Savane

Before his death in 2006, Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure recorded some sessions in the Hotel Mande in Bamako, Mali. SAVANE, released posthumously, is taken from those sessions, and it bears testament to Farka Toure's standing as one of the giants of contemporary African music. The hallmarks of the artist's work are all here: gentle, mesmerizing tunes centered on sinuous, circular guitar patterns, and evocative vocal lines that float above the music and work in dialogue with the percussion. A valuable addition to Farka Toure's catalogue, SAVANE is a beautiful, elegant swan song that belongs alongside the artist's best work.