Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Sidi Touré is somewhat well known in his native Mali as much for his family's name and royal lineage as for his music. Touré, much like fellow countryman Ali Farka Touré, plays an original, droning kind of songhai blues. Songhai is the language of his native Gao. Touré released his first solo album, Hoga, in 1996. He continued to tour with his own band from the northern regions of Mali and Niger to the western Sahel region. He was captured live on the streets of Gao by guerilla director Vincent Moon (Mathieu Saura) for an episode of his French TV program, Take Away. In 2011, Touré issued his second full-length, entitled Sahel Folk, on the Thrill Jockey imprint. ~ Thom Jurek