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Live Tonight on Millennium Stage: Often referred to as “The Hendrix of the Sahara,” Vieux Farka Touré was born in Niafunké, Mali in 1981. He is the son of Ali Farka Touré, a legendary Malian guitar player who died in 2006. Ali Farka Touré came from a historical tribe of soldiers and defied his parents in becoming a musician. When Vieux was in his teens, he declared that he also wanted to be a musician. His father disapproved due to the pressures he had experienced being a musician; his father wanted Vieux to instead become a soldier. With help from family friend the kora maestro Toumani Diabaté, Vieux eventually convinced his father to give him his blessing to become a musician shortly before Ali passed.