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The Touré Kunda Discography

Touré Kunda: Film & Other Soundtracks

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Tugël, Au Bout Du Petit Matin (2014)



Video release:
DVD video

Soundtrack release:
(None)

Description: Short film (25 minutes) directed by Ousmane Dary. The soundtrack includes Touré Kunda's "Rapada" (from Terra Saabi).



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Cameroun, Toutes À L'École (2013)



Video release:
(None)

Soundtrack release:
(None)

Description: Documentary film (52 minutes) directed by Mehdi Kahtane. The soundtrack includes a version of Touré Kunda's "Fatou Yo" that sounds like an audience recording of a live performance.



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DVD PAL video

Eh, la famille ! (2007)



Video release:
DVD PAL video / Lieux Fictifs / France

Soundtrack release:
(None)

Description: Documentary film (121 minutes) in French directed by Anne Alix and Philippe Tabarly, who led an audiovisual workshop with inmates of Les Baumettes prison in Marseille about the absence of family and its repercussions. Includes a segment (1:35:16 to 1:42:48) of Ismaïla Touré facilitating discussion with participants. The segment begins with a portion of Touré Kunda's "Izquichor" (from Santhiaba, released in 2008) and ends with Ismaïla and participants chanting lyrics from a portion of "Salam" (from Salam).

