nice vibe 6/10 best song - n’jarou

I really enjoyed this but most of the songs blend together. Not a bad thing-I like a cohesive album but individual songs tend to get lost

I could actually listen to this all day. I was completely captivated by this honestly. Such a cool sound.

Wow. So cool. A great edition to this list

Nice intro to African music

Hypnotic, and beautiful. Low 4

While I definitely prefer this outing to Talking Timbuktu I continue to feel uncultured listening to Ali Farka Touré, its fine as background music but pretty dry for my tastes if I lean in. I don't really enjoy blues in the first place, so putting a localised "king of the desert" spin on it doesn't do an awful lot for me.

This is great.

podosta različitih utjecaja, na trenutke baš vajb, sve u svemu sasvim neloše. al vjerojatno neću nikad više slušat. jako čil omot

Pretty damn boring African album. Usually I like this stuff but there is barely anything to take out of it, like 3 songs max.

3.1/5

Kul gitar og vokal.

Good

Don't really got a ton to say. Traditional African music mixed with blues. Its solid enough.

Hat mir sehr gefallen

Wonderful stuff; the calm integrity of a master.

not my favorite.. but it's alright

I enjoyed this album. I am not a blues fan per se or super into guitar virtuosos but this is more subdued and I enjoyed it even though I did not understand the words.

I love Ali Farka - reminds me of Arcosanti, the desert, warm sun.

this was interesting to hear this kind of music, but i feel that it only shone through in some songs compared to others (machengoidi for example was good)

perfect vibe

Erdi - 3 Yer bounda fara - 4 Beto - 3 Savane - 3 Soya - 4 Penda yoro - 3 Machengoidi - 3 Ledi coumbe - 3 Hanana - 3 Soko yhinka - 3 Gambari didi - 3 Banga - 2 N'jarou - 3

Surprising fusion of blues and African music

I did not vibe with this at all; just bad background noise.

It’s good!

Fijne vibe, prima album

*plaatje van drake die 'nee dank je zegt* Blues. *plaatje van drake die wijst en lacht* Desert blues. Even van de coolste artiesten uit een van mijn favoriete muziekgenres. Er zijn weinig dingen die me zo veel rust brengen als een uurtje van dit.

Interesting survey of American roots. Totally off my radar, glad I've been introduced to it.

It was fine.

Have been a fan of his son Vieux for years after seeing him at a Blues Festival. First time listening to Ali. Didn't disappoint!

The Touré family never disappoints!

Great background music. Enough to be interesting but repetitive enough to focus on other work. 4/5

Looking up some information on Ali Farka Touré, a musician who is completely new to me, it's cool to see that he started fairly late in life as a more widely known performer. My research described him as a West African blues singer, and while I don't know a lot about West African music, I can feel the blues in here. It kind of sits on some drone notes as it hits familiar vibes, and his vocals are maybe a little more optimistic than you would hear in blues? This is well done, but if we're being honest, it didn't really do much for me. I struggle to connect with music that aren't in my native language of English, for better or worse. I appreciate what is happening here, and it seems like this dude brought a lot of joy to people, so good on him.

Very refreshing, really liked the change of pace.

65

I can smell this album - The sound of this album takes me to the dusty streets of West Africa.

Love the guitar patterns. Repetitive in a really nice way. Very warm sound.

Would give it a listen of exploring mali by car

The Good: We get some blues! The Bad: Rather be listening to BB... The Ugly: Feeling bad about not liking this... I don't know the stats, yet, out of the 1001 albums on the list, how many are not anglo saxon based? Finally get something different, start listening to it, realize that is just like listening to Muddy Waters, except in a different language... makes me wonder why this is something I have to listen to before I die? I am getting 1001 Album's I need to hear before I die fatigue... and I still have roughly 200 to go... S.O.S. 3*

What a fantastic blend of sounds. This is hypnotic and relaxing but also super creative and unique. The story of how and when this was recorded and released seeps through into the sound. Listened to it twice in a row and will definitely come back for more.

I'm pretty burnt out on blues music in general, but this is so much more interesting than just blues music. I absolutely loved this! The use of African rhythms and instruments paired with such a unique approach to blues guitar brings this album to life. This is up near the top of my favourite discoveries from the list and is going straight into my regular listening rotation. I'm going to have to do a deep dive into Ali Farka Touré's music.

Its kinda cool but its repetitive as shit and wayyyyy too long. I like its inclusion but theres probably better albums like this. 3/5

This album was quite an interesting one. The overall vibes were pretty chill, the guitar work was pretty impressive, and the whole thing was kind of bringing old school blues vibes. I have to admit that I wasn't expecting anything fascinating, but I had the whole album just playing in the background while I was doing other things, and even though I am not a huge fan of that kind of music, it was just somewhat intriguing.