Musician, Utah group to join forces

Ask Vieux Farka Toure about his music, and he will tell you he doesn't know what kind of music it is.

"It is different than traditional Malian music," he says. In Mali, they call him "the devil," because he plays a "phantom style" of music, he jokes.

"There is very little that can explain my kind of music in technical terms. Ask my guitar; it will tell you how I play; it will tell you how I tune."

But this is what Toure knows: "What you have in your heart is what will come out in your guitar."

Others have called his music "dazzling," "stirring," "joyful," "wise and cutting" and "music of an Africa that rocks, and yet still hears the camel's tread in the sand."

Whatever it is, and however it is described, it has garnered legions of fans for Toure all over the world.

Toure and his band were in town to perform at the annual Salt Lake Arts Festival last weekend, and demonstrated that while there is music in his heart, there is something more there, too.

While in Salt Lake City, Toure announced that he will partner with the Ouelessebougou-Utah Alliance to help the organization's work in the villages of his country.

"He has an unbelievable following worldwide," OUA's executive director Michael Yei said at a press conference announcing the collaboration.

"To have someone of his stature as a partner is such an opportunity for us. To connect with him will be an invaluable way to make a difference."

Plans for what that involvement will be are still tentative, Yei said. They are talking about doing a concert in the Ouelesseboubou region, as well as perhaps having him come back for a concert here."

It is a very new relationship, Toure said, through translator and tour manager Deborah Cohen, but he has known of the work of the alliance for a long time. "Now that I have met the people here, I'm certain we can work together for a long time. What they do for numerous village in Mali — if everyone were that good and that efficient there would be no more suffering in my country. Their fame has preceded them. I know the reputation of the work they do."

OUA has been working with some 24 villages in the Ouelessebougou region for the past 23 years. This region is one of the poorest in Mali, which itself consistently falls into ranking as one of the five poorest countries in the world. The alliance has been working to bring not only better health, better education and better economic conditions but also hope to the region.

Toure grew up in the Timbuktu region of Mali, but, he said, Malians are all the same. "We are all brothers and sisters — I have a very big family."