Ali farka "music is like a newspaper"

The great Ali Farka Touré was described as the ‘child of the river’, but this description also applies to Afel Bocoum, Ali’s protégé who also grew up in the town of Niafunké on the banks of the Niger. Afel recorded his debut album in Niafunké when Nick Gold and Jerry Boys came to record Ali Farka Touré’s Niafunké. Alkibar (1999), also the name of Afel’s group meaning ‘Messenger of the Great River’, features Afel on vocals and lead guitar, Ali Farka Touré on two tracks and local musicians on njarka, njerkle, calabash percussion and backing vocals. Just as Ali did, Afel sings mainly in the languages of northern Mali: Songhai, Fulani and Tamashek. “Here in Mali, music is our newspaper,” he said to Songlines magazine in 2020. “People here love listening to music. So as an artist you must put good and useful messages in your songs. If there is no message the music is useless." God bless and rest his soul for his set a pace for emerging musician not just from Mali but Africa as a ...