Vieux Farka Touré is a guitarist, composer and singer from Mali, the son of a very famous father. He was born in the small town of Niafunké on the banks of the river Niger—the same place his father Ali Farka Touré, winner of three Grammy awards, lived and composed his songs. Fortunately, “young Farka Touré” didn´t follow the advice of his father not to start an unstable musician´s career. His first solo album was released in 2007 and it contained several recordings with his late father, but after this start Vieux Farka Touré tried to find his own way. Many collaborations with international musicians not connected directly to Africa – for example Erik Krasno, Dave Matthews and John Scofield on the album The Secret, two recording sessions with Israeli musician Idan Raichel as Touré-Raichel Collective or album Touristes, recorded together with the American singer-songwriter Julia Easterlin – were parts of his searching. Then there came a five-year gap, which includes the recent “Covid years,” after his next album, Samba. The brand new album titled Les Racines (Roots) was released in June 2022 on the World Circuit label, the same one which made his father´s music famous. Vieux Farka Touré is coming back to his (and his father’s) powerful musical roots after all these years exploring. Hopefully the visitors to our festival will enjoy the live version of this fresh release performed by the trio led by Vieux Farka Touré.
Recommended albums:
The Secret (Six Degrees Records, 2011)
Mon Pays (Six Degrees Records, 2013)
Vieux Farka Touré & Julia Easterlin – Touristes (Six Degrees Records, 2015)
Samba (Six Degrees Records, 2017)
Les Racines (World Circuit, 2022)
Band members:
Vieux Farka Touré – guitar, vocals
Marshall Henry – bass
Adama Kone – drums, calabash drum
