Tom is an incredible guitarist who has focussed his talents on the effervescent electric guitar styles of Sub Saharan Africa; Zaierean soukous, mbalax from Senegal, jit from Zimbabwe. It all started when Tom made a musical pilgrimage to Mali in 1989 in search of Ali Farka Toure, having heard him only once, at the first gig Ali ever did in Britain. They started playing guitar together and soon became good friends. Tom joins Ali on stage occasionally as his guest star, most recently in Dublin at the international blues festival.
Since 1994 Tom has played with some stunning musicians, Jonah Sithole, Bob Sen, and the Bhundu Boys inspiration the late great Biggie Thembo. Tom also has his own band, La Boum, which features many of Scotland's finest musicians including Mary MacMaster, Donald Hay, Ben Ivitsky. |
