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

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.

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.

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.

Good

7/10

This was pretty boring. The style is unfamiliar to me, it seems to blend Blues with some African elements, but despite it being interesting, the music itself didn’t appeal to me. It goes on for almost an hour and I didn’t really feel like I have got anything from the album except for a bit of culture. As I mentioned before, this was definitely interesting, but I’d be lying if I said that I liked it.

I listened to this all day.

Tough to get into this. Sounded cool, but the language barrier was hard.

Really enjoyable album. I'm not normally that into blues, but this has enough originality to keep me hooked. Really enjoyed the unusual (to my ears anyway) guitar style and vocals. Especially enjoyed the title track, Soya, and the closing one.

this one was totally new to me, really easy to get lost in. Sometimes I find desert blues quite samey and straightforward but the amount of variety going on here really changed those preconceptions

Interesting fusion of Blues and African music. A lot of almost drone moments, like an entranced type of feel. It's cool.

Good Stuff

Blue music coming full circle. One of the more interesting albums on the list.

i was expecting something totally different form this. the term "desert blues" feels strangely appropiate to this. the same way it could apply for something like Kyuss or QOTSA in rock/metal. it intrigues me, how similar, but at the same time totally different this is compared to bands like Mdou Moctar and this whole world of tuareg rock music / african desert rock bands. Is an approach that keeps the guitar but explores the sounds and feeling differently. i really liked this one

That was lovely.

To me this is the sister album of Dr John’s Gris Gris. Never heard it before, glad I did. The blend of US blues with I assume African plus other worldly music hits well for me.

An hour of some of the most aggravatingly pleasant blues ever recorded. No thanks.

It’s gratifying to hear a blues album that isn’t just recreating an 80 year old sound or doing an impressive. This album feels alive. It has something to communicate. It might not be my cup of tea but I’m thrilled it exists.

Pretty good.