Well, pardon me for assuming the Farka Toure story ended last year with the death of the nimble-fingered genius Ali.  His son Vieux had obviously been hiding a prodigious light under the proverbial bushel; and with the death of the old man, he has opted to continue the familial recorded legacy. Thankfully, his debut is a triumph, more than strong enough to bear the inevitable comparisons.

Parts of the album sounds similar in style to some of his father’s later work - in particular the astonishing collaboration with Toumani Diabate on In The Heart Of The Moon; Diabate features on a couple of tracks here, and even gets one named after him.  On “Diabate” and “Toure De Niafunke”, Vieux riffs acoustically while Diabate spins his kora web all round and through his lines in the manner of that previous release; the instrumental interplay is intricate, the latter in particular as good as anything you’ll hear this year.  Elsewhere, disparate styles collide as Vieux searches for a voice of his own: the uneasy dalliance with reggae on “Ana” is followed by the exciting flute-driven desert funk of “Ma Hine Cocore”. 

Having endured the hardship of being a struggling musician, Ali had done anything he could to dissuade Vieux from following him, going as far as packing him off to the army.   Quality such as this is irrepressible, the inevitable was accepted with Ali’s contribution to the hypnotic, near-unstoppable “Diallo” (seven minutes, cut down from over ten).  The badge has been passed; musically at least, the town of Niafunke has a new mayor.

Listen to “Ma Hine Cocore” here, and more at Vieux’s website.  Buy it (and some nice t-shirts) from Modiba; ten per cent of the proceeds go towards fighting malaria in Niafunke.  I wonder if they are using those GM mosquitos I’ve been reading about.  Speaking of which, I’ll be in a malarial part of the world when Vieux plays live at the Barbican very soon, but you have no excuse for missing out.