One of Africa's best known musicians, Ali Farka Toure, has died after a long illness in his home country of Mali, the culture ministry has announced.
He was one of the pioneers of "Mali Blues" and his 1994 Talking Timbuktu album produced with US blues guitarist Ry Cooder was widely acclaimed.
Toure, who was in his late 60s, won two Grammy awards for his work.
He was also elected mayor of his home town of Niafunke on the shores of the River Niger in northern Mali.
Radio stations in the capital, Bamako, have interrupted their normal coverage and are playing his music.
He died in Bamako but is to be buried in Niafunke on Wednesday, the authorities have announced.
But Malian journalist Sadio Kante says Toure was better known abroad than in his home country.
Many Bamako residents saw him as a northerner, rather than a national figure.
During the 1990s rebellion by the Tuareg people of northern Mali, Toure was seen as something of a peacemaker by singing in all of the region's languages - Gao, Fulani and the Tuareg's Tamashek.
He was born in Timbuktu in 1939 but the exact date of his birth is not known.
Did you see Ali Farka Toure in concert? What did his music mean to you? Send us your memories of the Mali music star.
(BBC)
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