indy cd & vinyl

CD: “IN THE HEART OF THE MOON”—ALI FARKE TOURE & TOUMANI DIABATE

World. $18.98 (list price), World Circuit

Basic Story: World Circuit, the label that brought you the Buena Vista Social Club, presents two longtime world music masters, one on kora (21-string harp) and the other on acoustic guitar.

Example: “Hello Ali”…”It’s a wrap.” Little else is said on this instrumental album of sublime improvisations.

Review: If you think improvised music is confined to jazz and the avant-garde, you will think again after hearing this masterpiece. Recorded in six hours(!) and without rehearsals(!!), Toure and Diabate, on guitar and kora, respectively, trade divinely inspired riffs and flights of spellbinding fantasy on an album comprised mostly of African griot songs of praise along with post-WWII Malian tunes. Furious solos underpinned by gentle rhythms are the signature elements here, with just a few (unobtrusive) overdubs from Ry Cooder and friends. My