Toumani Diabaté

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Toumani Diabaté (born August 10, 1965) is a Malian kora player who has gained international acclaim for his music. He is considered by many to be the world's finest kora player. He is a versatile performer, being equally at home with the traditional music of Mali as well as with cross-cultural collaborations with flamenco, blues, jazz, and other international styles. He comes from a long family tradition of kora players including his father, Sidiki Diabaté, who recorded the first ever kora album in 1970. His cousin Maya Jobarteh is a premiere female Diaspora kora player.

In addition to performing Malian traditional music, Diabaté has also performed and recorded in cross-cultural settings. He has collaborated with flamenco group Ketama, forming a combined group known as Songhai and releasing two recordings: Songhai I and Songhai II. He also released a memorable album with Kulanjan, bridging the gap between African and African American music in collaboration with the American blues musician Taj Mahal. His MALIcool is another, more unusual but nevertheless successful collaboration with the American jazz trombonist Roswell Rudd.

In 1999 Diabaté released the album New Ancient Strings, a collaboration with Battake Sissoko and in September 2005, he released In the Heart of the Moon, for which he collaborated with Ali Farka Touré. On 25 July 2006 he released his latest album Boulevard de l'Independence, recorded with his Symmetric Orchestra. In the Heart of the Moon and Boulevard de l'Independence, are both part of the Hotel Mandé Sessions, recorded by Nick Gold and released on World Circuit. Most recently he has collaborated with the Icelandic musician Björk on her forthcoming album titled Volta, to be released May 7th of 2007. Both Boulevard and Hotel Mandé are references to landmarks in Mali's capital city, Bamako.