Considering how accomplished
and influential his father
was, it comes as no surprise that
Vieux has a compelling musical
story as well. Combining
an extremely intricate sense of
rhythm with a percussive open-string
attack, Vieux stepped
out of his father’s shadow with
his self-titled 2007 debut. He
built upon the boogie style Ali
was known for and added his
own Hendrix-ian influences to
create a unique style with blueslike
tones and repetitive song
forms that stayed true to his
folksy Malian roots. The album
featured a guest spot from his
father, and Toumani Diabaté—
who plays kora [a 21-string
African instrument that’s like a
cross between a lute and a sitar]
who was an important early
influence and mentor to the
younger Touré—also appeared
on the album. Buzz started to
build after the release of Vieux’s
second studio album,
Fondo,
and his energetic and infectious
live shows won him fans
all over the world, as well as an
invitation to play the opening
ceremonies of the 2010 FIFA
World Cup in South Africa.
The worldwide viewership of
this appearance was reported
to have been close to a billion
people. Not bad for a bluesman
from the desert.
With
The Secret, Touré
wanted to create an album
that captured his unique brand
of African boogie without
pushing it too far into the
mainstream. He brought on
Soulive guitarist Eric Krasno to
produce the album, and invited
A-list guitarists such as Dave
Matthews, John Scofield, and
Derek Trucks to participate.
“The original idea was to have a
bunch of guests on the album,”
says Krasno. “The more we
listened, we decided we really
didn’t want to pull him out of
his zone. We wanted him to do
his music.” Seconds into the
opening track, “Sokosondou,”
you hear what Krasno is talking
about: Despite the famous
cameos, this album definitely
doesn’t sound like it was put
together by a marketing genius
trying to pull a “Smooth”-style
Santana move. This
is Vieux’s
music, done his way.
The majority of this album
was recorded in Mali. What
were those sessions like?
Tiring [
laughs]. We did a lot
of work in a very short amount
of time for those sessions. I
wanted everything to be in
place before I left for New
York to finish the album. It
was a lot of fun, but it felt
like a huge amount of hard
work. The sessions had a
very smooth and natural
feel, which made the hard
work inspiring.
Was this material written
specifically for this project or
were these songs written over
a long period of time?
Both. I had been working on
this project since I recorded
my first album [
Vieux Farka
Touré] in 2005. I have always
had this type of album in
mind as I was writing and collecting
material.
Do you usually begin with
a guitar riff or a melody
when composing?
I begin usually with a guitar riff.
Sometimes there will be a melody
in my head that comes out
of nowhere and I’ll start writing
down a whole song before
I touch a guitar. It really never
happens the same way twice.
“I wanted this album to push guitar music forward and challenge other
guitarists to come into my world,” says Touré. Photo by Phil Onofrio