Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate - In the Heart of the Moon

This is an exquisite album from Ali Farka Toure that presents some of his best work. It grows on you when listening to it again and again. Although other albums are perhaps better known and have some catchy tracks (e.g., "Talking Timbuktu" and "The River"), this album is almost perfect. "Kadi Kadi" and "Gomni" are especially good tracks; "Monsieur le Maire de Niafunké" has an engaging bass riff that stands out. We were very fortunate to have had Ali Farka Toure among us, albeit for all-too-short a time. He lives on forever in this music.

The music from this album will take you to another world. What's even more impressive is when you find out the two musicians recorded the music unrehearsed.

This album is brilliant - a good choice for those new to Toure's artistry, and those already devoted fans.

A GREAT COLLABORATION BETWEEN ALI FARKA TOURE AND TOUMANI DIABETE. I HAVE ALMOST ALL OF TOURE'S ALBUMS, AND THIS ONE REALLY STANDS OUT, IT IS UNREHEARSED SPONTANEOUS JAMMING WITH DIABETE, WHO PLAYS THE KORA. I WAS INTRODUCED TO THE SOUND OF THAT INSTRUMENT ON THE CD "MUSIC FROM THE HEARTS OF THE MASTERS" WITH JACK DEJOHNNETTE AND FODAY MUSA SUSO, WHICH IS YET ANOTHER OUTSTANDING RELEASE. THE KORA IS A 21 STRINGED INSTRUMENT THAT SOUNDS LIKE A CROSS BETWEEN A GUITAR AND A HARP. THIS IS A TRULY EXCEPTIONAL, VERY MUSICAL CD THAT ANY MUSICIAN OR MUSIC APPRECIATOR WILL ENJOY A LOT. TWO SUPERLATIVE MUSICIANS.

I read from one review that not even 5 million stars could rate this album. I agree. If you are a musician, and you know what it gets to play what these 2 wise monsters of music play, you know that what you have in front of you requires technique, inspiration, and lots of wisdom...

I have heard this CD a million times, and every time I listen to it I just stop whatever I am doing and see myself traveling in some magic world of feelings, conversations. Have you heard "Mamadou Boutiquier"? What a perfect masterpiece! How could in the earth someone just get together, play, and create such a beauty? How can two people, without rehearsing, who have only played once together, who play different music traditions, create something like that? How the song evolves, build its momentum through a progressive intensity, cries out so loud the power of music?

And Hawa Dolo? Ali Farka's song, not one of my favorites, reaches a different dimension in this version. The nostalgic power of this song is difficult to equal.

Kala, Debe, and Kadi Kadi's solos... my gosh! I don't know, I listen to this music and I feel overwhelmed with humility, with admiration to how much these two musicians must know about life, about human beings, about the strings inside us, to do what they just did.

Remember that this is not an improvisation, as Ali says in the cover. They both knew what they were playing, even though they had never played together. They understood a language that for most of us is a mystery.

Thank you Ali Farka and Toumani, the beauty of your work is so inspiring!

Need I say more-this album is a keeper. Might not be as catchy as Talking Timbuktu. Nonetheless, beautiful and powerful.

West Africans will not deceive you with their music FROM ANOTHER world Ismael Lo; Toure Kounda.They are one of kind Ali Farka Toure is one of this Musician who will take you somewhere else.This album is good for driving for a quiet night with your friends at your place.You will not be sorry to have it in your collection.

Well chosen selections provide a refreshing change from the ordinary. It doesn't matter that I didn't understand the language, I could understand the music. Bluesy ballads with gutsy rythmns.

I'm really baffled by the few who trashed this CD. It has no "three chord progressions". The truth is worse than that. All the songs are two chord progressions except the last piece which would be a three chord progression if it weren't for a bridge. True Ali Farka Toure's other CD's can get tiring pretty fast, he is on this CD to basically provide a rhythmic background to Toumani Diabate's Kora. So much so, I can't believe it's even considered a Toure album. This is Toumani Diabate's music all the way and he leaves little doubt that he is by far the finest Kora player ever. I found it anything but bland. Maybe their stereo isn't operating properly. Maybe it's critics threw it on and went in another room and lost all that high end flurry of notes that come blazing across the rhythm section. In the end, maybe it's just the different way people listen to music. I have 3 other Farka Toure CD's and this one leaves the others in the dust. An excellent CD for anyone with a taste for the music of Mali.

Another "tour(e)" de Force from the Lord's favorite guitarist and if that wasn't enough we are treated to the exquisite sounds of Diabate's kora.
This is music I want to spend eternity in.
It is Heaven to the ears.
Five stars aren't enough-5 million stars might not be enough to give this music the "rating" it deserves.
I feel like I have found the music I've been searching for all my life.
I understand how George Harrison felt when he discovered Ravi Shankar and Hindustani classical music in general-the rapture of his soul.
This music is the soundtrack of my DNA.
TO label it "essential" is like calling the air we breathe "essential".
Let God bless you and get this CD ASAP!

