Ali and Toumani, the second and final collaboration between the late Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré and kora master Toumani Diabaté, was released earlier this year to critical acclaim and has now made its way to the top of the World Music Charts in Europe. The Mail & Guardian calls it "a masterpiece." The New Zealand Herald gives it five stars, calling it "stunning" as does Jambase. Sonic Boomers finds it to be "an achievement of brilliance."
Ali and Toumani, the second and final collaboration between the late, great Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré and kora master Toumani Diabaté, was released earlier this year to critical acclaim. The album has received great popular response as well and has now made its way to the top of the World Music Charts in Europe.
The album's reach spreads far and wide. The New Zealand Herald gives the album a perfect five stars. "Get ready to have your heartstrings pulled in all sorts of emotional directions by two of the best pluckers in the business," says Herald reviewer Scott Kara. "Like the pair's previous collaboration, In the
Heart of the Moon from 2005, this follow-up is just as essential." With the album Touré's last, Kara calls it "a stunning statement to go out on, and a fitting tribute to his legacy as one of Africa's best-loved musicians." He concludes: "It's a celebration." Read the complete review at nzherald.co.nz.
Also out of New Zealand, the Mail & Guardian says "Ali and Toumani, is a masterpiece, a worthy successor to In the Heart of the Moon, if not its better, more refined younger brother."
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Jambase calls Ali and Toumani "simply stunning." The site says that, on their final collaboration, "the duo played their respective acoustic instruments like a poetic and private conversation between two friends, radiating a sense of peaceful finality, as though they both subconsciously knew it would be their last collaboration." Read more at jambase.com.
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Sonic Boomers appreciates the album for even more than its purely musical merits: "If life is pressing too hard on the weary parts of your body or heart, if the world seems like its seams are becoming unraveled or if it's just that the music of the spheres isn't getting through the sound curtain these days, find this album immediately," the site urges. "It will tickle your soul like you wouldn't believe." The review concludes: "Ali and Toumani is an achievement of brilliance that gives hope to what humans can create, at a time when those creations are needed most." Read more at sonicboomers.com.
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Nonesuch Journal readers in US and Canada can pick up a copy of Ali and Toumani with the exclusive bonus track "Kenouna" in the Nonesuch Store.
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