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Thursday March 22
"Diabaté?s thrilling kora is played with a virtuosity and feeling that match Symmetric?s big band energy." Time Out New York**** "Boulevard de l?indépendance is an Afro-pop masterpiece ? perfection." Down Beat*****  Toumani Diabaté's Symmetric Orchestra Toumani Diabaté is one of the great figures in African music. This super-charged, traditional meets modern dance-band album unites the two sides of his remarkable musical personality - the virtuosic traditionalist and the restless innovator. Recorded in a series of all night sessions at Mali's Hotel Mandé, it packs the fruit of ten years experimentation into some of the densest, punchiest, most richly textured music you'll ever hear. "Toumani Diabaté is the holder of the torch for one of the world's most breathtakingly beautiful art forms. This is a music that has been nurtured and revered for centuries, and Toumani, a true virtuoso and master of his art, produces a music in which this noble history is both reaffirmed and enabled to connect with a contemporary audience with heart-stopping and uplifting spirituality." Nick Gold. Toumani Diabaté plays the kora, a harp unique to West Africa with 21 strings; and more than any other kora player, it is Toumani who is responsible for bringing this instrument to audiences around the world. Not only is he a performer of truly exceptional virtuosity and creativity - some one who shows that the kora can rival the world's greatest instruments; but he also plays a vital role as band leader, teacher, musical conservationist and composer at home in Bamako, capital of Mali where he was born and has lived all his life. Toumani's music has an expressiveness and beauty that takes the powerful ancient traditions of Mali's griots to new heights and into new territories. He is at the vanguard of a new generation of Malian griots who are constantly looking for ways of modernizing this tradition while still honouring it. He founded, built, finances and directs a music school in Bamako where dozens of Malian children from different social backgrounds learn to play traditional instruments and to dance. There is no doubt that his music reflects a profoundly positive image of Africa, and makes an impact on the world market, thus inverting the usual power role between the local and global. Music, in effect, is Mali's greatest resource, as Toumani amply demonstrates. Toumani was born in the 1960s in Bamako, Mali into a family of exceptional griots, 71 generations of kora players from father to son. The most notable was his father, Sidiki Diabaté (c. 1922-96), a kora player of legendary fame in West Africa - dubbed King of the Kora at the prestigious international Black Arts Festival Festac in 1977, and a continuing inspiration to all kora players to this day. Sidiki was born in the Gambia of Malian parents. He settled in Mali after the second world war, where he became famous for his virtuoso "hot" and idiosyncratic style of playing (echoes of which can be heard in Toumani's style - as in his Alla l'aa ke). After Mali became independent in 1960, Sidiki was invited to join the Ensemble National Instrumental, along with his first wife, Toumani's mother, the singer Nene Koita. Sidiki and Nene were much favoured by the first president, Modibo Keita - who gave them the land on which the family house now stands, underneath the presidential palace in Bamako. This was the musical environment in which Toumani was raised - though in fact, he was self-taught, never learning directly from his father except by listening. In recent years Toumani's has been enjoying recognition for his contribution to the development of the kora, and as a key figure in African music. In 2003 he received the Tamani d'or, a prize awarded to the best kora player in the world; the following year saw Toumani receive the Zyriab des Virtuoses, a UNESCO prize awarded at the Mawazine Festival organised by King Mohammed 6th of Morocco, he is the first black African ever to be given the prize. Toumani has been taking steps to help preserve the legacy of traditional kora music in Mali, and to educate future generations of their rich musical heritage, whilst encouraging them to also explore the creative possibilities within music. He is President/Director of Mandinka Kora Productions, who actively promote the kora through workshops, festivals, and various cultural events. Toumani is also a teacher of the kora and of modern and traditional music at the Balla Fasseke Conservatoire of Arts, Culture and Multimedia, which opened at the end of 2004. Toumani has also entered into a creatively furtive period; he reunited with Ballake Sissoko for a track on Ballake's new album 'Tomora' and also appears on the title track of Salif Keita's latest recording 'Mbemba'. Danny Tompson and Toumani Diabate on Kora Website
