# Guitarist Ali Farka Touré Banned in Hometown **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 6, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235 "2012-12-06T21:38:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235/1 "2012-12-06T21:38:46Z")
Just came across a particularly sad story on the [BBC News](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20624236) website. Apparently, listening to [this](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20624236) in the town of Niafunke, Mali, could earn you a beating. As could listening to any music at all. Fundamentalist Islamists have taken over the town and surrounding area, and are enforcing strict rules against anything they consider to be in violation of Sharia law. If you don’t know who Ali Farka Touré is, despite his relative obscurity, he regularly makes “best 100 guitarists” lists, such as Rolling Stone’s. So, in his home town, we’ll have none of [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PKdK_68r0A). Nor should his son be permitted to [cover his father’s songs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqIP5CeEK_c), [U2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcK5EgskUDs&playnext=1&list=PLA9ACDAA042E2355C&feature=results_video), or [do violence to an acoustic guitar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OSsSruMo4Y). A couple of blind musicians [entertaining](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em1XUJ4NZgg) [people](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4b7EUf-_rY)? Unthinkable. We certainly can’t have an old man in a cap [playing guitar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwSZM1QT1yU) accompanied by a man pounding on a dried vegetable. That ringtone you found amusing the first time you heard it? Cut that right out. > [@](#): > > “They’re even confiscating mobile phones and replacing ringtones with Koranic verses,” she laments. And we definitely won’t turn a blind eye to [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFOpifdJXcs). Yes, there are worse thing going on in, say, Syria right now, but at least there it’s possible to understand why. Whereas this is fundamentalist thought-police at their most fundie and anti-human. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235/2 "2012-12-06T23:37:24Z")
That’s horrible. How do they accept singing telegrams? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235/3 "2012-12-07T03:29:19Z")
I’ve never understood how a sect that enforces this musical prohibition can win converts. Music (and dancing) are probably as old as humanity and may well have preceded the origin of language. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235/4 "2012-12-07T04:52:52Z")
Another example of how damaging religion is. ---
**Author:** ![CoastalMaineiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235/5 "2012-12-07T05:03:34Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Another example of how damaging religion is. Not all religions are so absurd. But this is an example of why separation of church and state needs to be enforced. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235/6 "2012-12-07T05:25:13Z")
It seems like some people are just determined to take all of the joy out of life. You have to wonder what’s going on in the heads of such people. How can they themselves want to live without music? Does the Koran have a prohibition on music? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235/7 "2012-12-07T05:42:51Z")
Eh. I’m fairly certain they are garden variety bandits and would-be warlords who discovered that the trappings of radical Islam are a great way to get attention and go from being no-name thugs to international super-baddies who make global headlines. Thugs can do their best work when they can attract a steady stream of the angry, disaffected, unemployed young men that any poor area is going to have. And there is no better way to prove what a badass you are than by pissing off the entire world. I’m sure there are a few fundamentalists here and there, but the majority of the population in the area practices a fairly relaxed form of Islam. This isn’t a religious thing, it’s a marketing tool and we are doing their work for them. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235/8 "2012-12-07T05:53:42Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Does the Koran have a prohibition on music? No. It doesn’t mention music at all. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235/9 "2012-12-07T05:58:23Z")
> [@CoastalMaineiac](#): > > Not all religions are so absurd. All of them except yours? Yes, all religions are just as absurd. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235/10 "2012-12-07T06:19:48Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > It seems like some people are just determined to take all of the joy out of life. You have to wonder what’s going on in the heads of such people. How can they themselves want to live without music? > > Does the Koran have a prohibition on music? As far as I can tell from a cursory search, no. Apparently the Koran itself doesn’t prohibit music, but does say that what is harmful is illegal or unclean. Obviously there’s a lot of room for debate on what should be considered harmful. The specific prohibition of any music appears in later commentaries written, obviously, by people who considered music harmful. Many Muslims reject that principle today, and many others don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235/11 "2012-12-07T09:51:11Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > That’s horrible. How do they accept singing telegrams? That’s one sneaky conniving way to have someone killed, that is. I like it. [QUOTE=davidm] Does the Koran have a prohibition on music? [/QUOTE] Not any more than Christianity has a prohibition against dancing, but \*Footloose \*was still based on a real thing. Or a prohibition against speaking, and yet Benedictine monks take vows of silence. I gather the gist of the idea is that “you’re not supposed to have fun, you’re supposed to work all day and pray or study religion all night, every minute of your life is duty, if you have any free time for the profane you’re doing it wrong” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235/12 "2012-12-07T10:22:29Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > I’ve never understood how a sect that enforces this musical prohibition can win converts. They’re not trying to convert anyone. After all, everyone under their rule is already nominally their religion. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235/13 "2012-12-07T12:14:58Z")
There are some hadith that condemn loose living and lump music into the whole “wine, women and song” category. (There’s one that says that some Muslims will fall into error, and support illicit sex, men wearing silk, wine, and playing instruments.), and there are other hadith that outright condemn things like flueplaying and drumming. Some of the more conservative Islamic groups, based on these hadith, don’t allow music. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235/14 "2012-12-07T12:33:47Z")
It’s a good day to be a mime. ---
**Author:** ![Freakenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b782af/32.png) [@Freakenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freakenstein)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235/15 "2012-12-07T13:23:10Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > It’s a good day to be a mime. Keep those hands where I can see them all the time, dammit, or You may lose them! ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235/16 "2012-12-07T13:58:51Z")
The fundamental problem facing a person of any religious belief is determining which of the religion’s rules were ordained by the god versus which rules were created by man. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235/17 "2012-12-07T14:54:06Z")
Well, not really. The fundamental problem facing them is that all of their religion’s rules were created by man, but they follow them anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235/18 "2012-12-07T16:30:58Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > That’s horrible. How do they accept singing telegrams? [Like this.](http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=Ui337e5D50E&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DUi337e5D50E) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235/19 "2012-12-07T16:32:38Z")
There are a lot of reasons for RO over Mali just now. Constitutional democracy overthrown, a thousand or more dead in fighting, possibly a quarter million people displaced, all as an unintended consequence of NATO nations flooding the Libyan rebels with weaponry. I guess if the ban on music provokes the West to pay some attention to what’s happening in Mali, that might be a silver lining. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235/20 "2012-12-14T06:49:52Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > There are a lot of reasons for RO over Mali just now. Constitutional democracy overthrown, a thousand or more dead in fighting, possibly a quarter million people displaced, all as an unintended consequence of NATO nations flooding the Libyan rebels with weaponry. I guess if the ban on music provokes the West to pay some attention to what’s happening in Mali, that might be a silver lining. :smack: Of course, why didn’t I think of that. Thanks so much for pointing out how superficial we rich First Worlders can be. How trivial indeed are the things that actually get our attention away from our screens and amusements, and the money race during the week. Just because somebody wants to bitch about people who would ban music doesn’t mean we’re ignorant about what’s going on in Mali and neighboring countries. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitarist-ali-farka-toure-banned-in-hometown/643235.md?page=2)