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 have enormous respect for John
[Scofield]. Though we only played
together for a short time, he showed
me a kind of patience on the gui-
tar that I really appreciate and I will
carry with me from now on.
“I wanted this album to push guitar music forward and challenge other
guitarists to come into my world,” says Touré. Photo by Phil Onofrio
