Chicago World Music Festival: Bombino & Vieux Farka Touré, Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Chicago, Illinois

A Thursday evening in September would be my first visit to Jay Pritzker Pavilion in 2014, an open stage in Millennium Park. Unfortunately, I had just missed summer, and it proved to actually be the first cold day of fall, with high winds and temperatures dipping into the 50s. The lawn was nearly empty, so we laid our picnic in the grass very close to the stage.

We had come for opening night of the 16th Annual Chicago World Music Festival, put on each year by the city. Since it began in 1999, the city-wide, multi-venue, eleven-day festival has presented over 650 artists and ensembles from over 80 countries. Tonight, we would be seeing two West African artists, Bombino and Vieux Farka Touré, hailing from Niger and Mali, respectively. Both are only a few years older than me with bands that included other Africans as well as westerners.

Blues rock guitarist Omara "Bombino" Moctar was taking the stage as we arrived. Bombino is a member of the Tuareg, a Berber people, born during a time of strife in his homeland. As a young musician, he picked up the name "Bombino", which is derived from the Italian word "bambino," that means “little child.” He was forced into exile after the guitar was banned for the Tuareg by the government but has since gained an international audience. He was joined by three other musicians on stage, including bass, drums, and another guitarist.  His 75 minute set was mostly instrumentally, though there was some singing. Bombino himself didn't speak much English, so one of his bandmates, an American, did a lot of the talking for him. Towards the end of his set, we moved down into the pavilion only a few rows from the front.

Boureima "Vieux" Farka Touré is the son of Grammy-winning Malian musician Ali Farka Touré. Even though his father did not encourage him to follow in his footsteps, Vieux taught himself the guitar at a young age. His style is similar to that of his father’s, using an African fingerstyle technique. Like Bombino, his reputation around the world has grown. His backing band consisted of another electric guitar and drums as well as a guy playing a ritti, a one string fiddle, the neck of which appeared as if it were an unpolished stick. Unlike Bombino, Vieux spoke English well enough to communicate with the audience. We didn't stay for all of his set, though I enjoyed it a bit more than the first, mostly because of Vieux’s technical proficiency.