Talking Timbuktu

Ry Cooder, Ali Farka Toure | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 29, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hannibal
• ASIN: B00000062H
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,321 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #3 in Music > World Music > Africa > Mali
  • #3 in Music > Indie Music > Blues > Contemporary Blues
  • #4 in Music > Indie Music > World Music > Africa

Track Listings

1. Bonde

2. Soukora

3. Gomni

4. Sega

5. Amandrai

6. Lasidan

7. Keito

8. Banga

9. Ai Du

10. Diaraby

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Talking Timbuktu is a groundbreaking record that vividly illustrates the Africa-Blues connection in real time. Ali Farka Toure, one of Mali's leading singer-guitarists, has a trance-like, bluesy style that, although deeply rooted in Malian tradition, bears astonishing similarity to that of John Lee Hooker or even Canned Heat. It's a mono-chordal vamp, with repetitive song lines cut with shards of blistering solo runs that shimmer like a desert mirage. Toure may be conversant with some blues artists, but it is unlikely that artists like Hooker or Robert Pete Williams ever heard these Malian roots, which makes the connection so uncanny. Ry Cooder, well versed in domestic and world guitar styles, is the perfect counterpoint in these extended songs/jams, his sinewy slide guitar intertwining with his partner's in a super world summit without barriers or borders. --Derek Rath

Product Description

Guitar greats of two continents, Ry Cooder and Ali Farka Toure, collaborate on this session that crosses cultural boundaries from delta blues to Malian dialects.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: TOURE/COODER
Title: TALKING TIMBUKTU
Street Release Date: 03/29/1994
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 73 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable "Feel Good" Bluesy Music of Mali - The Best July 11, 2004

By Erika Borsos VINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

I have 6 or 7 CDs of music from Mali and find myself listening to this one most often. While I love them all --- the combination of musicians: Ali Farka Toure and Ry Cooder is unbeatable. Track #1 "Bonde" sung in Peul begins with a fantastic guitar introduction by Ali Farka Toure. Each note is drawn out just right to hook the emotions. The congas played by Oumar Toure provides an infectious rhythm. One male voice begins while a chorus responds in rhythmic unity, telling the story of why some women are unsuitable for marriage. Track #2 "Soukara" is sung in the Bambara language ... it has the sound and feeling of music from the Caribbean with a suitable ambient melody. The male vocalist pours his heart out to his lover at night, so say the liner notes. Another favorite track is #5 "Amandral" sung in the Temasheck language. The rhythms and sounds of this desert tribe is familiar. They are unforgetable on the CDs "Festival in the Desert" and "Radio Tisdas Sessions" both of which are highly recommended. As each guitar note is plucked, the feelings of the listener are hooked. The feelings rise ... ever higher in resonance with the melody and mood expressed on the slide, acoustic and bass guitars, drums, calabash, and congas.

Without exaggerating, I feel this CD contains some of the finest guitar playing on the planet. Other favorites are: #6, "Lasidan" (#6) which has a peppy, cheerful and upbeat tempo and #7, "Keito", which has musical elements of India and Pakistan or is it the Meditarranean? Ry Cooder plays the tamboura, Ali Farka Toure plucks and strums the electric guitar. There is a syncopated rhythm played on the congas and calabash. The music of Mali is highly distinct and very appealing.... It is the best music from Northern Africa, and to this listener, the best from the whole continent of Africa. Erika Borsos (erikab93) Read more ›

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Tuore's Jem February 16, 2000

By Yohannes Dimberu

Format:Audio CD

On the surface, this is a very simple album, simple in that it is accessible, unpretentious and easy to listen to. On repeated helpings, however, Talking Tmbuktu becomes an extraordinarily beautiful ensemble of the rock-pop (Ry Cooder) and the trad and bluesy (Toure). Take Gomni, the heart rendering tune about "hard work". The rich rhythmic tapistry and haunting melody that shifts back and forth among variations with amazing fluidity touches any soul.

On the other hand, Lasidan, a song about happyness is groovy and multi-layered. Blues aficiandos attempt to catalogue Toure as the "West African John Lee Hooker" due to the similarity in the low-pitched vocals and mid-tempo, foot-stomping rhythms found in so many of his songs (like Ai Du). But I found his music richer; technically its combo of instruments ranging from the emblematic accoustic guitar to the calabash drums to the najarka lute create an inimitable style. Culturally Toure's songs draw from several sources. This is universal music, capable of reaching any heart despite the obvious language barrier.

For a mere mortal like me who picked this album on word of mouth, it also opened a whole new doors into music from Mali.

114 of 137 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the music from UNFAITHFUL June 1, 2002

By Emily Bell

Format:Audio CD

This is what you are looking for if you are interested in the funky blues music from the Sountrack Unfaithful.

31 of 35 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Talking African Blues September 28, 2000

By William M. Rand

Format:Audio CD

Ry Cooder brings another great musician to light. Ali Farka Toure is a leading singer-guitarist from Niafunke, Mali and Ry Cooder has made quite a discovery in this artist. His music is quite good, and very bluesy, though it's a laid back blues. It has been said all along (I don't know by whom, but it has been said) that most of American Blues is just transformed African music, and I think this album clearly illustrates that. The resemblance between this music and just about any album by John Lee Hooker is quite amazing at times.

The lyrics are somewhat repetitive in that African chanting style, but the music that weaves under and around the lyrics is phenomenal at times. Ry Cooder does a good job of extending some more traditional blues stylings into the great music that is led by Toure, just as he has with so many other international artists.

My favorite track from this CD is "Gomni" this track is a very emotional song about hard work and the effects it has on the individual. The melody is trance like at times but changes around enough that it feels almost vivacious in its sound. There are quite a few other great songs on here like "Bonde", "Amandrai" and "Keito" but they all have to be listened to truly appreciate their beauty. The CD as a whole works very well and seems to present a unified face of music that winds around your heart and your ears, much like the Niger river that flows through Toure's homeland.

My one complaint about this CD is that maybe Ry left this CD too much up to Toure, Cooder's great work is almost overpowered by the singer/guitarist wonderful sounds. I think that Cooder achieved a much better synthesis on the Buena Vista Social Club and on BVSC presents Ibrahim Ferrer, where he works with some Cuban musicians.... I've also heard that his work on A Meeting by the River is really good, where he teams up with Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and looks at classical Indian music.

If you like this CD I would recommend any of the ones mentioned above as well as Kulanjan where the Blues artists Taj Mahal teams up with another Mali artist Toumani Diabate. I think Taj Mahal's work is actually superior to Cooder's mainly because he injects himself more into the CD.

Nonetheless, I would recommend this CD to anyone who wants to hear where American Blues music really came from, or for anyone who is ready for something a little different. It's a great CD overall. Read more ›

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars great collanboration February 19, 2000

By Ravi Desai

Format:Audio CD

This CD is the result of a great collaboration between two very talented but different musicians. Ry Cooder and Ali Farka Toure. Toure plays in a rhythmic blues influenced style that is evocative of John Lee Hooker and Lighnin Hopkins. The music here is contemporary yet distinctly African. Cooder and Toure are supported by a great group of session musicians here including jazz bassist John Patitucci and guitarist Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown. This recording is ideal for anyone interested in African music from a blues perspective.