Ali Farka Touré: springing from the roots

A documentary directed by Henri Lecomte, Yves Billon.

Synopsis

Ali Farka Touré is a much diver­si­fied artist who can as eas­ily play the elec­tric gui­tar as the one-string vio­lin of the Song­hay peas­ants. A mobile cam­era fol­lows this man who is the first African to have received a Grammy award, the most pres­ti­gious inter­na­tional music reward. From con­certs in Bamako to voodoo cults ded­i­cated to the “Spir­its of the River”, going through Tuaregs camps or the much mys­te­ri­ous city of Tim­buktu, we dis­cover through the only words of Ali him­self, the mag­nif­i­cent region of the loop of the Niger and also a remark­able char­ac­ter, who has man­aged to be at the same time an inter­na­tional musi­cian and a farmer in his village.