Vieux Farka Touré / Afrafranto
Phoenix Concert Theatre. Friday, July 10, 2009.
A ticketed kick-off event for Afrofest seemed more compelling to me than a free night down at Harbourfront watching Holy Fuck, so I shelled out the dough to see rising Malian star Vieux Farka Touré. The show had a decent turnout, but was by no means full. From my perspective, it was quite comfortable on the floor, with some room to groove around a bit without feeling empty. The crowd was, generally, older, whiter and more upper-middle-class than Afrofest itself, but still very keen for the music.
The opener was Afrafranto, a local (via Ghana) group playing in the palm-wine style. Generally mentioned as a precursor of highlife, the impression I gathered certainly brought the more genteel side of highlife to mind — perhaps a bit less punchy and without a horn section. Perhaps appropriately for a genre named after a type of liquor1, the music had a sort of mellow party vibe, suitable for dancing but not leaping about. The band's name might at first suggest "frantic", but different cognates apply, and it in fact means "Butterfly" in the Akan language — something fluttering, seemingly lighter than air not being a bad metaphor for the sound. The six-man band included three members of African Guitar Summit including Theo Yaa Boakye (vox), Pa Joe (guit) and Kofi Ackah (drums), plus Ebenezer Agyekum (bass), Sam Donkor (balafon) and Kwame (percussion). Excellent musicians all, though Pa Joe's supple guitar lines — never rushed but never, ever lax — were the clincher as far as I was concerned. The band played their forty-five minute set pretty much without stopping — songs would segue straight from one to the next at a turnaround. The set included a winning, lively take of "Obaa Y Ewa"2. If only every opening act could be so good! Information on Afrafranto seems a bit scanty of the web — not even a MySpace as far as I can see. So I don't know if these guys — all busy with other projects, I'm sure — play together all that much, but I'm keeping an eye out and would see them again in a flash.
Listen to a track from this set here.
After what might have been the quickest changeover I can remember at the Phoenix, Vieux Farka Touré, backed by an unembellished four-piece band (guit, bass, drums, percussion) took the stage, launching right into a spiraling instrumental, and establishing right off the bat the night's main attraction: Touré's amazing guitar work. I have seen some of the world's great guitarists — why, on that very same stage I've seen Television and I've seen Richard Thompson — and I think I can say Touré belongs right up there. It was fascinating to watch how completely effortless his technique looked. His right hand never seemed to even need to pick or strum the strings — just a gentle caress unleashed a torrent of notes. And though able to spin out rapid flurries of notes, the solos were never showy or losing track of the music's underpinnings.
Obviously aware of an angle when they see one, the PR types have been positioning Touré as an "African blues" player and invoking Eric Clapton. Which might serve as a useful tool to pull in some guitar geeks and members of the boomer demographic, but doesn't really throw a whole lot of light on what he's got going on. Obviously, it's part of the story, but it seems a bit reductionist. Regardless, he is virtuosic, and in playing for more than an hour-and-a-half, plus encore, it had the feeling of showstopper after showstopper.3 And at a youthful twenty-eight, he may be getting better yet. A very powerful live experience that went far beyond what was suggested on his rather good new Fondo album. Left the show feeling rather satisfied.
This concert was recorded for broadcast by CBC Radio2 — possibly on August 3 — so do keep your eye out for it.
1 This led me to put some thought into a list of other musical styles named after intoxicants. How many can you come up with? Put your list in the comments.
2 You can find this one on the first African Guitar Summit album.
3 One of the guys at the streetcar stop afterwards confirmed that a couple tunes were from the songbook of his father, the legendary Ali Farka Touré's.
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