Toumani Diabaté is the master of the kora, a West African stringed, joined by a few years, the international music scene, especially through some world productions. His work as a musician began in the eighties and continued mainly following the direction of the merger, the meeting of different musical styles and cultures. In this context, one of the release for which he will always be remembered are the ones with the great Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure, with whom he recorded In the Heart of the Moon, their first collaboration, which won a Grammy in 2005 as Best Traditional World Music Album. Another important step in the career of the musician from Bamako is the collaboration with Danny Thompson (bass player and founder of the British folk band Pentangle) and the Spanish flamenco group Ketama, with whom he founded at the end of the eighties the group Songhai, on behalf of which have so far released two albums. The first of these, titled Songhai, produced in 1988, is widely considered among the most important records in the panorama of world music. It was recorded in Madrid, produced by Joe Boyd and published by Hannibal Records. Today Diabaté discography is very wide – also includes a collaboration with Arnaldo Antunes and Edgard Scandurra, with whom, in 2011, he released his latest album A Curve Belt – and it was announced the next album, which will be released for Nonesuch Records on May 5. The title of the album is simply Sidiki & Toumani (as in 2010 was Ali & Diabate, another highly successful duo with Farka Toure) and was written and performed with his son, also a kora player and producer, and we hope follower of Malian griot tradition: indeed named as his grandfather (died 1996), who is also regarded as the greatest kora player of his generation.

Autore: Daniele Cestellini

Daniele Cestellini ha scritto 752 articoli.

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