Toumani Diabaté ( ; 10 August 1965 – 19 July 2024) was a Malian kora player. In its obituary, The Times described him as "a bold and innovative musical visionary".

Biography

Diabaté was born on 10 August 1965 in Bamako, the capital of Mali, five years after the country had gained its independence from France. His mother, Nene Koita, was a singer.

As a boy, Diabaté absorbed the griot culture around him and learned from watching his father and grandfather play. He recalled that his father's style involved combining the functions of bass line, melody, and improvisation, and Diabaté learned to play the kora that way.

In 1999, Diabaté released the album New Ancient Strings, a collaboration with Ballaké Sissoko.

The Symmetric Orchestra, led by Diabaté, is composed of West African musicians (mostly griots), who play a mix of traditional instruments including the kora, djembe, balafon, and bolombatto, as well as modern ones such as the guitar and electronic keyboard.

Diabaté appeared in 2006 at the WOMAD Festival UK, Roskilde Festival in Denmark, and at the Sziget Festival in Budapest, Hungary. In 2007, he performed at the Glastonbury Festival and toured the US. In 2008, he was at WOMADelaide in Adelaide, Australia. In early 2008, Diabaté released a new album of solo kora music, The Mandé Variations, to widespread critical acclaim, including a nomination for a Grammy award.

In October 2008, the Arabic-language lyrics in Diabaté's song "Tapha Niang" (from Boulevard de l'Indépendance) were removed from the PlayStation 3 video game LittleBigPlanet, after it elicited objections from a Muslim individual due to their inclusion of verses from the Qur'an. The publisher, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, decided to delay the launch of the game by a week and recall most discs in order to replace the song with a lyric-free instrumental version. However, some copies of the original game had already been sold in the Middle East and United States.

In December 2008, Diabaté was appointed a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the work he did in highlighting HIV and AIDS through his music.

In March 2014, he received an honorary doctorate in music from SOAS for his contribution in raising awareness of the kora and traditional Malian music. which also included his son Sidiki Diabaté, his brother Mamadou Sidiki Diabaté, and singer-songwriter Fatoumata Diawara, among others. They released their self-titled, debut album, in 2017, and followed it with Totem in 2025, after Diabaté's death. Totem was reissued as Je t'aime later the same year.

In February 2016, Diabaté hosted Festival Acoustik Bamako, a three-day music festival to bring together international and Malian musicians along with other public figures with an overall message of peace. It was planned as a collection of outdoor and indoor music events to draw crowds of more than 20,000 people. The 2015 Bamako hotel attack meant that all the outdoor events were cancelled, however.

Diabaté died after a short illness on 19 July 2024, at the age of 58. He was survived by his wives, Fanta Sacko and Sira Diallo, and his sons Balla and Sidiki, with whom he had recorded a Grammy-nominated album of kora duets in 2014.

Discography

thumb|right|Diabaté performing at the 2007 [[Winnipeg Folk Festival]]

  • Kaira (1988)
  • Songhai (with Ketama and Danny Thompson) (1988)
  • Songhai 2 (with Ketama, Danny Thompson, and José Soto) (1994)
  • Kulanjan (with Taj Mahal) (1999)
  • Ali and Toumani – (with Ali Farka Touré) (2010)
  • Kôrôlén (with the London Symphony Orchestra) (2021)
  • The Sky Is the Same Colour Everywhere (with Kayhan Kalhor) (2023)
  • Toumani Diabaté – Koraklänge aus dem Land der Flusspferde by Martina Pfaff (WDR, Cologne, 2007).

References

  • Toumani Diabaté at Odaras Productions
  • Official Toumani Diabaté biography
  • Afropop Worldwide Slideshow of Toumani Diabate Performing Live in Brooklyn (July 2007)
  • The Kora Star (August 2007)
  • 'Our music is older than Bach' – Interview in The Guardian (October 2008)
  • Information on the kora & Toumani Diabaté
  • Ali and Toumani Review and interview with Tounami Diabaté|, Folk Radio UK
  • One on One – Toumani Diabate. Al Jazeera