Mamadou Diabaté

Diabaté was born in Kita, Mali, a town relatively near to Mali's capital of Bamako, known for its artistic and cultural prominence within the Manding community of West Africa.[2] He was born into a family of griots, with his father, Djelimory n'fa Diabaté, also a kora musician and a member of the Instrumental Ensemble of Mali.[1][3] He began playing the kora, a 21-string instrument used extensively in West Africa, at a very young age, performing at various public events in his country and was becoming somewhat of a regional celebrity by that time as well.[3]

In 1996, he went on to travel with a group of the Instrumental Ensemble of Mali, and eventually settled in the United States.[3][4][5] Since his move to the US, Diabaté has performed with several musicians from the country, including jazz players Randy Weston, Guy Davis, and Donald Byrd, as well as with a griot ensemble composed of musicians from Mali and the United States.[4][6]

His 2000 debut album Tunga mixed West African music with blues and jazz influences.[4] A review in CMJ New Music Report commented on Diabate's "faster, nimbler style of kora playing".[7] The album featured bassists Cheick Barry and Ira Coleman.[8]

In 2005, Diabaté was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Traditional World Music Album category for Behmanka, but lost to the collaboration between his cousin Toumani Diabate and Ali Farka Toure.[9][1][10] The album was described as a "dazzling duet for one" by The Washington Post,[11] while Philip Van Vleck, reviewing it for Billboard, described it as "a feat of remarkable virtuosity".[12]

His third album, Heritage, was totally instrumental, again showing jazz influences.[1] His group at this time included Djkorya Mory Kante (guitar), Noah Barrett (bass), Baye Kouyati (callabash, talking drum), and Balia Kouyate (balafon).[10] A Billboard review by Philip Van Vleck described it as "a gorgeous album loaded with music that evokes Mali's soul".[10]

His fourth his solo album Douga Mansa, a tribute to his father and grandfather, won the 2010 Grammy for Best Traditional World Music Album.[2][9][13] Also in 2010, he was part of the world music trio Djan Djan which included Bobby Singh, an Australian tabla player, and Jeff Lang, an Australian slide guitarist.[14]

His fifth album, Courage, was recorded in Mali and released in 2011.[15] A review in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer described it as "a truly remarkable disc of music and deserves to be considered equal to anything written or recorded by any composer or symphony orchestra in the rest of the world".[16]

• Music of Mali