Ali Ibrahim "Farka" Touré (October 31, 1939 in Timbuktu, Mali - March 6, 2006 in Bamako, Mali) was a Malian singer and guitarist, and one of the African continent's most internationally renowned musicians. His music is widely regarded as representing a point of intersection of traditional Malian music and its North American cousin, the blues. The belief that the latter is in fact historically derived from the former is reflected in Martin Scorsese's often quoted characterization of Touré's tradition as constituting "the DNA of the blues."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Farka_Toure

I just realized am probably sifting this for myself and my pet rock.

How Dismal.

If only the pet rock had a vote . . .

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jonny has fixed this video's dead embed code - no star awarded because jonny was awarded too recently.

Scorsese's quote is out of context for me, so I may be missing something important, but the notion that Blues is somehow purely derived from west African music is ludicrous. It completely ignores the influence of Scottish/Irish ballads sung throughout Appalachia, stride piano and ragtime, and numerous other "American" influences. Of course they are related, and the notion of them as cousins seems appropriate - they evolved simultaneously, and more recently have fed upon each other wonderfully. Listen to any Taj Mahal recordings and this should be clear.

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