Red & Green

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Red & Green
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  1. Audio CD: Release Date 2005-05-10
  2. Publisher: Nonesuch
  3. Artist: Ali Farka Toure
  4. Sales Rank in Music: #49634

Product Review

This double disc collects long sought-after, essential vintage recordings from one of West Africa's most influential artists. Fans of Malian guitar Ali Farka Toure can hear these previously vinyl-only classic tracks, out of print form ore than a decade, that first ignited in the artist dubbed "the John Lee Hooker of Africa."

Amazon.com

Malian superstar Ali Farka Toure is often described as a bluesman. Although he was certainly inspired by the recordings of John Lee Hooker, he was also saturated from birth in centuries-old parallel traditions that had evolved in his homeland. Incontestably one of the world's greatest guitarists, Toure's implacable sense of rhythm is equaled by an intuitive yet extroverted grasp of modal melody. As he is now semi-retired, the reissue of these long out-of-print recordings is a special cause for celebration. Known only by the color of their album sleeves, Red and Green were the final two of seven vinyl LPs released by the French Sonodisc label between 1975 and 1988. Both are uncompromisingly acoustic; Toure¹s wailing, moaning voice and picking are supported only by backing vocals, calabash (shaker) or ngoni (a four-string guitar.) But these simple forces offer oblique insights into the early development of an increasingly private, ever-more-elusive genius. --Christina Roden
Title Tracks for Red & Green

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Roots music for the fans, June 14, 2005
J. TIMMERMAN (Lawson, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Red & Green (Audio CD)
A set of two albums from 1984 and 1988, previously unavailable on CD and nicely presented in a slip-case, the "Red" and "Green" albums from Mali singer/guitarist Ali Farka Toure. The "Red" is the album that BBC Radio 3's Andy Kershaw found in a bargain bin in Paris, when Ali was a nobody. This discovery convinced him to implore World Circuit's Anne Hunt to help find him and bring him to London, which they did, launching Ali's career.

This is rootsy music, rather more carefree and urgent than the relaxed and sophisticated Talking Timbuktu he made with Ry Cooder some time later. The same ingredients are there though - the improvisatory yet lyrical bluesy guitar and the determined mournful voice backed by Hammer Sankare's sympathetic vocals and sparse yet insistent calabash percussion tapping out mesmeric rhythms that give the music a forward impetus. On the "Green" album we also hear the traditional n'goni guitar and some rapid-fire vocals.

The finesse of these...Read more


9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Farewell to the Master. Let There Be Songs to Fill the Air., June 23, 2006
Pharoah S. Wail (Inner Space) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   
This review is from: Red & Green (Audio CD)
Stop reading. Buy this.

But if you want more of a review... I asked for, and received this for Christmas 2005 and it jumped into being my favorite AFT album.

If you're a fan of acoustic guitars in the right hands, if you're a fan of rhythm that crawls into your soul until you realize you've been hypnotized, rocking back and forth on the floor or couch or front porch for the past hour, you should buy this. Ali was an undeniable master of touch and tone. Basically he's playing a guitar that you might be able to sell on eBay for $20 yet his tone is pure magic. It's a singular voice in the world of guitar. All the top-of-the-line vintage guitars or new necks or more frequent changing of the strings or bigger effects racks in the world aren't going to give you this if it's not inside you. What Ali had in his fingers and soul, you either have or you don't.

Here I think are many of the best examples of Ali's brilliance and emotional power. The melodic beauty...Read more


5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Another 2 Cool cd's from Ali Farka Toure, May 8, 2006
Stephen Reddy (Brisbane) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Red & Green (Audio CD)
Track listing incomplete on disk 2.

Disc: 2 Green

1. Sidi Gouro

2. O Kata Gouna

3. Devele Wague

4. N'timbara

5. Zona

6. M'baudy

7. Petenere

8. L'Exode

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