Track Listing

1. Fafa
2. Ai Haira
3. Souba Souba
4. Sarama
5. Wale
6. Slow Jam
7. Mali
8. Diaraby Magni
9. Cherie Le
10. Paradise - Farka Toure, Vieux & Toumani Diabate
11. Fafa

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9815 in Music
• Released on: 2009-05-18
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .17 pounds

CD Description
Vieux Farka Touré, the son of the great Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré, has already stepped out from his late father’s shadow. Ali proved that the soul of the blues could be found in West Africa. Vieux, however, is turning heads with a more radical idea: that those western Saharan roots can be heard in everything from the jam band scene to Jamaican dub. Fondo, Vieux’s newest effort, is more than a stirring mix of traditional instruments and a world music artist embracing the sounds of rock, it is the sound of a young man coming into his own. In fact, Vieux’s career in music would never have happened if his illustrious parent had his way. Ali felt that the music business was a harsh place to work. But young Vieux found a mentor in Toumani Diabate, and his own guitar skills eventually convinced the elder Farka Touré that a second generation of family musicians was inevitable. This is music from a contemporary Africa--urban, sophisticated, globally connected but deeply proud of its ancient heritage. This is the old/new Africa that Vieux represents. Fondo is the music of an Africa that rocks, and yet still hears the camel’s tread in the sand.

Customer Reviews

Getting there
Vieux' second album develops on his 2006 self-titled debut, which was altogether too polite, as proved by some of the lovely versions released on the remix album "UFO's Over Bamako",......but... The 'but' is that, having seen him live and been completely blown away by an ambitious, technically dazzling and, most importantly, awesomely rocking young musician who was up for moving his father's somewhat stately Malian blues into a blistering, Hendrix-inspired electric/sonic maelstrom, I'm still waiting to hear a recording that does justice to that live self. "Fondo" is a great piece of work, no doubt about that, and it gives tantalising glimpses of what he is capable of delivering live. I just wish he and his producers were confident enough to break out of the world music ghetto and present him as the potentially world-conquering artist and musician his live set suggests. In the meantime, this new album will do, but he is capable of producing scorching, scintillating music that could cross any sort of boundary, musical, cultural,, linguistic, geographical, you name it. So, "Fondo" is great for now, but surely his live ambition should translate to a recording soon. Or even, maybe, a live set? That would be something else again!

Press so far...
4Stars - The Times, UK
"...announces the arrival of a feisty new Africa guitar hero... consistently excellent."

4Stars - Independent, UK
"The dominant modes here are deep, soulful desert blues..."

4Stars - Metro, UK
"...more than ever, Vieux Farka Tour¨¦ emerges as an international artist forging his own way in the world..."

4Stars - Boston Phoenix, US
"Tour¨¦ is an unapologetically modern African artist... a guitarist to be reckoned with... never does 'Fondo' feel as if anyone but Vieux is calling the shots."

3Stars - Daily Express, UK
"Impressively, the tracks have an organic feel and don't suffer from the generic box-ticking of much world music."

Better than his dad?
Better than his dad? Probably not, but as good and a bit different. Above all I think there's more variety here than you'll find in his Dad's work. The laid back duet with Toumani Diabate ("Paradise") lives up to its name and wouldn't have been out of place on "In the heart of the moon (Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate). Not sure Dad ever turned his hand to reggae though, as Vieux does here to good effect ("Diaraby Magni"). Well worth four stars!