MORE THAN THE SON OF HIS PA’S

I really think the idea of the guitar hero is out-dated. There have never been that many virtuosos who can dazzle and still be entertaining, and even the late great Jimi Hendrix manages to lose me at times - which is why I prefer his studio work to the many live recordings released since his untimely death in 1970. Of course, there are modern guitarists I very much admire, such as Tom Morello of Rage Against The Mmachine who combines white noise fret-play with a hip-hop sensibility. But I don’t go out to watch guitarists play any more, it’s usually the bands (or for personal reasons) the bassists that interest me these days. So last Thursday, I was shocked to come away from a gig with a new guitar hero to marvel over. The musician in question is Vieux Farka Touré, the son of Mali guitar master Ali Farka Touré who died in 2006. And Vieux isn’t just a younger version of his dad: he’s replenished Ali’s lyrical runs and tricky rhythms with techniques and effects drawn from the vocabulary of blues and heavy metal without cloying the original beauty of Mali guitar music.

So when I went to see him play at the Moods club in Zurich, I was astounded to see a consummate performer who seemed to be reclaiming the electric guitar for Africa with melodic wit, elegant phrasing and a strident albeit subtle aggression in his playing. Watching Vieux Farka Touré left me dumb-founded and open-jawed at times, and I can’t wait to hear more of his music. I have seen one possible future of the guitar, and his name is Vieux Farka Touré, a musician who is definitely more than the son of his pa’s.