Ali and Toumani—an album of duets from two of Africa’s most\ndistinguished musicians, the late guitarist Ali Farka Touré and\nkora player Toumani Diabaté—was released on February 23, 2010, on\nWorld Circuit / Nonesuch Records. In the Heart of the Moon, the\nduo’s first album together, won a Grammy following its 2005\nrelease.
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After the success of In the Heart of the Moon, Touré and Diabaté\nwere invited to perform a series of concerts in Europe, before\nwhich Diabaté asked World Circuit’s Nick Gold to make studio time\nfor them to record again. Gold, with Moon engineer Jerry Boys,\nrecorded Ali and Toumani over three afternoons at Livingston\nStudios, London, in mid-2005. Less than a year later, Touré\nsuccumbed to a long illness and passed away.
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The record includes subtle contributions from Orlando “Cachaíto”\nLópez (bass), as well as Vieux Farka Touré (congas and backing\nvocals), Souleye Kane (backing vocals), Ali Magasa (backing\nvocals), and Tim Keiper (percussion). Ali and Toumani became the\nlast album recorded by Cachaíto Lopez as well.
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Ali and Toumani culminates a long relationship between Ali Farka\nTouré and Nick Gold / World Circuit that includes such\ninternationally acclaimed recordings as The Source (1991); Talking\nTimbuktu (1996), Touré’s Grammy-winning collaboration with Ry\nCooder; Niafunke (1999); In the Heart of the Moon (2005); and\nSavane (2006), among other releases. After Niafunke, Touré had\nretired from music to devote himself to what he considered his\nprimary vocation: cultivating the land in the Malian town after\nwhich that recording was named. He was elected mayor of Niafunke\njust before the Hotel Mandé Sessions began in January 2004.
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Fifty-fourth in a hereditary line of master musicians and\ngriots, Toumani Diabaté is at once revered as the guardian of an\nancient musical tradition and as a bold, boundary-crossing\nexperimentalist. He has earned acclaim for inventive solo records\nas well as collaborations with Björk, Blur’s Damon Albarn, Dee Dee\nBridgewater, American bluesman Taj Mahal, and jazz trombonist\nRoswell Rudd, among others. Diabaté’s The Mandé Variations was\nwidely celebrated including critical praise from CBS News Sunday\nMorning, NPR and the New York Times, among others.
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