Digitally archiving an excellent 1981 Brian Eno interview featured in Musician Magazine. The ambient Mr. Eno again confounds his audience with a new creative collaboration with David Byrne […]
Toumani Diabate Appreciation Post: A Kora Legend Passes at 58
Griot families such as that which the great kora player Toumani Diabate, who passed earlier this week, was born into play a crucial part in West African culture. Hereditary lineages of traditional storytellers, historians, praise singers, poets and musicians, griots serve to preserve the oral history, culture, and traditions of their communities while offering masterly musicianship. So when a brilliant player such as Toumani dies, the accumulated history, passed down across generations from parent to child, remains alive.
Born in Bamako, Mali, into the illustrious Diabaté family, Toumani was destined for greatness. The Diabatés are a celebrated family with a lineage of more than 71 generations of musicians and storytellers. Toumani was fed the kora, a 21-stringed harp-lute, as soon as he could hold one, and learned from his father, Sidiki Diabaté, known as the “King of the Kora.”
Toumani was a pioneer who fused traditional Malian music with contemporary genres, working with artists from around the world in ways that earlier generations couldn’t have imagined. His groundbreaking album Kaira, released in 1988, showcased his Hendrix-ian technical skill and nuanced playing, one that transcended borders. Check out the remarkable New Ancient Strings with Ballaké Sissoko — a member of another griot family whose lineage goes back generations — and In the Heart of the Moon with Ali Farka Touré. Toumani worked with artists as varied as Bjork, Taj Mahal, Youssou’n’Dour, Roswell Rudd, and Bela Fleck.
Let’s let Toumani and his son Sidiki Diabate do the talking. Here they are at Glastonbury ten years ago.
Bjork collaborated with Toumani on her album Volta. “I’ve been listening to to Diabate for years, especially to New Ancient Strings, a spooky mix between strings, tribal rhythms, brass, and kora,” she said at the time. “It had already influenced me for Vespertine, where I soiled the sound of the two angelical instruments like the harp and the glockenspiel.” Here she is performing it live with him.
Both New Ancient Strings and Kaira are truly stunning records. Below, Toumani is performing in support of the latter in 1989.
Thankfully, the generations that follow the kora great’s life, including his son Sidiki, continue the tradition.