Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre
School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London)
Malet St, London WC1 (Russell Square tube)

Tuesday April 4th, 6.30-8.00pm

Friends of Mali pays tribute to one of Africa’s greatest musicians, whose larger-than-life, charismatic personality was only equalled by his skill and ingenuity on the guitar. Ali Farka Toure died on March 7th 2006 at the age of 66. He leaves an unequalled musical and cultural legacy around the world and more than anyone else placed Mali’s music on the map. He had also been Mayor of his home town Niafunke for two years.

Through his ‘desert blues’ Ali was the first to adapt Mali’s northern music onto the guitar, back in the early days of Mali’s independence. Fiercely proud of his own Songhai traditions, he sang in seven different local languages and was one of Mali’s few musicians to bring together music from the north and south of the country, as demonstrated in his last album, ‘In the Heart of the Moon’ (with Toumani Diabate), which won a Grammy award last month. His passion for the Festival of the Desert as a showcase for all of Mali was a major factor in making this one of Africa’s most successful festivals.

Despite the global reach of his music, Ali remained deeply rooted in the traditional cultures of Niafunke on the Niger River bend where he preferred to live, in order to farm the land. Ali always claimed that he was more a farmer than musician — but from his mesmerising performances, his fans would never have guessed that this was so.

There will be film clips from various stages of Ali’s career together with footage of his life in Niafunke. In the clips, he discusses his personal and professional influences together with the social context of his music and the spiritual inspirations that drove it. Extracts will be taken from the promotional DVDs of ‘Niafunke’ and ‘In the Heart of the Moon’ (World Circuit), ‘The Festival of the Desert’ (BBC) and ‘A Visit to Ali Farka Toure’ (Huraux).

Brief tributes will be given in person by, amongst others:

• His Excellency , Ibrahim Bocar Ba, Malian Ambassador to the UK
• Lucy Duran (Lecturer in African Music, SOAS; Presenter BBC Radio 3’s World Routes)
• Andy Morgan (Manager of Tinariwen and Associate of the Festival of the Desert)
• M. Benson Diakite, Journalist, Radio France International
• M. Lassana Doumbia (Member of UK’s Malian Community)

A short, specially made video tribute by Robert Plant and Justin Adams will be shown.
There will be an opportunity to sign a book of condolences which will be passed on to Ali’s family.

A reception will follow the film extracts and presentations.

Free event, free seating.

Links:
Read our full interview with Ali conducted in his house in Bamako about a year before his death. This is the piece referenced by the New York Times

Pictures of Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté playing the Barbican here on our sister site Flykr and a review of the gig here.

Read the review of In the Heart of the Moon

Also released recently are the wonderful Red and Green albums

Read about Ali playing the Segou Festival in Mali and see Lydia Martin’s pictures of the event on Flykr

Finally, Robin Denselow has written a fine obituary in the Guardian

www.worldcircuit.co.uk

Photo by Damian Rafferty