'Heritage is everything to me': Malian musician Vieux Farka Touré

Vieux Farka Touré has produced a dozen albums, most in honour of his father’s legacy, his roots and the traditions of his tribe’s music—while also exploring how this music of Saharan nomads converses with rock, reggae or pop music.

Somewhere in the dawn of the 21st century, Vieux Farka Touré waged a quiet rebellion against his father, the world-renowned singer and multi-instrumentalist Ali Farka Touré. Then a teenager, he disregarded his disillusioned father’s wish for him to not follow in his footsteps. Ali urged his son to join the military instead of pursuing music, which he felt might be a greater service to his people. But young Vieux, who had been secretly toying with music for years, chose to wield a guitar instead of a rifle.

Nearly two decades later, in a world wholly unrecognisable, Mali’s many civil wars carry on. Ali Farka Touré may be long gone, but the Grammy-winning musician left behind a rich legacy—the lilting, meditative music with its sparkling guitar and percussive instruments from the heart of the African continent, produced in collaboration with Toumani Diamaté and Ry Cooder, loped into a sub-genre popularly known as desert blues.

This legacy lives on in Vieux Farka Touré’s work, who built on that initial defiance by studying music deeply at Mali’s premier school in Bamako. He has since produced a dozen albums, most in honour of his father’s legacy, his roots and the traditions of his tribe’s music—while also exploring how this music of Saharan nomads converses with rock, reggae or pop music.

In 2022, this persuasion has resulted in two spell-bindingly beautiful albums.

The first, Les Racines, came out in August: 10 songs that return to traditional Songhai music, born out of a new studio Vieux Farka Toure built at his home and the time he had on his hands during the pandemic.

In November, he released Ali, an “album of reinterpretations of Ali songs with a Western band”, which ended up being the universally-loved Texas-based trio Khruangbin—and which Elton John has said is one of his favourite albums of the year.

“I use my music to pay respect to my family, to my history, to my culture,” Vieux Farka Touré wrote to us from Niafunké, days before embarking on his sophomore India tour. Armed with just his guitar and pedal board, he will be joined by L’Eclair from Switzerland and the drummers of Boombay Djembe Folas for the sets supported by AntiSOCIAL. “I use music to pay respect to the values that I feel are important.”

Excerpts from the interview:

On Les Racines, the song “L’Ame” is a direct tribute to your father, and “Adou” is dedicated to your son. What does heritage mean to you?

Heritage is everything to me. As they say, you cannot know where you are going if you don't know where you are from. I consider this a big part of my responsibility as a musician from Mali, and of course as the son of Ali, to carry my heritage forward to the next generation and preserve the essence and the value but presenting these things in new ways. This is what defines me as an artist, in my view.

Working on Ali, what new perspectives have you unearthed about your father’s craft, artistry and purpose?

That it is much easier to do something that is big and complicated than something that is small and simple. To play in the way that he did, he made it sound very simple and easy and yet it is very, very difficult. This is my main lesson that I will take with me going forward: To think more, to play less, to be always more and more careful with each note that I play. This is the true essence of a master musician.

What do you now know about being a world-renowned musician that you wish you’d known when you started out?

The biggest thing that I have learned in my years of being a recording and touring musician is to be patient. Patience is so important in all parts of life but especially when it comes to music, in the studio or live in concert. When you are young you want to rush to conquer the world. Now I realise this attitude only makes things more difficult. One must be patient with the others around them, with bandmates, and especially with themselves. If you trust your own vision and talent, you can let God direct what happens around you and trust that in the end you will get where you need to be.

This is not your first time performing in or visiting India. What are your favourite stories to tell from the last time you were here?

The first time I came to India I visited the Taj Mahal—that was one of the greatest things I have seen in my life. I love India, the people are very friendly and I love the atmosphere. I also like the food a lot, but it can be very spicy for my taste. Last time I was there, I was joking that even the water is spicy [laughs].

Who are some artists that you’d wish to collaborate with from India and internationally, and why?

I am a fan of Anoushka Shankar. I think it would be very nice to work with her one day. I love her voice and her presence. I have not seen her perform live but I have watched clips of her performances. To me she is a special talent.

What is your vision for the future of Malian music?

I am not clear on the future of music in Mali, generally speaking. I am worried that more and more people are losing connection with their roots, especially in music. These days I hear a lot of electronic music, which is fine, but I worry that the generation after me is too concerned about sounding like other artists and doing what is popular in the moment. This is not the way to build a strong foundation for music. You will always be chasing the next popular thing. I hope to see young artists taking the tools given to us from our own traditions and using them in new ways. This is what I try to do, and what I hope to continue to see with other artists from Mali as well.

Vieux Farka Toure will perform at AntiSOCIAL, Mumbai on December 7 & 8 and Saket Social in Delhi on December 11.

Toure is also playing the Echoes of Earth Festival (Bangalore) on December 4 and Orange Festival (Arunachal Pradesh) on December 15.