Yesterday i was very fortunate to attend a concert by Vieux Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate’s symmetric Orchestra. They were performing at the Frank Gehry designed Pritzker pavilion in Chicago, as part of the music without borders series.

Vieux Farka Toure is the son of Ali Farka Toure, famed Malian musician who passed away last year. We were all sad to hear of his passing; Jke had a tribute to AFT. Malian music, especially the likes of AFT and Toumani diabate have always left an indelible impression to most who’ve heard it. It definitely did for me in 2005 when i wrote this post.
As the universe works in wonderful ways…Vieux Farka Toure is carrying on the legacy of his father’s desert blues without missing a beat.

I arrived a little late to the concert so i missed about half of Vieux’s set, though from the 3 songs i heard, the man is indeed a sensation. The blues rag says of him… “Mali has a new guitar god, and his name is Vieux Farka Toure”. I quite agree. Listening to him play was special. He is hyper skilled on guitar. That is the simplest way i can put it without resorting to phrases like “Oh my god he was. like. totally. amazing!”.

Click on the image below for the set of photographs i took. I also twittered it a bit.

Toumani Diabate is a grammy award winning Kora player whose discography you can browse on Afropop.
He is the gentleman with the Kora in this picture.

He had reunited with Ali Farka Toure before AFT passed away and had played together in the highly acclaimed CD ‘In the Heart of the Moon’.
He took a break during the performance and explained that he is from 71 generations of griots He also pointed out the Kora, which is a 21 string instrument, made of fishing wire, calabash and antelope skin. He played with 4 Chicago jazz musicians, melding the polyphonic sounds with the jazzy in such a beautiful mashup. Its a shame the concert wasn’t streamed, it was probably recorded though, so it might show up on the world music circuit soon. I was rapt in the music the whole time, it was very cool.
Music to share (For a limited time – I will take them down in a week):
Toumani
Boulevard De’ Independance

Very short Video clip:
Lead singer of Symmetric orchestra gracefully entering the stage

The remaining tour dates for Vieux:
Jul 15 2007 Old Town School Folk Music Fest, Chicago, Illinois
Jul 16 2007 TRAVEL to CA/ Villa Montalvo, Saratoga, California
Jul 18 2007 Nuits d’Afrique Festival, Montreal, Quebec
Jul 19 2007 Grassroots Festival, Trumansburg, New York
Jul 20 2007 Institute of the Arts, Detroit, Michigan
Jul 21 2007 W. Kortwright Center, E. Meredith, New York
Jul 23 2007 Newport Towers, Jersey City, New Jersey
Jul 24 2007 Grace Building, New York, New York
Jul 25 2007 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Jul 26 2007 Strand Theater, Rockland, Maine
Jul 29 2007 Hillside Festival , Guelph, Ontario
Aug 3 2007 Providence Parks, Providence, Rhode Island
Aug 9 2007 Skirball Center, Los Angeles, California
Aug 10 2007 Grand Performances, Los Angeles, California
Aug 10 2007 Temple Bar, Los Angeles, California
Aug 11 2007 TRAVEL to Canada/Edmonton Folk Festival, Edmonton, Alberta
Aug 12 2007 Edmonton Folk Festival, Edmonton, Alberta
Aug 18 2007 ONE WORLD InnerNational Music Celebration, Horseshoe, North Carolina

Remaining tour dates for Toumani Diabate
Jul 14 2007 8:00P Vancouver Folk Festival, Vancouver
Jul 15 2007 8:00P World Festival, Grass Valley, California
Jul 16 2007 8:00P Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, California
Jul 18 2007 8:00P Hudson Festival, New York, New York
Jul 19 2007 8:00P BAM Festival, New York, New York
Jul 20 2007 8:00P New Mexico Jazz Festival, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Jul 21 2007 8:00P New Mexico Jazz Festival, Albuquerque, New Mexico

For other african artists touring please click here. (Thanks Mweshi for the link).

The African renaissance has a soundtrack playing globally. Enjoy!