Your Family and Friends Hate Me, but I Love You: Ali Farka Touré and Ry Cooder with "Diaraby"

Exploring a common musical legacy and interests, our random song for today, Diaraby, is by the great Malian guitarist and singer Ali Farka Touré and the American musician, songwriter, composer and producer Ry Cooder. Ali Farka Touré was a Malian singer, multi-instrumentalist and one of the most renowned African musicians. His music fits right into the intersection of traditional Malian music and North American blues. Known as the "African John Lee Hooker," he sang in several African languages. In 2004, he became mayor of a small town and spent his own money on improving infrastructure. He died in 2006 of bone cancer. Ry Cooder is an American producer and guitarist known for his slide guitar and his interest in roots music. He has collaborated with many musicians both from the US and abroad, and his albums have covered many different genres, including folk, blues, Tex-Mex, soul, gospel and rock among others. He also produced the worldwide hit album Buena Vista Social Club. Diaraby can be found on their Grammy-award winning collaboration Talking Timbuktu (1994). The song is a man bemoaning that his lover's family and friends do not want him to marry her because he has nothing to give her, but he tells her not to worry and that all will be fine because he loves her.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Farka_Tour%C3%A9;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ry_Cooder