Often referred to as “The Hendrix of the Sahara”, Vieux Farka Touré was born in Niafunké, Mali in 1981. Son of the late, beloved, legendary Malian guitar player Ali Farka Touré, Vieux is prominent in his own right. Initially a drummer / calabash player at Mali’s Institut National des Arts, Vieux secretly began playing guitar in 2001. In the intervening decade and a half, Vieux has gone on to tour the world and record numerous albums to great acclaim. In June 2022, Touré released his sixth solo album, Les Racines, on World Circuit Records. Les Racines translates to ‘the roots’, a nod to the album returning to the desert blues roots of Touré’s father.. The album was recorded in Touré’s home studio in Bamako and features a number of Malian musicians such as Amadou Bagayoko from Amadou & Mariam, Mamadou Sidiki Diabaté, and Madou Traore. In September 2022, Vieux collaborated with Khruangbin to release an album of reinterpretations of some of his father’s songs called Ali on Dead Oceans.