Toumani Diabaté's Symmetric Orchestra
"Diabaté?s thrilling kora is played with a virtuosity and feeling that match Symmetric?s big band energy." Time Out New York**** "Boulevard de l?indépendance is an Afro-pop masterpiece ? perfection." Down Beat***** Toumani Diabaté's Symmetric Orchestra Toumani Diabaté is one of the great figures in African music. This super-charged, traditional meets modern dance-band album unites the two sides of his remarkable musical personality - the virtuosic traditionalist and the restless innovator. Recorded in a series of all night sessions at Mali's Hotel Mandé, it packs the fruit of ten years experimentation into some of the densest, punchiest, most richly textured music you'll ever hear. "Toumani Diabaté is the holder of the torch for one of the world's most breathtakingly beautiful art forms. This is a music that has been nurtured and revered for centuries, and Toumani, a true virtuoso and master of his art, produces a music in which this noble history is both reaffirmed and enabled to connect with a contemporary audience with heart-stopping and uplifting spirituality." Nick Gold. Toumani Diabaté plays the kora, a harp unique to West Africa with 21 strings; and more than any other kora player, it is Toumani who is responsible for bringing this instrument to audiences around the world. Not only is he a performer of truly exceptional virtuosity and creativity - some one who shows that the kora can rival the world's greatest instruments; but he also plays a vital role as band leader, teacher, musical conservationist and composer at home in Bamako, capital of Mali where he was born and has lived all his life. Toumani's music has an expressiveness and beauty that takes the powerful ancient traditions of Mali's griots to new heights and into new territories. He is at the vanguard of a new generation of Malian griots who are constantly looking for ways of modernizing this tradition while still honouring it. He founded, built, finances and directs a music school in Bamako where dozens of Malian children from different social backgrounds learn to play traditional instruments and to dance. There is no doubt that his music reflects a profoundly positive image of Africa, and makes an impact on the world market, thus inverting the usual power role between the local and global. Music, in effect, is Mali's greatest resource, as Toumani amply demonstrates. Toumani was born in the 1960s in Bamako, Mali into a family of exceptional griots, 71 generations of kora players from father to son. The most notable was his father, Sidiki Diabaté (c. 1922-96), a kora player of legendary fame in West Africa - dubbed King of the Kora at the prestigious international Black Arts Festival Festac in 1977, and a continuing inspiration to all kora players to this day. Sidiki was born in the Gambia of Malian parents. He settled in Mali after the second world war, where he became famous for his virtuoso "hot" and idiosyncratic style of playing (echoes of which can be heard in Toumani's style - as in his Alla l'aa ke). After Mali became independent in 1960, Sidiki was invited to join the Ensemble National Instrumental, along with his first wife, Toumani's mother, the singer Nene Koita. Sidiki and Nene were much favoured by the first president, Modibo Keita - who gave them the land on which the family house now stands, underneath the presidential palace in Bamako. This was the musical environment in which Toumani was raised - though in fact, he was self-taught, never learning directly from his father except by listening. In recent years Toumani's has been enjoying recognition for his contribution to the development of the kora, and as a key figure in African music. In 2003 he received the Tamani d'or, a prize awarded to the best kora player in the world; the following year saw Toumani receive the Zyriab des Virtuoses, a UNESCO prize awarded at the Mawazine Festival organised by King Mohammed 6th of Morocco, he is the first black African ever to be given the prize. Toumani has been taking steps to help preserve the legacy of traditional kora music in Mali, and to educate future generations of their rich musical heritage, whilst encouraging them to also explore the creative possibilities within music. He is President/Director of Mandinka Kora Productions, who actively promote the kora through workshops, festivals, and various cultural events. Toumani is also a teacher of the kora and of modern and traditional music at the Balla Fasseke Conservatoire of Arts, Culture and Multimedia, which opened at the end of 2004. Toumani has also entered into a creatively furtive period; he reunited with Ballake Sissoko for a track on Ballake's new album 'Tomora' and also appears on the title track of Salif Keita's latest recording 'Mbemba'. Danny Tompson and Toumani Diabate on Kora Website |
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