The Touré-Raichel Collective - The Tel Aviv Session - 2012

VieuxFarkaTouré, often called "the Hendrix of the Sahara" (from Mali, son of the great AlíFarkaTouré) and IdanRaichel (from Israel), two virtuosos of music from such disparate environments, have joined their creative forces to give life and form to a improvisation masterpiece, The Tel Aviv Session (2012).

The collaboration was forged after a chance encounter at an airport in Germany. The great friendship that arose between them led them to play together at the Tel Aviv Opera House in November 2010. After that extraordinary concert, Vieux and Idan joined Israeli bassist Yossi Fine and Malian calabash instrumentalistSouleymaneKane, and spent time playing together in a small private studio in Tel Aviv. The resulting sessions, conceived in acoustics, spontaneously, entirely improvised, dazzling with beauty, could only be described as magical. By then, TheTouré-RaichelCollective had just been born.

The eleven tracks of the album stand out for the beauty of an intuitively basted sound. Although the phenomenon of the fusion of musical styles is one of the features of current music, collaborations do not always end in sound understanding. However, this project is understood from the mutual respect for the musical roots of each one. Raichel is stripped of the lush pop arrangements that characterize his music, improvising with chromatic chords from Touré's guitar chords. For its part, the rhythm section plays a vital role in the hypnosis that this album produces.

Singer Cabra Casey, an Israeli of Ethiopian origin and a member of TheIdanRaichel Project, sings and writes the lyrics in the Ethiopian Tigrit language of the song "Ane Nahatka." Another member of TheIdanRaichel Project, YankeleSegal, plays the Persian tar in "Kfar". Mark Eliyahu, who immigrated to Israel from the Russian Republic of Dagestan, adds the sound of kamanche (Azerbaijani violin) to "Alem." The French virtuoso of the harmonica FrédéricYonnet adds his interpretation to the bluesy sound of "Touré". And Vieux adds his vocals to the song "Alkataou" in conjunction with his friend bassist Patrick Ruffino.

In short, a musical jewel where transculturality triumphs.

Tracks list:

01. Azawade

02. Bamba

03. Experience

04. Alkataou

05. Hawa

06. Kfar (feat. Yankale Segal)

07. Touré (feat. FrédéricYonnet)

08. Le Niger

09. Ai HoudeBakoi

10. Ane Nahatka (feat. CabraCasay)

11. Alem (feat. Mark Eliyahu)