Dreaming Mandalas

Ali Farka Toure and Ry Cooder - Soukora (The Colorcast dedication)

Haunting and oriental sounding world music with a hint of blues inspired by the sadness of the tragic massacres in Gaza. All proceeds of this track will go to a recognised charity to help Gazans. Available to buy on Bandcamp :   http://indreba.bandcamp.com/track/sad-for-gaza-with-vocals-2

Sad For Gaza Vocals

Edgy world music track with sitar and chinese violin

Cosmic Breath

Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate - Kala Djula

1 Ali Farka Toure - Goye Kur

Katie Melua - Piece By Piece

1988 - I was approached by an old acquaintance of mine to assemble a bunch of Edinburgh musos for a session with the then up-and-coming Malian guitar star Ali Farka Touré (who went on to Grammy-winning fame with Ry Cooder on the album Talking Timbuktu). We had approximately 4 hours to put a band together. This track comes from the 90min gig we did at The Moray House Students' Union in Edinburgh. None of us had heard him before (or really heard of him, in fact!) so we didn't know what to expect - nor did he!

The line-up on this occasion consisted of 3 guys I'd called on many times before (Dave McNiven on electronic keyboard; Kenny Ellis on bass guitar; Mike Travis on drums) plus the multi-talented Jim Sutherland on percussion, and myself on electric guitar along with Ali on guitar and vocals, and Roger Cissé on calabash.

Dave McNiven's history included writing many musical productions for the 7:84 and Wildcat theatre groups, and all the incidental/theme music for the many BBC Scotland comedy shows being produced in the 80s and 90s. He played piano with me on many occasions; likewise I played on most of the TV work written and produced by him.
Apparently Ali liked his copy of the tape from this gig (it was recorded on multitrack and mixed by ex-Abbey Road Studios engineer, Claude Harper @ Leapfrog Mobile) so much that he carried it around with him for several years afterwards! Our keyboardist Dave went to see him at an Edinburgh gig 2 years or so later and Ali produced the tape from his jacket pocket!

We heard much later that this session was what inspired Ali to make the recording with Ry Cooder. I'd like to think that's true! If you like this track, please leave a comment - we'd love to hear from you!

Sad For Gaza Vocals

Louisa Livingstone

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