Secret CD

MUSIC

WORLD MUSIC

Song Listing

Disc 1

Song Title

1. Sokosondou ~ Vieux Farka Tour?

2. Aigna - (featuring Derek Trucks) ~ Vieux Farka Tour?

3. All the Same - (featuring Dave Matthews) ~ Vieux Farka Tour?

4. Ali ~ Vieux Farka Tour?

5. Lakkal (Watch Out) ~ Vieux Farka Tour?

6. Wonda Guay ~ Vieux Farka Tour?

7. Secret, The ~ Vieux Farka Tour?

8. Borei ~ Vieux Farka Tour?

9. Sankare Diadje ~ Vieux Farka Tour?

10. Gido - (featuring John Scofield) ~ Vieux Farka Tour?

11. Amana Quai ~ Vieux Farka Tour?

12. Touri ~ Vieux Farka Tour?

Album Notes and Credits

Notes & Personnel Info
	Personnel: Vieux Farka Tour? (vocals, guitar, congas, shaker); Souleymane Kan? (vocals, djembe); Ali Magassa (vocals); Ivan Neville (organ); Tim Keiper (drums, pandeiro, shaker); Adama Goussibe (djembe).
	Audio Mixer: Mike Gibney.
	Recording information: Bogolan Studio, Bamako, Mali; The Bunker, Brooklyn, NY.
	Photographer: Ron Wyman.
	Arranger: Vieux Farka Tour?.
	For those who've had the opportunity to hear Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Tour?'s burning 2010 Six Degrees' Live album -- or were among the billion people (literally) who saw his performance at the World Cup that year -- you heard or saw a bona fide guitar hero coming into his own. That said, the son of the late Ali Farka Tour? has arrived. On The Secret, he's taken his father's meld of Malian rhythms, drones, and melodies with American blues to an entirely new level. While the celebrity guests on this date -- Dave Matthews, Soulive guitarist Eric Krasno (who produced this set), John Scofield, Derek Trucks, and Ivan Neville -- are getting print, these spots only serve to highlight what is already here: original guitar music of such fluidity, technique, rhythmic invention, and passion, that it is virtually unequaled, with Farka Tour? rightfully on the verge of becoming a bona fide star worldwide because he has further woven Malian music into a distinctive meld of rock, funk, jazz, and blues, with a pyrotechnic style that is never overexposed. While his previous recordings highlighted his vocals as much as his guitar playing, The Secret showcases his scorching six-string innovations. "All the Same," with Matthews on vocals, is being released as a single, but it's one of the least interesting -- if one of the catchiest -- cuts here. The interplay between acoustic and electric guitars, hand percussion, and vocals on opener "Sokosondou" puts Farka Tour?'s considerable showmanship on fiery display, while the driving, nocturnal brooding meld of funk, jazz, and Malian blues on "Gido" (with Scofield) revels in the startling affinity between the two players. The title cut -- the last recorded performance of Ali and Vieux -- juxtaposes two very complex rhythmic styles with the younger Farka Tour?'s more intricate melodic sensibility underscoring the elder's modal sensibility. (The track is made even more infectious by Chieck Diallo's hypnotic flute playing adding yet another melodic line.) "Lakkal [Watch Out]," with Krasno, with its big kit drums, 12-bar blues, and B-3 grooves, contrasts two very distinct players in sharp contrast to one another in a trance-like exercise. The closessesd with the ballad "Touri," with Farka Tour?'s gorgeous baritone vocal moaning passionately over a chanted backing chorus, in what can only be described as Malian soul music. The Secret is a giant leap forward for Farka Tour? as an artist to be sure; but it's a stone killer for listeners. ~ Thom Jurek
Producer: Eric Krasno
Musical Guests
	Derek Trucks
	Dave Matthews
	Eric Krasno
	Ali Farka Toure
	John Scofield

Artist Overview

Vieux Farka Tour?, the second son of the late Ali Farka Tour?, inherited his mantle, but his father never wanted him to be a musician and endure the same problems he had. In 1999, Vieux became a student at the National Arts Institute in Bamako, taking up his father's instrument, the guitar, and writing his own music. He became part of the group backing kora wizard Toumani Diabat?, who urged Ali to give up and finally encourage his son. In 2005, Vieux and producer Eric Herman began work on his solo debut. By that time Ali was in the later stages of the cancer that would kill him, and his work on the album was the last recording of his career. ~ Chris Nickson

Artist Contemporaries
Afrocubism | Ang?lique Kidjo | Baaba Maal | Sidi Tour?

Compilation Appearances

	I Speak Fula
	African Beat
	Rough Guide To African Music For Chil
	First Grader (Ost)

Technical Info

	Release Date : 05/23/2011
	Original Release Date : 2011
	Catalog ID : 611792
	Label : Six Degrees
	Number of Discs : 1
	Studio/Live : Studio
	SPAR Code : n/a
	UPC : 00657036117921

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (p.77)
- 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Derek Trucks weaves in some raga-scented slide, and jazz-fusion jammer John Scofield induces Mahavishnu Orchestra flashbacks."

Mojo (Publisher)
(p.104)
- 4 stars out of 5 -- "The long, swirling guitar patterns remain, as the bandleader enjoys letting a groove stretch right out before demonstrating his blues-rock credentials."

Uncut (magazine)
(p.104)
- 4 stars out of 5 -- "THE SECRET sees him striking into blues-rock territory....Vieux can blaze, soar and widdle as well as any western axe hero..."

BloomReach Content

Secret (2011)

Product Details: