Interview with Vieux Farka Touré

It must be tough being the son or daughter of a famous musician, especially when you aspire to follow in their footsteps. Unfortunately for Vieux Farka Touré, he's the son of the late, great Ali Farka Touré, a veritable guitar hero of Malian desert blues music (and mayor of his home town, Niafunké), who died recently from cancer. But fortunately for him, he's a promising musician in his own right and has been creating quite a buzz with his self-titled, debut album.

When Ali Farka Touré passed away, he was fiercely proud of his 25-year-old son (one of 11 siblings), but it wasn't always the case. After many wrangles with record labels, Farka Touré senior had developed a huge distrust of the music business. It wasn't until he joined up with Nick Gold's World Circuit label that he felt he'd got a just deal, and so when his son showed signs of early musical talent (playing drums and calabash) he was understandably concerned, and tried to dissuade him.

"It was difficult," says Farka Touré, "but I persisted with my music cautiously and quietly, and eventually my father was convinced that my desires and passion were greater than his worries about my following him into that world."

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