The Passing of a Musical Giant

The world of music is all the poorer today with the passing of Ali Farka Toure. Everyone who loves music should have at least one of his extraordinary albums in their collection. Probably more known nowadays for his brilliant collaborations with Ry Cooder, my personal favourite remains The Source, a work of genuine greatness. The measure of the man and the musician is captured in this excerpt from an interview back in 1993:

'Often, as he plays, Toure's whole face will light up in a smile, and he will seem surprised and amused by the sounds coming from his hands, almost as if the guitar was another musician. "I am as transported as those who are listening," he says. "Because this is what I live for. This music goes deep into my heart and if my fingers give me satisfaction, if I like what I hear, then I am very, very contented. Of course, there are moments when one cannot feel like that, but then one only has to wait a little while and one will get that feeling back.'

The rest is here.