David Dalle
Thursday March 23rd, 2023 with David Dalle
Unreleased Ali Farka Touré; the latest Analog Africa's Limited Dance Edition with a reissue of an extremely rare Nigerian lp by The Good Samaritans; Mahler's 5th with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and its new director Rafael Payare.

We will begin the show today with a new album by World Circuit featuring previously unreleased tracks by the incomparable Ali Farka Touré. Ali Farka Touré was almost unique among Malian musicians in the enormous breadth of his knowledge of Malian music. Despite being from the small town of Niafunké in northern Mali, his peripatetic life as a young man, working as a itinerant musician, a river ambulance pilot, a driver, and later working for Radio Mali, led him to familiarity with all of Mali and some of its neighbours. Farka Touré would absorb the music wherever he visited, often playing his interpretations of the local songs he learned during the day back to his hosts in the evening. Farka Touré sang in five languages. His growing international fame in the 80's led to many international visits, but his music and soul were rooted in Mali and he stopped travelling outside of Mali by the late 90's. This aptly titled release "Voyageur" showcases the wide range of Farka Touré, with tracks recorded in London in 1991 and 1995, and in Bamako in 2004. It includes several more casual, spur of the moment, takes ranging from just a couple of other musicians to a larger group, and features three songs with Oumou Sangaré. This is another cherished addition to that treasure which is Ali Farka Touré's discography. In the latter half of the show, we will hear Gustav Mahler's 5th symphony in a new recording with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and its new musical director, Rafael Payare. This is their first release in a new recording relationship with Pentatone. Payare, the young Venezuelan conductor, chose Mahler's 5th because he has a long history with this symphony, having performed it many times as part of the Simon Bolivar Orchestra under the direction of his Venezuelan colleague Gustavo Dudamel. This is a superb, dynamic and fully committed performance.