Co-director Anne Alix kindly provided some background about Ismaïla Touré’s involvement by email dated 2024-09-02:
  • Email (French):
    • Dans mon souvenir c'est mon collègue Philippe Tabarly qui avait pris contact avec Ismaila Toure qui est venu passer une journée avec nous à la prison des Baumettes. Sa rencontre avec les détenus a donné lieu à la séquence du film.
  • English translation (via Google.com Translate):
    • In my memory it was my colleague Philippe Tabarly who contacted Ismaila Toure who came to spend a day with us at the Baumettes prison. His meeting with the prisoners gave rise to the sequence in the film.
Co-director Philippe Tabarly kindly provided extensive background about the film and Ismaïla Touré’s involvement by email dated 2024-10-19:
  • Email, slightly edited (French):
    • Lieux Fictifs est un Espace de recherche, d'éducation et de création collaborative pour le Cinéma, l'audiovisuel et les nouveaux médias. J'ai travaillé pendant trois années avec cette association basée à Marseille. Cette structure est implantée aussi dans un espace situé à l'intérieur de la prison des Baumettes, ainsi, le film dont vous faites référence a été tourné dans cet espace avec 8 personnes incarcérées.
    • Ce film proposait un questionnement sur "la famille" quand on se retrouve précisément "coupé" de sa propre famille, ce qui est évidemment le cas pour les personnes incarcérées. Un effet "miroir" s'invitait alors, dans la construction du récit, les personnages "libres" vivant encore dans cette famille et les incarcérés qui en étaient "momentanément" coupés, chacun restant relié par ce concept familial, mais chacun d'un côté d'un mur épais. Ce "momentané" devenait important car cette parenthèse, (chacun allait la retrouver sa famille, mais dans quel état...) donc ce "momentané" ouvrait nécessairement une impérieuse réflexion nourrie par un manque énorme, l'absence, voire la disparition imaginée, un lieu d'affects enfouis dans un puits trop profond... Nous leurs proposions de plonger dans ce puits, avec l'accompagnement cinématographique dont ma référence restait et reste encore : "il n'y a d'image, que là où l'autre existe", pensée du défunt critique Serge Daney.
    • Le film, intitulé : "Eh, la famille" (les personnes incarcérées s'interpellent ainsi quand ils demandent une cigarette, du feux, un objet convoité), ce vocable fraternel créé spontanément un lien, une assise sociale, qui repose sur cette vieille notion de la famille qui a traversée les époques, les systèmes, un lien apparemment indestructible, (actuellement très attaqué). Le film est construit avec 27 séquences qui ont été réalisées sur une période d'une année et demie entre 2006 et 2007, chaque séquence était le résultat d'un lien avec la personne emprisonnée, et son corollaire, une réflexion débouchant sur ce que l'on appelle un "dispositif", autrement dit, le choix d'une mise en scène pour approfondir une question précise, afin de donner la possibilité à la personne incarcérée de pouvoir exprimer le plus justement possible ce qu'elle portait à ce moment, (il y a tellement de contraintes et donc de changements d'humeurs dans une prison), l'univers carcéral est un frein et un multiplicateur, se "transformer" ou s'anéantir.
    • Alors, comment arrive Ismaïla Touré dans ce contexte ? Par une amie de la femme d'Ismaïla, que j'ai rencontré à Tende, (elle travaillait alors au Musée des Merveilles), Nathalie Magnardi m'a invitée à contacter Ismaïla pour intervenir dans une séquence qui questionnait la place que chacun peut se faire dans sa propre famille. J'ai ainsi pu rentrer en contact avec Ismaïla qui a accepté de venir tourner cette séquence avec nous dans le studio de la prison.
    • La mise en scène, un village supposé d'Afrique, la nuit, un feu de bois central, autour du feu, le groupe de 8 personnes et Ismaïla qui racontait son choix de vivre de la musique, entrainant chacun à nommer une part de son chemin familial, voilà la scène qui se termine par un chant, comme en Afrique. Ismaïla exerça son art de Griot dont le métier, outre la conservation et la diffusion de la tradition orale, consiste à composer et relater ce geste familiale, clanique ou tribale lors des cérémonies, par exemple les mariages. Des liens immédiats se sont ainsi créés autour de ce feu improvisé, nous n'étions plus en prison mais au coeur d'un famille d'un village africain. Le cinéma permet de transgresser, alors avec des transgresseurs, cela prend une nouvelle dimension, merci Ismaïla.
  • English translation (via Google.com Translate):
    • Lieux Fictifs is a research, education and collaborative creation space for cinema, audiovisual and new media. I worked for three years with this association based in Marseille. This structure is also located in a space inside the Baumettes prison, so the film you are referring to was shot in this space with 8 incarcerated people.
    • This film proposed a questioning of "family" when you find yourself precisely "cut off" from your own family, which is obviously the case for incarcerated people. A "mirror" effect was then invited, in the construction of the story, the "free" characters still living in this family and the incarcerated who were "temporarily" cut off from it, each remaining connected by this family concept, but each on one side of a thick wall. This "momentary" became important because this parenthesis, (each was going to find their family, but in what state...) so this "momentary" necessarily opened an imperative reflection nourished by an enormous lack, the absence, even the imagined disappearance, a place of affects buried in a well too deep... We suggested that they dive into this well, with the cinematographic accompaniment of which my reference remained and still remains: "there is no image, except where the other exists", thought of the late critic Serge Daney.
    • The film, entitled: "Eh, la famille" (the incarcerated people call out to each other like this when they ask for a cigarette, a light, a coveted object), this fraternal term spontaneously creates a bond, a social foundation, which rests on this old notion of the family which has crossed eras, systems, an apparently indestructible bond, (currently very attacked). The film is constructed with 27 sequences that were made over a period of a year and a half between 2006 and 2007, each sequence was the result of a link with the imprisoned person, and its corollary, a reflection leading to what we call a "device", in other words, the choice of a staging to explore a specific question in depth, in order to give the incarcerated person the opportunity to express as accurately as possible what they were carrying at that moment, (there are so many constraints and therefore mood swings in a prison), the prison universe is a brake and a multiplier, to "transform" or to annihilate oneself.
    • So, how does Ismaïla Touré arrive in this context? Through a friend of Ismaïla's wife, whom I met in Tende (she was working at the Musée des Merveilles at the time), Nathalie Magnardi invited me to contact Ismaïla to intervene in a sequence that questioned the place that each person can make for themselves in their own family. I was thus able to get in touch with Ismaïla who agreed to come and shoot this sequence with us in the prison studio.
    • The staging, a supposed African village, at night, a central wood fire, around the fire, the group of 8 people and Ismaïla who recounted his choice to live from music, leading each person to name a part of their family path, this is the scene that ends with a song, as in Africa. Ismaïla practiced his art as a Griot whose profession, in addition to the preservation and dissemination of oral tradition, consists of composing and relating this family, clan or tribal gesture during ceremonies, for example weddings. Immediate bonds were thus created around this improvised fire, we were no longer in prison but in the heart of a family in an African village. Cinema allows us to transgress, so with transgressors, it takes on a new dimension, thank you Ismaïla.
Note: Film contains adult themes and some nudity.

Link:
Lieux Fictifs - Eh, la famille ! (French)



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DVD NTSC video

Binta Y La Gran Idea (Binta And The Great Idea) (2004-10)



Video release:
A Collection of 2006 Academy Award Nominated Short Films - DVD NTSC video / Magnolia / 10084 / US (2007-05-01)

Soundtrack release:
(None)

Description: Short film (30 minutes) from Spain directed by Javier Fesser to benefit UNICEF. Includes Touré Kunda's "Diboukokou Lambe" (from Terra Saabi). The story centers on Binta, a Senegalese girl, who decides to help her father with his great idea. Other music includes Papa Wemba / Lokua Kanza ("Awa Y'Okeyi / If You Go Away"), Salif Keita ("Tekere"), The Drummers of Burundi ("Extract"), Ali Farka Touré ("Cousins"), Baaba Maal ("Yodelle Mann"), and Keita / Manfila ("Moussoldu").



