Aug 17/05
From a Malian string
Number one seller at Stern’s? This album is hot hot.
From the master of the Malian blues, Ali Farka Touré, and the master of the Mande kora, Toumani Diabaté, comes a beautiful, acoustic instrumental album called In The Heart Of The Moon.
I’ll write more about Ali Farka Touré tomorrow and you might have already read about Diabaté here. For now, just relax and enjoy the music.
Great for my mid-workday coffee break when I close the door to my office for an oh-so-sweet 15 minutes of peace.
Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabeté - Simbo
Tags: acoustic, mali
August 17th, 2005 at 4:49 pm
Oh yeah! That is really nice music to catch your breath again.
August 17th, 2005 at 5:07 pm
fantastic! now when will it come out in the states?
August 17th, 2005 at 6:48 pm
I think you can buy it already in the US.. check Stern’s if you live in NY, or you can order it online most everywhere
August 18th, 2005 at 1:07 am
Ali Farka Toure is the best
August 18th, 2005 at 9:10 pm
Toumani Diabaté is the best.
And Benn Loxo du Taccu is the best. Thanks for the great music.
This album is slated to come out on September 16th here in Canada. I didn’t know it was coming until I saw it here! But I just ordered one.
August 18th, 2005 at 11:24 pm
Wow — what a great tune.
And giving away a copy? Madness. Now it’s permanently in my songlist, and whenever I have money again for albums, GEE, guess what’s going to keep reminding me what to buy? Yeah, that “free song” idea will never catch on. Never help sell an album. Sure.
August 20th, 2005 at 7:57 pm
Diabaté’s work with Taj Mahal is very nice also, esp. “Queen Bee.” I’ve heard only one other album by him, though–need to catch up on that.
August 23rd, 2005 at 9:04 pm
Great track. I need to buy this. The Diabaté with Roswell Rudd album, Malicool, is totally amazing, too.
August 26th, 2005 at 5:01 pm
It is beatiful…………
Just got into work and I am already dreamy………
The music is great
August 31st, 2005 at 11:28 am
Am I the only one to be a bit disappointed with the AFT/TD album? I just find it rather noodly and inconsequential… gift shop music, if that’s not a little too harsh. AFT picks a random riff and repeats it… TD doodles over the top… repeat for 6 or 7 minutes… then stop, pick the next random riff and repeat. There have been some great one-take improv albums in the past, but this is one too many for me.
September 5th, 2005 at 11:59 pm
I’m actually a big fan of the album, Mike. Yes, parts of it descend into mild musical masturbation, but all in all I think it’s a good showing. It’s true that much of AFK’s music sounds the same, but he’s had some real classics over the years. They touch on a few of these on the new album, so whether it’s through reminisce or whatever - I’m over it, I dig the sound.
October 6th, 2005 at 11:40 pm
[...] Mande, Mali, griot, beautiful; you know the deal if you’ve been reading this blog for a while. [...]
March 7th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
[...] Talking Timbuktu, Niafunke and In The Heart of the Moon remain some of my favourite contemporary West African albums in my collection. Red/Green, The River, The Source and Radio Mali are also on that shelf and get routine play on the African shuffle. [...]
June 8th, 2006 at 4:18 pm
[...] Toumani Diabaté is the last artist to record with Ali Farka Touré before his death and was at his deathbed three hours before he passed away. He told us last night that the last album Touré ever listened to was the Symmetric Orchestra. That’s some pretty serious praise, West African musical master-wise. That and Diabaté and Touré’s last release, In The Heart of The Moon, was one of my favourite West African releases in the last couple years. Everything this guy touches is gold as far I’m concerned. [...]