Thread: Vieux Farke Toure and Taj Mahal - TR

Wow, that was a great show, last night, center for the arts in Jackson. Vieux opened, and i'm not sure i've seen a guitarist and band have so much damn fun while on stage. Laughing, smiling, and ripping some of the cleanest and fastest riffs i've ever heard a guitarist pull off. First Malian musician i've had a chance to see, what an interesting style. Bass doesn't provide the backbone as much as play a repeated countermelody, contrasted with a rhythm guitarist who also added vocal support. Only wish I could understand the lyrics.
A vid i found of a song from a different show that he did last night, and really close to this version.


Taj walked on stage and layed down a few solid blues jams to kick it off. It was obvious that this guy really enjoys entertaining. Not just playing music, but showing the crowd a good time. He did a couple of the old stand bys, then picked up a hollow back banjo, and played an instrumental that sounded pretty damn Celtic. He showed his comfort on the keyboards, and for the encore he and Vieux traded licks in a pretty damn cool guitar dual.

They're swinging thru California next, check it!

i presume he plays a lot of his father's music? i love ali farke toure.

Originally Posted by Ripzalot

i presume he plays a lot of his father's music? i love ali farke toure.

Some, not sure i'd say a lot. Sounds like he started by doing a majority, in fact Ali played on his first album, which were Ali's last recordings before the bone cancer took him. But he's taken those roots his own direction. No question tho that the foundation came from his father. The video above pretty well captures the blend of old/new in his playing...

Pissed I had to miss it! Unfortunately, my daughter passed on a case of the barfs to me. Sounds like the show woulda be much more fun.