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Vieux Farka Toure Announces April U.S. Tour & World Cup Performance!

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VIEUX FARKA TOURE TO PERFORM AT THE FIFA WORLD CUP KICK-OFF CELEBRATION CONCERT IN JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA ON JUNE 10, 2010

VIEUX ALSO RETURNS TO THE US FOR APRIL TOUR

On Thursday, June 10, Vieux Farka Toure, the Malian guitarist/singer/songwriter and appointed “African guitar hero," will perform at the first-ever FIFA World Cup Celebration Concert in Johannesburg, South Africa. The event will feature musical performances by major international superstars and popular African artists collaborating together. Vieux is one of the few selected performers who will be sharing the stage with The Black Eyed Peas, Carlos Santana, Alicia Keys, and Shakira, as well as fellow Afro-rockers BLK JKS, Angelique Kidjo, Amadou and Mariam, Parlotones, South African legend Vusi Mahlasela, and desert bluesmen Tinariwen. The event will take place the night before the first World Cup match at 8:00 pm local time (GMT+2) on June 10, 2010, at Orlando Stadium in Soweto/Johannesburg, and is set to be aired worldwide. The FIFA World Cup football tournament is the world's most watched sporting event, and is staged every four years. This is the first time the FIFA World Cup is being held on the African continent.

US audiences can catch one of Vieux's exhilarating live shows before then, when he returns with his band for an April 2010 tour with stops in Ithaca, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, Hattiesburg, Athens, Miami, St. Petersburg, Washington DC, New Orleans and New York, to name a few. Full tour dates are listed below.

Fans, critics, and fellow musicians are still buzzing about Vieux's latest album Fondo (released in 2009 on Six Degrees) and his live shows. Both his album and tour were showered with praise, including NPR stating, At a time when American and British rock musicians are finally turning to West African music and forging new varieties of African blues, here's one young Malian with the perspective and the chops to take on all comers at this game...he has all the makings of a 21st-century African rock god." The SF Weekly reviewed his recent Bay Area show expressing, “Toure's electrified take on traditional Malian griot stylings had the crowd in a rockin' trance, and the improvisational, extended jams he and his band performed had a vibrant rawness...the Jimi Hendrix of the Western Sahara...a two-hour virtuoso performance in which his tone, sustain, and sense of rhythm were absolutely impeccable."

If that wasn't enough, record producer extraordinaire Don Was was recently quoted as saying, “[The] best f*****g rock'n'roll band in the world." Even Henry Rollins stated, “I've been lucky enough to [see] Vieux play twice this year...In the six months between the two shows, he has gone from strength to strength and eclipsed the show I saw at the beginning of the year. I will see him anytime I can now, and am looking forward to checking him whenever possible. His new album Fondo is so great, he has found his sound, his songwriting, singing and playing is just fantastic."

Fondo, which topped over a dozen “best of year lists" has also been given the remix treatment on Other Roads: Fondo Remixed, a digital release on Six Degrees Records that sees cutting edge producers like Brownout, J-Boogie, and Balkan Beat Box rework the beautiful source material from Vieux's original version. From atmospheric psy-dub to dance-floor bangers to minimal tech treatments, the various mixes cover a lot of stylistic ground on this collection. Don't miss an opportunity to catch one of Vieux's live performances when he tours the US in April.

April 2010 US Tour Dates:
4/11/10 Ithaca, NY The Haunt
4/12/10 Pittsburgh, PA Rex Theater
4/13/10 Cleveland, OH - The Grog Shop
4/14/10 Cleveland, OH Case Western
4/15/10 Chicago, IL Martyrs
4/15/10 Chicago, IL Center For Inner City Studies
4/17/10 St. Louis, MO - Billiken @ St Louis University
4/20/10 Hattiesburg, MS Thirsty Hippo
4/21/10 New Orleans, LA Engine Room
4/22/10 Athens, GA - New Earth Music Festival
4/23/10 St. Petersburg (Tampa), FL State Theater
4/24/10 Miami, FL - Transatlantic Festival @ North Beach Bandshell
4/26/10 Washington, DC DC9
4/27/10 New York, NY Le Poisson Rouge

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