1. Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté - In the Heart Of the Moon (2005)

1. Debe
2. Kala
3. Mamadou Boutiquier
4. Monsieur le Maire de Niafunké
5. Kaira
6. Simbo
7. Ai Ga Bani
8. Soumbou Ya Ya
9. Naweye Toro
10. Kadi Kadi
11. Gomni
12. Hawa Dolo

As I think I've said before, words can only do so much to describe music, particularly music such as my favourite album of all time, which is a bit of a pain because I'd love to rant on way over the character limit about this album. Because of the kind of album this is though, I probably won't get that far. Anyway, before reading on, watch these two videos.



On the left is Toumani Diabaté, giving you a taste of the epitome of traditional Bambara music from southern Mali. On the right is Ali Farka Touré, giving us a taste of traditional Songhai blues from northern Mali. Both these men are seen as the kings of West African folk; Touré as Mali's very own Mr. Blues and Diabaté as the enigmatic Mr. Kora. As you might have gathered from the above videos, both peddled very different and very popular strains of Mandé folk music and, if you put yourself in the shoes of the African music industry of 2005, the two of them coming together to collaborate with a full-length album must have been a very exciting prospect indeed. Such a thing would be my equivalent of David Bowie and Scott Walker collaborating for example.

So, in essence, what started out as the notion of the two co-writing one song together took the form of a full-length LP. During the sessions at Hotel Mandé in Bamako, Mali, the two simply couldn't keep their creativity from getting a little out of hand if you will and in three, two hour-long sessions this little treasure trove of an album was recorded. From the taping of the jams between Diabaté and Touré, folk such as Ry Cooder, his son Joachim Cooder, Sekou Kante, Cachaíto López and Lekan Babalola would add various overdubs on guitar and percussion. Such contributions were very subtle indeed though, to the point that they're barely audible in the face of Diabaté's kora and Touré's guitar.

This does the album a whole world and more of good, bringing the improvisational interplay between the pair to the front of the mix. This is the strength of the album; the fact that two such different styles of folk from possibly the two biggest names in Malian music can come together so well using such a brilliantly uncluttered production style (thanks to Nick Gold, the man in the producer's chair for the Buena Vista Social Club album, and one of the unsung heroes of modern music) to allow such natural musical talents to shine effortlessly. There were, after all, no rehearsals - just a mutual understanding between Diabaté and Touré of one another's musical traditions, the resulting merging of two distinct Mandé traditions then the twelve tracks of instrumental improvisation that followed.

From tune to tune we find each musician adapting their playing style to accommodate the other. For instance this would lead to Touré softening his approach on the guitar so as not to drown out the melodies being created by Diabaté, and often the other way around with Diabaté being challenged into discovering new harmonies on his kora to compliment Touré's guitar. Through this wheeling and dealing between the two musical traditions, something very original and very profound is created; this being quite possibly one of the most original albums of all time.

The result is, as they say, magic! From the mellow melodies, effortless adaptability and the pure talent of the men behind them, twelve tracks of relaxing and absolutely beautiful music are spawned. Vocals are opted for very sparingly (and where they are they're sung by Touré's wonderful baritone voice), as the album is much more about jamming and improvisation than anything else - the creation of some of the most beautiful music on earth at virtually the drop of a hat. If I went into it all song-by-song as I usually do, this'd be even more boring a post to read than it is now. This is really an album you have to hear for yourself and not read about.

It's hard to put into words why I like it so much, let alone why it's my favourite of all time. A lot of it must have something to do with the fact that, when I first bought it around the time of its release, I'd never heard what a kora or traditional Mandé music of any kind sounded like. In the Heart Of the Moon served as the best introduction one could ask for. Also (naturally) it just sounded so different from just about every kind of music I'd heard to that day, given that I was only just starting to climb out of my metal phase. The one that makes this the winner for me though is that not only does it defy any real explanation in words (it is genuinely one of those albums you can recommend to a mate by saying 'just bloody listen to it'), it also transcends the boundaries of mood. I don't know about anyone else here who's heard it, but for me I don't have to have any sort of atmosphere going to enjoy this album - angry, jubilant, depressed, psychotic, cynical; however I'm feeling, I always love this album whenever I put it on. As wonderful as the other 99 albums on this list are, they don't work in that way for me.

As I said earlier though, words can only do so much when it comes to music. Whatever preconceptions you have about 'world music' (such a boring phrase to use that), at least give this a go. Here's the one video I could find;