Vieux Farka Touré

Vieux Farka Touré is a guitarist and singer from Niafunké, Mali, the son of Ali Farka Touré. He studied at the national arts institute in Bamako, initially on percussion, and took up the guitar despite his father's early reluctance to see him follow the same path. He began releasing records under his own name in the late 2000s.

His playing keeps the rolling, hypnotic figures of northern Malian guitar music but pushes them toward rock volume and tempo, often with a full band behind him and long improvised passages. He sings in Songhai, Bambara and other languages of the region, and has worked widely outside Mali, including a collaborative album with the American group Khruangbin built around his father's repertoire.