 African and Norwegian musicians in Oslo will honour Ali Farka Touré, who died of bone cancer in Bamako Mali on March 7th. The Ali Farka Touré Memorial Concert will take place at Cosmopolite in Oslo. Among the line up are Knut Reiersrud, Becaye Aw, Mandingo Trio, Rolf Erik Nystrřm, Olav Torget, Ellen Uglevik, Aissa Tobi, Kouame Sereba and Carl Petter Opsahl.
“It is wonderful that African and Norwegian musicians support the concert and want to pay their tribute to this great musician. This arrangement is organised by musicians who would like to pay tribute to Ali Farka Touré, an African music legend,” says Becaye Aw, the concert arranger. The arrangement is also in cooperation with Cosmopolite Scene.
The artists’ line up is impressive and seem to promise one of one of this year’s best world music shows in Oslo. Some of the musicians have also worked with the late Ali Farka Toure who played in Oslo during in the 2001 Oslo World Music Festival.
The concert takes place at Cosmopolite Concert Hall in Oslo.
Date: 31st March
Show: 20.00
Free entrance.
About Ali Farka Touré: (Source: Wikipedia)
Ali Ibrahim "Farka" Touré (1939 - March 7, 2006) was a Malian singer and guitarist, and one of the African continent's most internationally renowned musicians. His music is at the crossroad of traditional Malian music and modern feedback influences from North American and English blues.
Ali Farka Touré was born in 1939 (he did not know the exact date of birth) in the Muslim village of Kanau, near Gourma Rharous on the banks of the Niger River in northwestern Malian region of Tombouctou. He was the tenth son of his mother but the only one to survive past infancy. His nickname, "Farka", chosen by his parents, means "donkey" - an animal admired for its tenacity and stubbornness.
As the first African bluesman to achieve widespread popularity, Touré was often known as "the African John Lee Hooker". Musically, the many superpositions of guitars and rhythms in his music were similar to R. L. Burnside's hypnotic blues style. He usually sang in one of several African languages, mostly Songhaď, Fula, or Tamasheck, as on his breakthrough album, Ali Farka Touré, which established his reputation in the world music community. 1994's Talking Timbuktu, a collaboration with Ry Cooder, sold promisingly well in western markets, but was followed by a hiatus from releases in America and Europe. His guitar riff from the song "Diaraby," on the album Talking Timbuktu, was selected for the Geo-quiz segment of The World PRI-BBC program, and was retained by popular demand when put to a vote of the listeners.
He reappeared in 1999 with Niafunké, a more traditional album focusing on African rhythms and beats. Touré is noted as the mentor to popular Malian musician Afel Bocoum.
In 2004 Touré became mayor of Niafunké and spent his own money grading the roads, putting in sewer canals and fuelling a generator that provided the impoverished town with electricity.
In September 2005, he released the album In The Heart Of The Moon, a collaboration with Toumani Diabaté, for which he received his second Grammy award.
On 7 March 2006 the Ministry of Culture of Mali announced his death at the age of 67, from bone cancer, against which he had been battling for some time in Bamako. His record label, World Circuit, said that he had just completed work on a new solo album.
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