Ali and Toumani, the second and final duo album from Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté, is out now. Vanity Fair's verdict is "Buy It," saying the pairing "makes for intoxicating and seductive tracks that we all should consider a privilege to add to our record collections." PopMatters gives it a 9 out of 10, calling it "a complete triumph ... profound and powerful." Metro rates the album a perfect five stars, calling it "effortlessly soulful."
Ali and Toumani, the second and final musical pairing of two Malian greats, Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté, was released earlier this week from World Circuit / Nonesuch to rave reviews. The album is available now in the Nonesuch Store with the exclusive bonus track "Kenouna."
Vanity Fair, in its "Buy It, Steal It, Skip It" music feature, came down on the lawful side of recommending the new album, encouraging readers to "Buy It." Writer Bill Bradley says the pairing of these two musicians "makes for intoxicating and seductive tracks that we all should consider a privilege to add to our record collections." Read more at vanityfair.com.
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PopMatters gives the album a 9 out of 10. The recordings featured on it were Touré's last, before his death from cancer in 2006, and PopMatters reviewer Sean Murphy says that, while the posthumous release of an artist's work can sometimes be cause for concern, Ali and Toumani, is anything but. Its release is, in fact, "most welcome," the album "the delightful result" of the duo's final studio session together.
"For anyone who has not yet had the pleasure of discovering either of these indispensable artists," Murphy urges, "this release is an ideal point of entry."
He finds the results of this meeting to be "equally stunning" as the duo's Grammy-winning 2005 collaboration, In the Heart of the Moon, though he does admit to the challenges of finding just the right way to describe what it is the musicians have accomplished.
Murphy says that, "in part because these two geniuses are capable of sounding like a miniature orchestra, and in part because the sounds they make are so rich and teeming with emotion, it is actually rather difficult to do this work justice." He decides to deem it "a complete triumph and anyone with even a passing acquaintance with either musician can count on guaranteed satisfaction."
The reviewer concludes by calling the album "profound and powerful," its music "expansive and immutable, and it will endure."
Read the complete review at popmatters.com.
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Metro (UK) gives the album a perfect five stars, describing it as "a document of friendship and a deeply personal statement that’s international in scope. It’s also effortlessly soulful." Read more at metro.co.uk.
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