artist info

Watching Diabaté play is not unlike watching someone weave, with the results as beautiful as an intricate tapestry." - Pitchfork

"One family of griots treats listeners to an album that took 700 years to make and subtly make an important statement about the nature and resilience of culture." - PopMatters

More than any other artist, Toumani Diabaté is responsible for introducing the kora—a 21-string harp unique to West Africa—to audiences around the world. The son of kora pioneer Sidiki Diabaté and heir to an unbroken musical tradition extending back 71 generations, Toumani began playing at five and is widely regarded as the instrument’s greatest virtuoso, winning two GRAMMY awards for his collaborations with fellow Malian superstar, the late guitarist Ali Farka Touré.

He united the music of Africa with his Symmetric Orchestra and expanded the cultural range of the kora beyond the continent, taking part in the groundbreaking Africa-meets-Cuba project AfroCubism and 2011’s acclaimed album with Brazilian artists Arnaldo Antuñes and Edgard Scandurra, A Curva a Cintura. Diabaté’s status as a major musical figure transcends the “world music” label, finding him collaborating with a range of artists in the pop, blues and jazz worlds including Béla Fleck, Taj Mahal, Björk and Blur mastermind Damon Albarn, who have all found Diabaté’s swirling kaleidoscope of sound irresistibly evocative. Now, after a dozen superb releases, he embarks on a highly personal journey with their recent World Circuit album, Toumani & Sidiki, a collaboration with his son Sidiki Diabaté – a rising kora star and hip hop artist who represents the 72nd generation of griots, carrying on the Malian kora tradition into the 21st century.