Vieux Farka Touré Remixed: UFOs Over Bamako

In August 2007, Modiba Productions will release Vieux Farka Touré Remixed: UFOs Over Bamako. A stalwart follow-up to his self-titled U.S. debut album, Vieux Farka Toure, Vieux Farka Touré collaborates with a select team of top producers presenting brilliant illustrations of his signature North African Sahara Desert blues.

The family of remixers include Cheb i Sabbah, Karsh Kale, Nickodemus and several other ingenious contributors. Unlike the majority of remix records, Vieux Farka Touré Remixed: UFOs Over Bamako is a classic, fully realized album all on its own. An absolute standout contemporary interpretation of age-old Malian rhythms and melodies, Vieux Remixed is an eclectic mix of big-beat dance floor crushers, hip-hop infused funk tracks, trancey breaks and dubbed-out electronica.

Produced by Global Beat Fusion author, New York City based journalist and disc jockey Derek Beres, Vieux Farka Touré Remixed: UFOs Over Bamako truly embraces the essence of Vieux’s music, and readies it for the international dance floor. One of this year’s top-selling world music albums, Vieux Farka Touré’s debut, Vieux Farka Toure, features a groundbreaking recording effort by the son of internationally celebrated and Grammy Award-winning guitarist Ali Farka Touré. The release marks the only existing recordings of father and son playing together, and is the final studio material of the late Ali Farka Touré. Ali appears on two tracks, as does kora master Toumani Diabaté. Highly revered as the new voice of Malian music, Vieux Farka Touré pays homage to his father and shares his ancestral breed of desert blues with the world.

Just as the legendary Ali Farka Touré was heavily influenced by his musical surroundings, Vieux himself was exposed to music of the Western world from an early age. Growing up listening to reggae, American rock n’ roll and later, dance music, Vieux’s creative spirit was destined to reach far beyond the borders of Bamako. Vieux comments, "I am working to follow my father’s path, but that path continues into new areas. I am of a new generation, so there are things that inspire me in today’s world that I put in my music, just as he did in his time."

 

Like father, like son, Vieux Farka Touré recently worked with producer/guitarist Ry Cooder for the soundtrack of the upcoming Mike Nichols film, "Charlie Wilson’s War." Ali Farka Toure ‘s 1994 Grammy winning collaboration w/ Ry Cooder, Talking Timbuktu (World Circuit), drew much attention to his music, further exposing the acclaimed guitarist to the world. Vieux Farka Touré is set to hit the road this Summer and Fall for North American and UK band dates including a tour with inariwen ("Festival of the Desert Tour") and select dates with Buddy Guy  and Pee Wee Ellis.

Modiba Productions, a music production company and record label committed to the social and economic empowerment of Africa and its Diaspora, operates in impressively innovative ways. Launching a Creative Commons remix contest and pre-releasing tracks from Vieux Farka Touré Remixed: UFOs Over Bamako to such music portals as MTV Urge and Calabash, they’ve utilized the emerging technological playing field to create early buzz in online and DJ communities. With an upwards of 80 submissions, two CC remixes are featured on Vieux Remixed.

Modiba Productions are also the creators of ASAP: The Afrobeat Sudan Aid Project, which has raised over $140,000 to fund humanitarian relief efforts in Darfur. 10% of the proceeds from Vieux’s debut and remix albums goes directly to Bee Sago, a UNICEF-affiliated organization specializing in the manufacture and distribution of insecticide-treated mosquito nets to children and pregnant mothers in Mali to fight against the spread of malaria.