They played a music review of two musicians from West Africa on All Things Considered today, and with the opening notes on the first piece of music I knew where it was from (Mali) and who this musician learned from. As it happens, he learned from his father.

Maybe 10 or 12 years ago I was listening to a story on National Public Radio about Ali Farka Toure, a blues musician from Mali. The senior Farka Toure died a year or two ago, but his music is simply astonishingly beautiful. I have a couple of his CDs, and have been meaning to see what else is out there. And now his influence is clear in the rock music of his son.

The same is clear with Justin Adams. Both musicians bring distinct African sentiments to this American thing called Rock 'n Roll. Which they admit in the opening paragraphs has a lot of African influence from as far back as the Atlantic slave trade.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106095011 takes you to the story and of course, with NPR, they have a music store and if you want you can order a CD through the site. You can probably also find it at Amazon, and if you click on the Mudcat link to Amazon, Mudcat gets a cut from your purchase.

Take the time to listen to this story. You won't be sorry.

SRS