CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

Talking Timbuktu

by: Ali Farka Touré, Ry Cooder

Release Date March 29, 1994
I bought this CD because of Ry Cooder. I've loved his music since first hearing on the soundtrack for "Paris Texas." I'm also very much into indigenous and ethnic music and am happy to have discovered Ali Farka Toure in this CD. Sometimes slow, sensual, hypnotic, and bluesy like the songs Amandria (my favorite) and Ai Du, and sometimes more rhythmic with a strong beat that you want to get up and dance to, the music on this CD grabs you every which way. Ali Farka Toure's rich voice also adds another dimension to the quality of this CD, on top of the music itself. And every song is top notch. It's rare for me to like every song on a CD, but I love every song. It doesn't disappoint on any level.

CD-Charts Position 2
Average Rating:

In the Heart of the Moon

by: Ali Farka Touré, Toumani Diabate

Release Date September 13, 2005
The music from this album will take you to another world. What's even more impressive is when you find out the two musicians recorded the music unrehearsed.

CD-Charts Position 3
Average Rating:

Savane

by: Ali Farka Touré

Release Date July 25, 2006
Recorded live at the Hotel Mande in Bamako, this CD is the last release of the late, great Ali Farka Toure, and it serves as a fitting farewell to the 'King of the desert blues singers.' Ali Farka Toure's deft, soulful guitar-playing and eagerness to collaborate with other artists led to recognition throughout both West Africa and the rest of the world, and rightly so if I do say so myself. If you are a fan of Ali Farka Toure, or Malian music in general, then you no doubt know exactly what I am talking about. If not, then this is as good a place as any to start familiarizing yourself with his works.

Perhaps its fitting that this last release is a masterpiece. Singing in Peul (Fulani), Sonrai (Songhai) and Zarma (or Djerma, another ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 4
Average Rating:

Niafunke

by: Ali Farka Touré

Release Date June 22, 1999
I LIKED TOURE'S ALBUM HE DID WITH RY COODER, IT IS VERY GOOD. BUT THIS ONE IS BETTER. IT IS MORE TRADITIONAL, AUTHENTIC, MALI'IAN MUSIC, MORE STRIPPED DOWN, RAW, AND TRUE TO WHO HE IS, THESE ARE HIS ROOTS. EXCELLENT CD.

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

Red & Green

by: Ali Farka Touré

Release Date May 10, 2005
If you like Ali Farka Toure, you're going to love this treat. This is the only album of his I finished with, then played again, both discs. For a 'listening experience' I can't recommend any other album of his more highly.

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

The Source

by: Ali Farka Touré

Release Date June 15, 1993
In response to the last review, this CD (1991) was cut before talking timbuktu (1994), and to my ears is in fact a much better record. Toure is with his own band here, with the celeb's just making token background appearences on a few tracks. The Ry Cooder session sounds like it is under a coat of post-production varnish, where as this record's sound is much more immediate and fresh.
Of Toure's "electric" discs in wide release, I think this is the most satisfying listen from start to finish, without the production overpowering the music, which is compelling even unaccompanied (such as on Radio Mali.)
Talking Timbuktu achieved its goal of making Toure a star in the west, but his other albums, which are not "crossover" records, are far more rewarding... ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Ali Farka Toure

by: Ali Farka Touré

Release Date August 07, 1989
This bad boy rocks the party, not in a violent, infantile way, but in a gentle, solicitous, cradle swaying manner. Not that the party would then fall asleep or anything, such kind of lie restfully, enraptured, dreaming lucid dreams staring at the ceiling. Guitarisms are sublime throughout, sounding incredibly full for such sparse arrangements. His best in my opinion, and who would contradict me?

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

Radio Mali

by: Ali Farka Touré

Release Date September 28, 1999
Radio Mali was the first Ali Farka Toure release I had ever bought or heard. At the time I was listening a lot to Blind Lemon Jefferson and found some interesting parallels between the two musicians. I like the dry, intimate, non-produced, straight to the microphone sound of Radio Mali. Like Lemon Jefferson, Ali Farka Toure has a deep, resonant and booming voice that equals or betters his guitar playing. My brother noted that some of the songs are akin to Celtic music in that they are built from a single melody line that is repeated with variations. Simple but subtle. I'd use the word pastoral to describe this music, since it is very relaxed in feel and rhythm. For a guitarist, Radio Mali is an endlessly fascinating (and at times, frustratingly hard) batch of songs to play ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

The River

by: Ali Farka Touré

Release Date July 01, 1991
Although I have owned this album for almost ten years now, I haven't gotten a chance to write a review for it, partly because it's so good and so much a part of my life that I didn't think about it. For those who don't know him, Ali Farka is a "blues" guitarist from Timbuktu, Mali, who has created one of the most unique sounds in music. One critic once described his guitar stylings as "listening to John Lee Hooker played backwards", and in a way, he was right. The rhythms are different --African, Arabic-- and the melodies unforgettable. Toure sings in a variety of languages; while I can understand the occasional French he uses, the majority are local dialects, adding a wonderful dimension to his music. I put blues in quotations marks because it isn't really blues, but that's the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

The Best of Both Worlds - Hannibal World Music Sampler - Rykodisc Music Sampler

by: Babatunde Olatunji, Mickey Hart, Michael Case Kissel, Diga Ai, El Gran Combo, Bunnie Brissett, Jorge de Altinho, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Airto Moreira, Mahotella Queens

Release Date 1994
Although I have owned this album for almost ten years now, I haven't gotten a chance to write a review for it, partly because it's so good and so much a part of my life that I didn't think about it. For those who don't know him, Ali Farka is a "blues" guitarist from Timbuktu, Mali, who has created one of the most unique sounds in music. One critic once described his guitar stylings as "listening to John Lee Hooker played backwards", and in a way, he was right. The rhythms are different --African, Arabic-- and the melodies unforgettable. Toure sings in a variety of languages; while I can understand the occasional French he uses, the majority are local dialects, adding a wonderful dimension to his music. I put blues in quotations marks because it isn't really blues, but that's the ... Read More: