Talking Timbuktu
 Talking Timbuktu is a groundbreaking record that vividly
illustrates the Africa-Blues connection in real time. Ali Farka Toure, one of
Mali's leading singer-guitarists, has a trance-like, bluesy style that,
although deeply rooted in Malian tradition, bears astonishing similarity to
that of John Lee Hooker or even Canned Heat. It's a mono-chordal vamp, with
repetitive song lines cut with shards of blistering solo runs that shimmer like
a desert mirage. Toure may be conversant with some blues artists, but it is
unlikely that artists like Hooker or Robert Pete Williams ever heard these
Malian roots, which makes the connection so uncanny. Ry Cooder, well versed in
domestic and world guitar styles, is the perfect counterpoint in these extended
songs/jams, his sinewy slide guitar intertwining with his partner's in a super
world summit without barriers or borders. --Derek Rath
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