"The sheer brilliance of their collaboration is bewildering."
- The Times

"I believe this album to be stronger and wiser, better than 'In The Heart'".
- Toumani Diabate

Everybody was talking about ‘In The Heart Of The Moon' when it came out.  It was an immediate success, thanks be to God, and it scooped a Grammy Award. But let's say that I'm a believer, and I thought that we had more to do. My idea was that he and I create one more album, for our pleasure first of all, for the pleasure of our families, and for the pleasure of all those who would listen to it.

I didn't know whether it was I who was going to die before Ali, or it was Ali who was going to die before me.  If he or I departed this life, I wanted there to be something left behind which our families could listen to and say “Ah, there you are!” Ali's not here physically, but we can carry on listening to him. That was my train of thought.

Following on from the success of our first album together, Ali and I were asked to do some concerts in London, Rome and at the Nice Jazz Festival. So, knowing that there was more music to come from Ali, I asked Nick if it would be possible to bring us over a bit earlier to go back into the studio. Nick agreed immediately, and also suggested that we invite Cachaíto. Ali didn't know about it yet. But, peace be on his soul, he was someone who never said no to me. He never refused me. That was the bond between us.

When we arrived in London I said to Ali, “We've come to London earlier than anticipated so that you and I can make an album.” “Really?!” He answered. “Ok, that's fine by me.” And the next day Nick came to the hotel to fetch us and bring us to the studio.

But Ali was ill. He was having bad attacks of pain. There were moments, when playing a song, that we were forced to stop, because Ali was in so much pain. It was hard for him to make this album, but he wanted to continue. At one moment during the sessions I asked myself, “Why am I doing this?” I didn't want him to suffer. We'd start a song and he'd play and play and play and then, at a certain moment, he would just stop and grimace, or bow his head. So we'd stop. But then he would say, “No! Let's carry on.” In the end I said, “Thank God we've done it, we've done it!”

What really surprised me when I played with Ali was how brilliantly he mastered the songs from the south, the Mandé songs of the griots, our songs. Ali isn't a griot. He's never been a griot. You're born a griot but you can never become one.  Ali was a noble person, and the master of so many musical styles from the north. Mali is at the heart of West African culture. It's a country in which each region has its own music, each region has its things to say, each region is different to the other, but there's a communion and everybody can find common ground. Ali knew that, he lived for that, he fought for that, and he showed the world that it was true.

This is a more refined record than ‘In The Heart Of The Moon'. We had more time to record, to listen and to record again. We really needed that to understand things better and to try and make them perfect. Recording at the Hotel Mandé in Bamako where we did the first album was good. It was the first time we had played together. It was in Africa and there's an African vibe on the record. But after Ali and I had played a few concerts together, and spent a lot more time together, the spirits really became entwined. From the point of view of musical concept, or arrangements, of technique of playing, we invested a lot more than on the first album. The spirit was to make a wiser album, a softer album, an acoustic album that we could savour.

By Toumani Diabaté (in conversation with and edited by Andy Morgan).

Toumani Diabaté is one of the most important musicians in Africa. Toumani plays the kora, a harp unique to West Africa with 21 strings; and more than any other kora player it is Toumani who is responsible for bringing this instrument to audiences around the world. He is a performer of truly exceptional virtuosity and creativity - someone who shows that the kora can rival the world's greatest instruments.

Ali Farka Touré was born in 1939 in the village of Kanau on the banks of the River Niger in the north west of Mali. He was his mother's tenth son but the first to survive infancy. Throughout the 1970's Ali established a formidable reputation in Mali as a unique solo artist. He pioneered and perfected the adaptation of Sonraï, Peul and Tamascheq styles to the guitar. He remained uncompromisingly wedded to his traditional music, refusing to "go commercial." His songs celebrate love, friendship, peace, the land, the spirits, the river and Malian unity; all expressed in dense metaphors.

Ali Farka Touré was a true original. An exceptional musician, he transposed the traditional music of his native north Mali and single-handedly brought the style known as desert blues to an international audience. He was a giant of African music and will be missed by fans throughout the world.