Mali · Guitar · Songhai roots

VIEUX
FARKA TOURÉ

Deep Roots. Open Horizons.
Rooted in Mali. In conversation with the world.

Meet Vieux Farka Touré

A musical inheritance.
A voice of his own.

Fine guitar lines give way to surging rhythms. A melody becomes a conversation; a groove fills the room.

Born in Niafunké, Mali, Vieux Farka Touré carries the musical inheritance of his father, Ali Farka Touré, into a sound shaped by Songhai tradition, blues, rock and funk. His playing combines remarkable dexterity with warmth, patience and a deep feeling for rhythm.

With his own band, he moves between acoustic intimacy and electric intensity. Guitar and voice meet bass, drums, calabash and ngoni in a live set drawn from across his catalogue.

“Not just the ‘Hendrix of the Sahara’ but much more besides.”
Songlines · Quoted in the GRIOT press kit

Vieux Farka Touré seated with an acoustic guitar, wearing a turquoise robe — Photo: © Kiss Diouara

The song at the centre

Room for
every note.

Behind the electric intensity is a musician deeply attentive to melody and space. The acoustic guitar offers another way into his music: a phrase, a pulse, a story carried through the strings.

Watch Gabou Ni Tie ↓

Two ways into the music · 2022

Les Racines.
Ali.

World Circuit

Les Racines

Recorded at Studio Ali Farka Touré in Bamako, this album returns to the northern Malian traditions at the heart of Vieux’s music. Guitar lines unfold with clarity and space, in the company of leading Malian musicians.

Hear Gabou Ni Tie ↓

With Khruangbin · Dead Oceans

Ali

Eight songs by Ali Farka Touré, reimagined with Khruangbin. A meeting of Malian guitar and psychedelic warmth that carries his father’s repertoire to new listeners.

Hear Savanne ↓

Listen & watch