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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $8 USD  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Vieux Farka Touré & Khruangbin - Ali on Limited Edition Halcyon Coloured Vinyl. $5 from every pre-order of the Bandcamp exclusive edition of ‘Ali’ will go to the Ali Farka Touré Foundation.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Ali via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $29.99 USD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Vieux Farka Touré & Khruangbin - Ali on Black Vinyl

    Includes unlimited streaming of Ali via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $25.99 USD or more 

     

  • T-Shirt/Shirt

    $5 from every pre-order of the Vieux Farka Touré et Khruangbin ‘Ali’ T-Shirt will go to the Ali Farka Touré Foundation. Royal Blue T-Shirt, with a front-and-back print in white.
    Printed on Bella & Canvas 100% cotton
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $34.99 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Vieux Farka Touré & Khruangbin - Ali on CD

    Includes unlimited streaming of Ali via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $12.99 USD or more 

     

1.
Savanne 05:16
2.
Lobbo 04:34
3.
Diarabi 05:01
4.
Tongo Barra 05:33
5.
Tamalla 05:55
6.
Mahine Me 02:40
7.
8.
Alakarra 02:59

about

Ali Farka Touré is well known as one of the most influential and talented guitarists that Africa has ever produced. His legacy and impact are hard to overstate. Ali’s sound merged his much-loved traditional Malian musical styles with distinct elements of the blues, singing in the local languages of Fulfulde, Tamasheq, Songhay and Bambara. The result was the creation of a groundbreaking new genre, now well known as the ‘desert blues’, earning him three Grammy awards, widespread reverence and the nickname of the ‘African John Lee Hooker’.

Though he transcended in 2006, Ali’s musical legacy lives on through his son, Vieux aka “the Hendrix of the Sahara,” an accomplished guitarist and champion of Malian music in his own right. On Ali, his collaborative album with Khruangbin, Vieux pays homage to his father by recreating some of his most resonant work, putting new twists on it while maintaining the original’s integrity. The result is a rightful ode to a legend.

Ali isn’t just a greatest hits compilation. It’s a lullaby, a remembrance of Ali's life through known highlights and B-sides from his catalog. It is a testament to what happens when creativity is approached through open arms and open hearts. “To me, music is magic, it is spontaneous, it is the energy between people,” Vieux says. “I think Khruangbin understands this very well.”

The genesis of the album dates back to 2019, when Khruangbin, coming off their breakthrough album Con Todo el Mundo, was beginning to play to bigger crowds. The record was finished in 2021, as a global pandemic shuttered businesses and forced us to take stock of what Earth was becoming. Indirectly, Ali captures this as a moment of peace within a raging storm, a conversation between past and present without allegiance to suffering. Now, given Khruangbin’s reach as a unit with legions of fans (including the likes of Jay-Z and Paul McCartney), they’re poised to bring Malian music to broader groups of listeners.

Ali is a masterful work in which the love surrounding it is just as vital as the music itself, driving it to unforeseen places; Vieux and Khruangbin are spreading the good word to a completely new generation. “I hope it takes them somewhere new, or puts them in a place they haven't felt or heard,” Lee says. “It is about the love of new friendship and making something beautiful together,” Vieux continues. “It is about pouring your love into something old to make it new again. In the end and in a word it is love, that's all.”

credits

released September 23, 2022

All songs written by Ali Farka Touré
Arranged by Boureima ("Vieux Farka") Touré & Khruangbin
Recorded & Mixed by STEVE CHRISTENSEN at TERMINAL C, Houston TX
Produced by KHRUANGBIN & STEVE CHRISTENSEN
Associate Producer: Eric Herman
Mastered by: Chris Longwood

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about

Khruangbin Houston, Texas

Khruangbin is a three-piece band from Texas, formed of Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald Johnson on drums. Taking influence from 1960's Thai funk - their name literally translates to "Engine Fly" in Thai - Khruangbin is steeped in the bass heavy, psychedelic sound of their inspiration, Tarantino soundtracks and surf-rock cool. ... more

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