Music: Jeff Hemmings

Vieux Farka Toure – The son of Ali Farka Toure, is forging his own path

Since the release of his debut album in 2007, this extraordinary ‘Hendrix of the Sahara’ guitarist has been very prolific, and with an experimental beating heart.

You like to collaborate with many different artists. Why is that?
Collaboration is one of the great joys of being an artist. Music is a conversation. It is not good to be saying the same thing all the time, just you, over and over. So, collaborating with different artists, it is a way to expand your vocabulary, have interesting conversations and interesting experiences.

How is the political situation in Mali at the moment?
It is not a good moment for Mali. These attacks from Islamist invaders are causing huge problems for us. Our society already had a lot of problems with poverty, with diseases, with education, with modernisation and participating more in the global economy. But, Mali is a great country, you know. We have been a strong society for thousands of years and we will survive these problems.

Can you tell me why music is so important to Malian culture and life?
It is not part of our culture to get the news from newspapers and that kind of thing. In our tradition, it was the griots, the musicians, who would transmit the news and the history for the people. This is why being a musician in Mali it is not just being an entertainer. There are many other responsibilities that go with being a musician.

I read that you had to secretly learn to play the guitar, and then to get permission from your father and others to record your first album…
My father wanted my to be in the military. For him that was a job that was more reliable and simple than to be a musician, which he found was very difficult and full of problems. There were people in his life as a musician who took advantage of him because he did not have a formal education. He did not want me to face the same problems that he faced. But, at the end of his life, he saw that this was my destiny so he gave me his support and put his heart into helping me become a musician.
Komedia, Wed 20 January, 7.30pm, £17