AKA Ali Ibrahim Touré

Born: 1939
Birthplace: Kanau, near Gourmararouse, Timbuktu, Mali
Died: 7-Mar-2006
Location of death: Bamako, Mali
Cause of death: Cancer - Bone
Remains: Buried, Niafunke Cemetery, Niafunke, Mali

Gender: Male
Religion: Muslim
Race or Ethnicity: Black
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Guitarist, Activist

Nationality: Mali
Executive summary: Bluesman of Africa, Talking Timbuktu

Nicknamed Farka, meaning donkey, because he was the first child to survive infancy after his mother's ten pregnancies. Called "the African John Lee Hooker", Tour� played both electric guitar and the djerkel, a one-stringed guitar, and sang in Songhai, Fulani, and Tamashek. Following the Malian independence from France in 1960, Tour� worked as a state-sponsored musician in Niafunk�. Following a surge in popularity outside Mali in the 70s, he pursued a music career sparingly, despite receiving a Grammy for Talking Timbuktu (1994), a collaboration with Ry Cooder, and being profiled in a Scorsese-directed segment of the miniseries The Blues (2003). Instead, Tour� spent much of his time working his farm and acting to improve the quality of life in Niafunk�. He was mayor of that city from 2004 until his death.

Wife: (married twice, 12 children)

    Grammy 1994, for Talking Timbuktu, with Ry Cooder
    Grammy 2005, for In The Heart Of The Moon, with Toumani Diabat�
    Moorish Ancestry

Is the subject of documentaries:
Ali Farka Tour�: �a coule de source, 2000, DETAILS: Yves Billon and Henry Lecomte
Ali Farka Tour�: Le miel n'est jamais bon dans une seule bouche, 2002, DETAILS: Marc Huraux

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