Ali Farka Toure Savane CD

Composer: Ali Farka Touré.
Personnel: Ali Farka Touré (vocals, guitar, bass drum, bongos, percussion); Ali Farka Touré; Mamadou Kelli (vocals); Ali Magassa (guitar, background vocals); Massambou Wele Diallo (bolon); Bassekou Kouyate, Marna Sissoko (lute); Fanga Djawara (violin); Moumouni Yacouba (flute); Little George Sueref & the Blue Stars (harmonica); Pee Wee Ellis (saxophone, tenor saxophone); Oumar Toure (congas, background vocals); Fain S. Duenas (percussion); Souleye Kane, Brehima Toure, Afel Bocoum, Ramata Diakité (background vocals).
Audio Mixer: Jerry Boys.
Recording information: Hotel Mande; Livingston Studios, London, England; Studio Bogolan, Bamako, Mali.
Photographer: Thomas Dorn.
Arranger: Ali Farka Touré.
Before his death in 2006, Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure recorded some sessions in the Hotel Mande in Bamako, Mali. SAVANE, released posthumously, is taken from those sessions, and it bears testament to Farka Toure's standing as one of the giants of contemporary African music. The hallmarks of the artist's work are all here: gentle, mesmerizing tunes centered on sinuous, circular guitar patterns, and evocative vocal lines that float above the music and work in dialogue with the percussion. A valuable addition to Farka Toure's catalogue, SAVANE is a beautiful, elegant swan song that belongs alongside the artist's best work.Entertainment Weekly (p.69) - "Here, he plays exquisitely languid grooves with a Malian ensemble including multiple n'goni harps and singers, while the occasional harmonica and sax float by, sounding entirely at home." -- Grade: A
Q (p.117) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[T] 13 tracks showcase his laid-back, if jerky take on the blues, detouring into multi-voiced African folk..and scratchy minimalist reggae....This is stirring stuff."
Global Rhythm (Publication) (p.42) - Ranked #1 in Global Rhythm's "Top 10 Albums Of 2006" -- "[W]ith plaintive background singers answering Toure's booming voice and hand percussion..."
Q (Magazine) (p.153) - "[The album] exerts a magnetic hold, from the compelling dry, percussive strumming that opens 'Erdi' to 'Yer Bounda Fara"s powerful blues..."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.102) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Toure digs deeper....This is how to remember Toure, forever at ease and doing it his own way, in his own time."