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Toumani Diabate
Toumani Diabate is acknowledged to be the foremost kora player in the world. The kora is a 21-string harp-lute instrument that has been played in Africa for centuries. It was the signature of the medieval Mandingo Empire, which populated West Africa from the 13th to the 16th centuries.
Diabate has brought the kora to pop music, African orchestras, flamenco, jazz, and the blues. But his latest album, “The Mande Variations,” features the instrument solo.
Toumani Diabate comes from a long line of kora-playing griots.
Source: Photi Credit: Brooklyn VeganTags
Remembering Toumani Diabaté: MALIcool
by Ian Patterson
The passing of Malian kora griot Toumani Diabaté in July is a great loss to music. Born in Bamako in 1965, in post-independence Mali, Diabaté grew up playing traditional music. but as a leader he was a modernist from the get-go, collaborating with flamenco fusionists Ketama and English bassist Danny Thompson on the excellent Songhai (Nuevos Medios, 1988), as well as making fascinating albums with Taj Mahal and Béla Fleck. One of Diabaté's most rewarding musical partnerships was ...
Continue ReadingBela Fleck and Toumani Diabate: The Ripple Effect
by Doug Collette
The Ripple Effect is the coup de grace of Bela Fleck's ten year-plus excursion into the African roots of his chosen instrument of the banjo, originally titled Throw Down Your Heart (Rounder, 2009). Part of a larger set comprised of both video and audio on DVD/CD, The Complete Africa Sessions (Craft Recordings, 2020), these ten concert culls are also available as a double set of vinyl that capture the natural, fluent chemistry between this banjoist extraordinaire and West African kora ...
Continue ReadingToumani Diabate with Ballake Sissoko: New Ancient Strings
by AAJ Staff
Listeners who celebrate the music of today would do well to appreciate its roots. In the case of West African music, that means turning from Afro-pop and Afro-beat back to the traditional music of the Ancient Empire of Mali. The kora, a 21-stringed harp whose history dates back to the 13th century, is represented here. In the modern age, the kora has been eagerly adopted by jazz, flamenco, and electronic music. (Witness Mamadou Diabate's key role on Ben Allison's recent ...
Continue ReadingAli Farka Toure/Toumani Diabate: New Album in February
Source:
JamBase
THE LATE ALI FARKA TOURE AND TOUMANI DIABATE WILL RELEASE FINAL COLLABORATIVE EFFORT FEBRUARY 23, 2010
Toumani Diabete World Circuit and Nonesuch Records are set to release Ali and Toumani, the second and last album pairing of the late Malian guitar virtuoso Ali Farka Toure and kora master Toumani Diabate, on February 23, 2010.
Recorded over three afternoons at London's Livingston Studios in 2005, with contributions from the late Orlando “Cachato" Lpez on bass, Ali and Toumani is the successor ...
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Bela Fleck/Toumani Diabate | 03.19 | CA
Source:
JamBase
By: Jim Welte
Bela Fleck & Toumani Diabate :: 03.19.09 :: Yoshi's :: Oakland, CA
“Bela is someone who might have a hard time expressing himself with his mouth, but he can express himself perfectly with his fingers."
Toumani Diabate Renowned Malian singer Oumou Sangare delivers this line at the end of Throw Down Your Heart, a documentary about banjo master Bela Fleck's 2005 journey through four African countries, where he played with a variety of musicians in an ...
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Sunnyside Releases Roswell Rudd's & Toumani Diabate's MALIcool
Source:
All About Jazz
In the late 20th century, jazz artists like Herbie Hancock, Jean-Luc Ponty, Hank Jones and Randy Weston have performed and recorded with West African musicians. Now, at the dawn of the 21st century, the legendary jazz trombonist Roswell Rudd joins forces with the great Malian kora master, Toumani Diabate on their groundbreaking new CD, MALIcool.
The project was recorded in Mali's bustling, Afro-Islamic capital, Bamako in 2001, after a successful concert in the city's French Cultural Center. Rudd's robust trombone ...
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