Pitchfork

Legendary Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré died Tuesday in Bamako following a long illness. He was 67 years old. Touré, one of the principle proponents of a desert guitar style that became known as "African blues", helped popularize the connection between American blues and traditional Saharan guitar music.

Touré was nearly 50 years old when he rocketed from obscurity to worldwide acclaim after the 1988 international release of his self-titled debut on the Island subsidiary Mango. In an era when Afropop was being swallowed whole by synthesizers and drum machines, the album was a refreshing, minimal effort, often featuring Touré's striking voice backed only by his guitar. The recording garnered comparisons to American bluesman John Lee Hooker, an association Touré never really managed to shake.

International success and stardom didn't necessarily agree with Touré, who tended to shy away from the spotlight, retreating to his rice farm for years after each heralded record. He won Grammys for his collaborations with Ry Cooder (1994's Talking Timbuktu) and kora player Toumani Diabaté (2005's In the Heart of the Moon). His new releases throughout the 90s and early 00s were supplemented by a steady stream of reissues and compilations of his earlier recordings, which initially received no international distribution. Radio Mali, a disc of radio sessions from the 70s, and Red & Green, which compiles two early-80s efforts, are both exceptional.

Touré was elected mayor of Niafunke, his Northern Mali hometown, two years ago. He earned respect as a unifier during the 1990s rebellion of the nomadic Kel Tamashek (pejoratively known as the Tuareg) in the country's northern desert, as he sang in all of the country's major languages.

Touré had recently completed a new album, presumably to be released on World Circuit later this year. He will be buried in Niafunke and is survived by his wife and eleven children.