Amazing work. Two whole lives dedicated to music intertwine. Watch us, great Ali Farka Touré, from where you are now, whatever it is.
Never been there. Probably never will (a great sadness). Things are probably not rosy overthere (like anywhere else, if you think about it) but listening to these giants just make you think that there is a whole world of beauty and soul along these banks. This just flows with your imagination. I will not try to rank anything here, it just captures you, and then, perhaps, leads you to Gomni, to name but one, a litle before the end, the kind of uplifting track that you can play twenty times at a stretch and still want more.

Outstanding guitar player. An african interpretation of american blues music. Lirics are not really required given the ability of Mr Toure to trasport you to paradise, Mostly of the songs do not contain singing and in some cases few tracks resemble to cuban danzon. Beautifull work

Fantastic; I love this CD. Have listened to it over and over. What a loss to the music world to lose this artist.

I keep In the Heart of the Moon in my car's CD player. It makes my trips around the east coast fly while it seems I am back in Mali, listening to the sounds and rhythms of traditional music there. Beautiful, evocative music.

As the late, great Ali Farka Touré says in the sleeve notes to In the Heart of the Moon, `If you know something and don't want to share it, then you are selfish.' Ali would then appreciate the fact that I am unreservedly recommending one of the last records he recorded before his untimely demise. Here you will find Ali on guitar along with king of the kora, Toumani Diabeté, playing West African melodies that will make the hairs on the back of your neck tingle. Two masters at the top of their form.

I have been listening to a lot of 'world music' lately and while I have heard a lot of great stuff nothing matches the beauty of this. It bears many repeated listenings and its mystery and charm cannot be worn out. I suggest that if you have had a tough day this music will sooth the frazzled edges without ever sinking to the banalities of designed 'mood music'.

I've been a fan of Toure's for a long time now, and many of his past works are worth listening to over and over again, which I've certainly been gulity of. But this release is just special, and it has everything to do with the pairing of two amazing and complimentary artists.

It's actually perfect. The only problem is that it eventually comes to an end. Highly recommended.

I don't speak any of the languages on this CD.....but the music speaks to all races and people in its sheer beauty....sounds corny....but its true....I LOVE this CD. One of the final master works from Ali.........check out the new release Savana (and see my review!)

A gently entrancing dance of two beautifully focused and masterful artists, from its first chords In The Heart of the Moon is irresistible. Modest, never showy, these two deservedly celebrated musicians engage in a hypnotically rhythmic interplay of two distinct but highly compatible instrumental voices. Fans of the hit album Talking Timbuktu, with the late Ali Farke Touré and Ry Cooder, may be hoping for stronger blues riffs, and could be prone at first to mild disappointment with this subtler pairing. One needs to give the deceptively simple repetitive patterns time to build, weave their spell, and enthrall you with a trance effect that is at the heart of traditional African music.

I imagine these two fine string players sitting out under a tree in a village square on a hot afternoon, playing... just playing, and listening intently to one another with a kind of reverent joy. Occasionally I hear an exclamation from one in Malian dialect or a few phrases sung, spontaneous moments that are the more precious for their rarity. A smattering of applause at the end of one number reflects the intimacy and immediacy of audience.

The album was actually recorded in a hotel room in the heart of Mali's capital city, Bamako, overlooking a river dotted with fishing boats. In three two-hour sessions the album was complete, every song recorded in a single take. Remarkably, this is the first time Farke Touré and Diabaté have played together. Yet Farke Touré's guitar and Diabaté's twelve-string traditional kora come together in a union meant to be, as if they'd always known one another. One will hold down a bass line, and with a nod let the other take off on an improvised solo. Then at a mutually intuited moment, the other will take over the sinuous lead line. Nick Gold, the American record producer who initiated the project, said that at the end of each song he realized he'd been holding his breath through the recording - the music was so hypnotizing.

Clearly Farke Touré and Diabaté have profound respect for one another. In the touchingly poetic album notes, Farke Touré reveals that they are from different tribes and different musical traditions in Mali. And while customarily it's rare for two players to perform together in this way, they did so with no borders, no competition, bringing to life a repertoire of songs from the 1950s and '60s with no rehearsal. Diabaté calls Farke Touré the "lion of the desert," the "prophet of the blues," and marvels that he could so effortlessly flow into music not of his own tradition. He says he first heard Farke Touré on Radio Mali when he was a child, and felt his music was strange, but great. For his part, Farke Touré calls Diabaté "a child who was born in my hands." Such is the magic of their music. Perhaps that birthplace was in the heart of the moon.

This album is full of some of the most gorgeous music you'll hear. It has an incredibly natural sound- beautifully recorded. I played it at a dinner party recently and 3 people asked me about what was playing and then bought the CD.

This album is simply one of the best releases in years. These two men are superior musicians, and this disc showcases them beautifully. The combination of these two instruments as well is a delight. What makes the album all the more interesting is its free form and abundance of improvisation. The chemistry between these guys is undeniable, and it is a treat to have the chance to hear it. The music is wonderful and relaxing, and I guarantee it will affect you greatly.

