The River is a studio album by Malian singer and multi-instrumentalist Ali Farka Touré. It was recorded in sessions at Studio Bolibana in Paris, and at the London-based Cold Storage Studios and Garden Studios.[1] The album was released by the UK-based World Circuit label and distributed internationally by Mango Records.[2]

The River
Studio album by Ali Farka Touré
Released	January 1990
Studio	Studio Bolibana in Paris; Cold Storage Studios and Garden Studios in London
Genre	Blues[1]
Length	66:38
Label	World Circuit
Producer	Philippe Bertrand, Nick Gold
Ali Farka Touré chronology
African Blues (1990) The River (1990) The Source (1993)

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
The Village Voice	A−[3]

Reviewing the album for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau gave it an A-minus and applauded its attempts to cross over in the form of "tracks colored with harmonica, saxophone, fiddle and bodhran, and the single-stringed njarka that Touré picks up for the finale--not to mention an extra edge of vocal command." Overall, the album offered a "variety, not compromise", that Christgau believed Touré had needed on his earlier recordings, which "drifted into the folkloric".[3] In an interview for Guy Oseary's On the Record (2004), music entrepreneur and record collector Craig Kallman named The River among his 15 favorite records.[4]

Track listing

1. "Heygana" – 5:59
2. "Goydiotodam" – 6:25
3. "Ai Bine" – 6:21
4. "Tangambara" – 5:22
5. "Toungere" – 7:32
6. "Jungou" – 7:23
7. "Kenouna" – 5:02
8. "Boyrei" – 5:23
9. "Tamala" – 8:06
10. "Lobo" – 6:44
11. "Instrumental" – 2:59

Personnel

• Ali Farka Touré – vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, njarka
• Amadou Cisse – calabash, percussion, vocals
• Mamaye Kouyate – ngoni (tracks 3 and 7)
• Rory McLeod – harmonica (track 1)
• Seane Keane and Kevin Conneff – fiddle and bodhran (track 7)
• Steve Williamson - tenor saxophone (track 3)

References

External links

• The River