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Book (2003 edition)

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Book (2008 edition)

La Musique Africaine - Timbélélé Et La Reine Lune (2003-09-15)



Book & CD 5" album, 36 pages, 15.6 cm x 18.2 cm / Gallimard Jeunesse / ISBN 2-07-055564-X / France
Book & CD 5" album, 36 pages, 15.6 cm x 18.2 cm / Gallimard Jeunesse / ISBN 978-2-07-062114-9 / France (2008-10-30)

Description: Children's book with accompanying CD of the story narrated over original music composed and performed by Touré Kunda. The acoustic music includes elements of the Touré Kunda songs "Koutourou", better known as the introduction to the live version of "É'mma", and "Cindy". The CD also includes brief demonstrations of various African musical instruments and vocals.

The story was written by Claude Helft, and apparently dates back to 1949. Illustrated by Florent Silloray. The book is part of the publisher's series "Mes Premieres Découvertes De La Musique".

Musicians: Ismaila Touré (lead vocals, background vocals, khollé, djembes, tama), Sixu Tidiane Touré (lead vocals, background vocals, tama), Sixu Daby Touré (background vocals), Gnilane Touré (background vocals), Gaelle (background vocals), Thioub Yatera (background vocals), Moro Diabaté (kora), Lassine Kouyaté (balafon), Moussa Diouf (basse, piano).



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DVD NTSC video

Tarubi L'Arabe Strait 2 (2001)



Video release:
Kourtrajmé Productions - DVD NTSC video (Region 0) / 2Good / 5340091 / France (2003-04-22)

Soundtrack release:
(None)

Description: Film directed by Kim Chapiron. The soundtrack includes the Stars Of Afro-Pop version of Touré Kunda's "É'mma". See Touré Kunda: Other Releases for the compilation Stars Of Afro-Pop, which includes the full track. The DVD includes several short films and other material from Kourtrajmé Productions.



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De L'Autre Côté Du Périph (The Other Side Of The Tracks) (1997-12)



Video release:
(None)

Soundtrack release:
(None)

Description: French documentary film directed by Bertrand Tavernier and Nils Tavernier. Includes Touré Kunda's "Casalé" (from Sili Béto). Other music includes Positif ("Représente"), Super Diamono de Dakar ("Mam"), and Doc Gynéco ("Vanessa").



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Film poster
(Source: Indiana University)

Lumière Noire (Black Light) (1994)



Video release:
(None)

Soundtrack release:
(None)

Description: French film directed by Med Hondo. The film has an extensive music soundtrack with contributions by Touré Kunda, Manu Dibango ("Baobab Sunset"), Hugues Le Bars (several tracks from the album J'en Ai Marre as incidental music), Avanos, Aziza, Zao ("Ancien Combattant"), and horn players Nicolas Gueret, Vincent Momplet, and Pierre Chabrele. Credits include two compositions by Touré Kunda, otherwise unreleased:
  • "Sokhane" (Ismail Touré, Djibi Cissokho, Jean-Pierre Castelain)
  • "Tilidji" (Ismail Touré, Sixu Tidiane Touré, Lamine Cissokho)
Both Djibi Cissokho and Lamine Cissokho appear to be kora players. The film has 8 music segments with kora, including the closing song over end credits.

Links:
YouTube - Lumière Noire AKA Black Light (video)



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Ninki Nanka (1992)



Video release:
(None)

Soundtrack release:
(None)

Description: Film (45 minutes) directed by Laurence Gavron. The soundtrack includes Touré Kunda's "Ninki Nanka" (from Casamance Au Clair De Lune). Other music includes Chet Baker ("Zingaro"), Aminata Fall, and Baaba Maal ("Diahowo").



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DVD PAL video

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CD 5" album

Robinson & Compagnie (1991)



Video releases:
VHS PAL video
DVD PAL video (Region 2) / France Television / 1058600 / France (2001)

Soundtrack release:
Robinson & Cie - CD 5" album / Cent Pour Cent / 50205 / France (Price code: CA 808)

Description: Film directed by Jacques Colombat, with orchestral music score by René-Marc Bini. The soundtrack album includes Ismaila ("Ismael") Touré performing percussion and vocals with Fede Diaby on "Du Rêve À La Réalité" (credited on CD insert) and "Le Londres De Vendredi" (not credited on CD insert). René-Marc's website (see link below) confirms that they are on "Le Londres De Vendredi", and that this is the "Ismael" Touré of Touré Kunda.

