Ali Farka Touré

Über Ali Farka Touré

Songhai guitarist from Niafunké on the Niger River whose work made the case that Mississippi blues had run a circuit back to its African origins. He recorded sparingly in the 1970s and 1980s, then gained international acclaim with Talking Timbuktu (1994), recorded with Ry Cooder. Known as the African John Lee Hooker, he won three Grammy Awards in his lifetime and a fourth posthumously with Toumani Diabaté for In the Heart of the Moon. He died of bone cancer in Bamako in 2006.