Toumani Diabaté, Malian musical artist – Assitan’s goosebump moment

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One of the best kora musicians

Toumani Diabaté is a legend in his country, Mali, the heart of West Africa. The musical importance of this artist is because he descends from the Diabaté family, a family of griots, as oral storytellers are called in this part of the African continent, whose messages are transmitted from generation to generation.

The roots of Malian music spread to the world. The rhythms that flourished in blues began with the slaves and some instruments, such as the kora that he plays, are unique in the world.

Diabaté is a musician above all. A virtuoso of the kora, that 21-stringed gourd, a mixture of harp and lute, which is played with index fingers and thumbs. He plays it impassively, with tight lips, leaning forward as if he wanted to caress the strings with his eyes or leaning back when the phrases get complicated. There is something hypnotic about the kora, so much so that when you listen to it, you get caught up in its harmony, and Toumani Diabaté is undoubtedly one of the best kora musicians in the world.

Toumani Diabaté and diversity

With Toumani, the 65th generation of his family to play this instrument, the kora has reached its peak. The musician has taken it beyond its borders. He has recorded albums with the Icelandic Björk, with the New York bluesman Taj Mahal or with Ketama, with whom he made “Songhai” in 1988, a historic album, a marvelous meeting of kora and flamenco guitars.

His father, Sidiki Diabaté, recorded the first kora album in history in 1970. Traditionally the best performers came from Gambia, the West African country where his father, the great Sidiki Diabaté, was born (in the 1970s he recorded the first album entirely dedicated to the kora in Paris).

Diabaté is one of the most popular and prestigious African musicians. Throughout his career he has internationalized his instrument and recorded with great musicians, both with Mali and Ali Farka Toure, who made two albums that received Grammy Awards, but also with artists such as the flamenco Ketama (“Shongai” and “Shongai II”), with the blues musician Tah Majal or Björk, and with Damon Albarn, Herbie Hanckock and the London Symphonic Orchestra.

This album is a formal passing of the generational witness. Toumani dialogues through the kora with his son Sidiki, with conservatory musical training and a star in his country capable of filling large auditoriums. This is something that Toumani could never do with his father since he died just when they were preparing a recording and had to record together with Ballaké Sissoko, emulating the album that his two parents made in the 70s.

Among the century-old traditional pieces, there is “Lapedusa”, a composition by Toumani dedicated to the Africans (emigrants) who lose their lives crossing the Mediterranean in search of a better future. A memorable African instrumental album ancestrally vaguardist.