From René-Marc Bini - Robinson & Compagnie:
Fin 88, je venais de finir 50 concerts à La Villette avec le grand Jacquot (Higelin).
J'ai préféré décliner la proposition de partir en tournée,
pour attaquer ma première musique de long métrage entièrement symphonique.
J'avais tellement envie de bien faire que je mis presque 3 mois à écrire 45 minutes de musique !
Enregistrement à Ferber avec Didier Lizé.
Ce fut aussi l'occasion de croiser les Touré Kunda, qui passaient par là
(on avait fait un boeuf dans un fête un soir avec Ismaël),
et avec qui je faillis dans la foulée partir en tournée tout autour du monde.
Mais c'est une autre histoire...



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DVD NTSC video

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CD 5" album

In The Blood (1990)



Video releases:
VHS NTSC video
DVD NTSC video

Soundtrack release:
CD 5" album / Rykodisc / RCD 20174 / US (1990-07-17)

Description: Film directed by George Butler. The soundtrack album includes Touré Kunda's "Ne Nam 2" (from Casamance Au Clair De Lune).



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Paris C’Est L’Afrique: Le Mbalax Dans Tous Ses États (Episode 2) (1989)



Video release:
(None)

Soundtrack release:
(None)

Description: Documentary film series of four episodes, directed by Philippe Conrath and intended for television, about African music and Paris. The focus of this episode (26 minutes) is on Senegal. The soundtrack includes Touré Kunda's "Karadindi" (from Toubab Bi) in a video montage, followed by an interview with Ismaïla Touré, and appearance by Sixu Touré and Ousmane Touré. Other featured artists are Doudou N’Diaye Rose, Youssou N’Dour, and Omar Pene.



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DVD PAL video

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VHS SECAM video

L'Oeil Au Beurre Noir (1987)



Video releases:
VHS SECAM video / RCV / 8472 / France
DVD PAL video (Region 2) / LCJ / 1002900 / France (2009-09-18)

Soundtrack release:
(None)

Description: French film by Serge Meynard. Includes Touré Kunda's original song "System D", otherwise unreleased.



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CD 5" album

The Africans (1986)



Video release:
VHS NTSC video

Soundtrack releases:
Vinyl 12" 33 RPM album / Antilles / AN7085 / US
CD 5" album / Mango / 162-539 913-2 / US

Description: Nine-part television series co-produced by WETA (Washington, DC) and the BBC, hosted and written by Professor Ali-A. Marsui. The soundtrack album includes Touré Kunda's "Nidiaye" (from Natalia).



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Peut-Être La Mer (1984)



Video release:
(None)

Soundtrack release:
(None)

Description: Short film (15 minutes) directed by Rachid Bouchareb. The soundtrack includes Ismaïl & Sixu Touré's "M'Ma" (from Mandinka Dong). Other music is credited as J. Faure and C. Khaled.



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CD 5" album

Il Decamerone Nero (1972)



CAUTION: This film contains mild pornographic content. Also, the DVD release includes unrelated "bonus" video content that is extremely racist and should not be viewed by anyone.

Video releases:
VHS PAL video
DVD PAL video (Region 2)

Soundtrack releases:
Vinyl 12" 33 RPM album / RCA / OLS 12 / Italy
CD 5" album / GDM / GDM 4210 / Italy (2011)

Description: Erotica film directed by Piero Vivarelli. The original notes on Ismaïl & Sixu Touré's album Mandinka Dong refer to this film as part of Ismaïla's experiences before arrival in France:
"Il a fait son premier essai cinématographique dans "EMITAYE" de Ousmane Sambene, cinéaste et écrivain sénégalais et dans le "Dacamaron Noir" de Pierro Vivarely, metteur en scène italien."
Translation (by Google) with corrections: "He made his film debut in Emitaï by Ousmane Sembène, Senegalese filmmaker and writer, and in Il Decamerone Nero by Piero Vivarelli, Italian director."
Ismaïla Touré's specific contribution to the music or film are unknown. Soundtrack releases include music with credits to Luciano Michelini, Bana Sissokho, and "Traditional music recorded live in Africa".



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DVD PAL video

Emitaï (1971)



Video release:
DVD PAL video (Region 0) / M3M / MTM EDV 102 / France (2005)

Soundtrack release:
(None)

Description: Film directed by Ousmane Sembène. The original notes on Ismaïl & Sixu Touré's album Mandinka Dong refer to this film as part of Ismaïla's experiences before arrival in France:
"Il a fait son premier essai cinématographique dans "EMITAYE" de Ousmane Sambene, cinéaste et écrivain sénégalais et dans le "Dacamaron Noir" de Pierro Vivarely, metteur en scène italien."
Translation (by Google) with corrections: "He made his film debut in Emitaï by Ousmane Sembène, Senegalese filmmaker and writer, and in Il Decamerone Nero by Piero Vivarelli, Italian director."
Ismaïla Touré's specific contribution to the music or film are unknown. Soundtrack music consists of prominent drumming at certain points.



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Site created December 1998. Page last updated November 2024.
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