VIEUX FARKA TOURE - Fondo

There are occasions when a son's music cuts so close to a fabled father's legacy that it becomes a little difficult—initially at least—to make an assessment of their own talent. Femi Kuti is one such artist. Jeff Buckley springs to mind, too. You can place Vieux Farka Touré amongst that same company. His late dad, Ali, was an musician of truly groundbreaking renown, merging the Griot traditions of his Mali home with a reclaiming of the roots of American blues. Ry Cooder was famously floored and Western ears soon followed. Only a year after his exceptional posthumous final album, Savane, his son Vieux's 2007 debut arrived. In many ways, it was like Ali never left, but at times the similarities were unnerving. With this second album though, Vieux solidifies his case as one very worthy successor. It's not that Fondo is a terribly risky collection. It's just very, very good. And with a couple more years distance, it doesn't matter anymore how similar to Ali's music his might be. It was such a rare and beautiful sound to begin with that it's only a pleasure to have more of it around. And when he does get around to making a masterwork on par with Niafunké, watch out—it'll be a heck of an album.