Daby Touré

Daby Touré

Daby Touré is a Mauritanian singer-songwriter whose work sits in world music. He is born in 1972 and is associated with Boutilimit, France in the available record, while his upbringing also spans Boutilimit, Nouakchott and Casamance. He lives in Montréal, Canada.

Background and family

Touré comes from the Touré Kunda musical heritage. His family story reaches back to a line of brothers living near Kayes, in what is now Mali, where they work as shoemakers and leather workers before the crocodile population declines and the family disperses. One branch of that family settles in Senegal, where Daby Touré’s grandfather, Hamidou Touré, is born into the lineage described in the family history. Touré is named after that grandfather.

He grows up in Boutilimit, Nouakchott and Casamance before living with an uncle in Djeole, near Kaedi, on the Senegal River in Mauritania. There he absorbs the language, culture and music of Soninke people, as well as Toucouleur and Wolof traditions, and learns farming and cattle rearing. As a child, he also plays rhythms on tins, canisters and cardboard boxes at village gatherings and wedding feasts.

Early musical development

Touré later returns to Nouakchott to live with his father, a doctor who plays music with friends at home but does not want him to pursue it professionally. Touré teaches himself guitar in secret. He also listens to western pop through radio, pirated cassettes and television, with The Police, Dire Straits, Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson among his formative influences.

Touré Touré and Paris

In 1989, political unrest and inter-ethnic conflict in Mauritania lead his father to join Touré Kunda in Paris, and Touré follows. In Paris he begins playing small gigs in bars and college parties. After leaving business school, he lives in an African hostel and forms Touré Touré with his cousin Omar Touré. The duo explores the meeting point between jazz and African music.

Through a connection with keyboard player Jean-Pierre Como of Sixun, Touré Touré signs to the French independent label Pygmalion Records and releases its only album, Ladde. The group plays widely in France and also performs in Canada and Brazil. Although the record is well received, Touré becomes dissatisfied with the way the group is received and turns towards a more individual approach.

Solo work

Touré works from a home studio, writing, arranging, performing and mixing his own material. He then collaborates with electronic musician Cyrille Dufay to develop his sound further. The album Diam follows from this period of experimentation. Its songs draw on his life, the people around him and wider themes, including relationships, family, freedom and remaining positive in difficult times. The title means peace.

Musical context

Across his career, Touré combines African musical roots with jazz, rock and pop influences. He is linked to the Paris jazz scene and has taken inspiration from artists including Weather Report, Joe Zawinul and Pat Metheny.