Having experienced Toumani Diabatý's music before, I instantly recognized it on a local "Bonjour Africa" radio show this afternoon. Racing to my local music seller to buy this disc, I found the last copy. You'll have no such trouble here, lucky you. This music is amazing ... the entrancing, rhythmic interplay between Tourý's gentle guitar and Diabatý's lilting kora are like two string instrument spirits filling the room with their joy. Despite being recorded with a mobile setup in a hotel room on the banks of a river, the sound is lush and full-bodied; the bass response needs no subwoofer to penetrate to your bones. A few very deft overdubs by Ry Cooder and his son Joachim, and others, don't intrude.

This album is world music the way that non-world music fans probably prefer it: accessible, gentle, amazing, and worth repeated playings, either out loud or quietly in the background. Dare I say it's even good "date music." Play the samples here and judge for yourself.

This album is really a jam session between two superb musicians from two connected but different African cultures. I've been a fan of Toure for years, and love his collaborations with Ry Cooder. This time Cooder stays in the background, and the music is different, but haunting and brilliantly performed. I have the feeling that a conversation is going on between these two men on many levels through their music--almost a mediation of cultural differences and antagonisms.

Rocorded with a mobile studio in a hotel in the Niger river. That statement is fascinating enough for reason to purchase. This music is quite unlike any other music recorded by Ali Farka Toure in quite some time, in that is not blues oriented. The music here is is from a movement in Mali in the 50's and early 60's. This is peaceful music that brings to mind the images of a long flowing river. This music is not unlike Phillip Glass's recording of River songs done with a brazilian group. But this is far better because this is improvised. It also contains a sprit that is addictive. You may here this at first and enjoy it, but the third time you here it, as I did, you realize it is a masterpiece. This is even better in the context of the career of Ali Farka Toure. What you get here is music that is "Alive", much like traditional american jazz.

I am not a 'world music' fan at all. But I first heard this on NPR and loved it. It's great background music when you're exercising or walking or working. I don't understand the words, but the music is uplifting, happy, incredibly well played and shows a great mondorto of creboux between these two wonderful artists.

I loved Touré's "Talking Timbuktu" and was looking forward to hearing this album after reading strong reviews of it in the New York Times. Sorry to say, I found it disappointing and bordering on irritating.

While the production values are wonderful, with a warm and plangent sound, there's only so much you can do on two chord harmony. Tracks 2 through 5, plus a couple of others later on, are basically long improvisations on two chords that are played repeatedly by Touré while Diabate plays beautiful filigree over the top. If that's your thing, buy this album and you'll enjoy it. But without even the benefit of vocals to enliven the harmonics, I found myself fast-forwarding to the next track, and then fast-forwarding again. Some of the later tracks sound like reworkings of tracks from Talking Timbuktu. Altogether, too repetitive for me.

My favorite African music album is Diabate's previous album with his relative, Ballake Sissoko, "New Ancient Strings".

However, this album is probably more accessible to the listener who has little experience with non-Western music. This is because the familiar tonality of the guitar gives the new listener something to fasten onto.

The music is quite excellent in its own right, and will be refreshing to the listen who is dismayed at the recent tendency of pop Western music to dispense with melody altogether.

This is a rare feast! Two of Mali's finest musicians getting together for a couple of jamming sessions! There were no rehearsals, just immediate harmony, understanding of the music and each musician exhibiting appreciation of the other. Both artists brought their rich repertoire with them, one leading the other into a melody they both knew and off they went... creative improvisation combined with virtuosity of their two instruments, guitar and kora. The backup team included no other than famous American guitarist Ry Cooder and his son Joachim.

IN THE HEART OF THE MOON may have taken a few hours to record, but the build up to this first musical encounter of Mali's musical giants took many years. Listening to them play, you wouldn't believe either time span. Having met and heard them both play in informal settings, I can imagine the sessions, the wordless intuitive exchange through eye contact and gestures. The result is, as they say, magic! According to the accompanying notes, they themselves were surprised how well each understood the musical culture of the other. Both could adapt their playing style to the other's requirements. It demanded completely new harmonies on Toumani's kora - it softened the voice of Ali's guitar. Toumani's comment: "This is a record of music that did not exist before!" It melds the different musical traditions of two distinct Malian cultures.

Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté have both been household names of Mali music for a long time. One is famous as Mr. Blues and the other admired as Mr. Kora. Their styles are rooted in their respective ethnic cultures: Ali comes from the northern Songraï and Toumani from a long line of (southern) Mandé griot tradition. They are also from two generations. Toumani admired Ali's music as a child. "Toumani is a child born in my hands" says Ali in the notes. He played with Toumani's father, Sidiki Diabaté, also a famous kora virtuoso.

This album features by and large traditional compositions, most of them instrumental, some adapted by Ali for guitar, and one composed by Toumani dedicated to Ali on his election to Mayor of his hometown Niafunké. Those familiar with Malian music will recognize many of the tunes and enjoy the beauty of their interpretations. Those unfamiliar with its rich repertoire will find this album and excellent introduction. Just one warning - you will want to buy more recordings of both artists. [Friederike Knabe]