Vieux Farka Touré | en

Al Tourettes, known to his Mum & Dad as Alec Storey, has been playing drums since he was 9. His father is also a musician, & he started DJ’ing when he was 15, writing music on an Atari 2 years later. He studied Creative Music Technology at Bath Spa University from 2002 - 2005 - incidentally the same course as Appleblim, Gatekeeper and Wedge. Alec had his first release in 2006 on Growth Recordings, with subsequent releases on Birmingham’s KracktroniK Records and Sweden’s Input Output Recordings as well as remixes for Lukes Anger's Bonus Round Records. In Spring 2008 Al...

Vieux Diop, whose real name is Alioune, takes the heart of West African music into new territory, making it modern without losing its ancient sight. Vieux owes his musical heritage not only to his mother, who was always singing the melodies and rhythms of Senegal, their West African homeland, but to his love of American music. “John Lee Hooker was my guy, and James Brown, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett.” His first instrument, at age 11, was a set of trap drums, which he played on Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour’s first hit recording in the 1970s. He played with N’Dour’s band...

Vieux Farka Touré is a Malian singer and guitarist, and son of one of the African continent's most internationally renowned musicians Ali Farka Touré. Since his childhood, Vieux Farka Touré has been deeply inspired by the music of his father, Ali Farka Touré. Growing up in Mali's capital, Bamako, as well as in his father's hometown of Niafunké in the Sahara desert - both teeming with rich musical life - Vieux proved himself a precocious talent as a drummer and calabash player. Ali, however, grew concerned about his son's future as he observed his son's budding musical gifts. Having long...

The Early Years Touré Kunda was originally formed in 1979 by the brothers Amadou Touré (born 1943), Ismaila Touré (born 1950), and Sixu Tidiane Touré (born 1950). Ousmane Touré (born 1955) joined the group a few years later. They were born to Soninké parents in the Casamance region of Senegal. The name Touré Kunda translates literally from the Soninké language as "elephant family". Their parents were Daby Touré (1875-1956), and his wives Mafili (Sixu Tidiane), Masse (Amadou Seckou and Ismaila), and Dionfolo (Ousmane). The Touré brothers developed local renown as a singing and percussion group, playing music based on traditional...

Israeli superstar Idan Raichel and Malian guitar virtuoso Vieux Farka Touré́ first met at an airport in Germany in 2008 while both were on tour. From this chance encounter an artistic kinship was born, culminating in an unscripted recording session that took place one afternoon in November 2010 in a small Tel Aviv studio. Joined by Israeli bassist Yossi Fine and Malian calabash player Souleymane Kane, Idan and Vieux improvised a masterful selection of songs that capture the unbridled creativity and inspired collaboration of these four brilliant musicians. The Touré-Raichel Collective was formed and the songs they recorded are the...