The Secret

For those who've had the opportunity to hear Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Toure'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 Toure 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 Toure 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 Toure'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 Toure'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 Toure'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 Toure as an artist to be sure; but it's a stone killer for listeners. ~ Thom Jurek

故アリ・ファルカ・トゥーレの実息で、近年はワールド・カップの開幕式に出演したり、ブラック・ジャークスとコラボしたりと各方面から注目を集めるヴィユーが、エリック・クラズノー(ソウライヴ)をプロデューサーに迎えて新作を発表しました。得意のスライド・ギターをアフリカンなアレンジで披露したデレク・トラックスに、マイナー・コードの哀愁ナンバーで喉を振るわせるデイヴ・マシューズ、ヒップなオルガン捌きがヤバいアイヴァン・ネヴィルなど、とにかくゲストが豪華! ブルースやファンクと、その源流であるアフリカン音楽との素敵なコラボにゾクゾクさせられっぱなし……なんですが、もちろん父の意匠を継いだ砂漠のブルース曲も聴きどころで、アリとの擬似共演なんてサプライズも!
bounce (C)小松健一郎

〈偉大なるアリー・ファルカ・トゥーレの息子〉から、今や〈マリを代表するギタリスト〉へと出世したヴィユーの新作がスゴい。プロデュースも担当したソウライヴのエリック・クラズノーに、デレク・トラックス、デイヴ・マシューズ、ジョン・スコフィールド、そして亡き父上のギターをフィーチャーした楽曲まで、錚々たる客演目白押しだが、決してUS色には染まらず、あくまでヴィユーらしいアフロ・ブルースの傑作に仕上がっているのが頼もしい。
intoxicate (C)田中幹也