Malian artist Toumani Diabaté died this Friday, July 19 at the age of 58, his son, Sidiki Diabaté, announced on social media. The Malian artist, who died at the age of 58, had been hospitalized for several days in Bamako. Nicknamed the god of the kora, he had spread the musicality of this instrument, notably through collaborations with Ali Farka Touré, but also Björk and other styles of urban music.
Published on: 07/19/2024 – 9:23 p.m. Modified on: 07/22/2024 – 10:55 a.m.
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« It is God who gives life and who gives death and it is to him that we return. My confidant, my pillar, my guide, my best friend, my dear dad is gone forever “, announced Sidiki Diabate on social media this Friday.
A great kora player, and from a family of famous griots, Toumani Diabaté spent his life defending traditional music, throughout his career enriched by some fifteen albums.
You know that a people without culture is a people who have no soul. We must defend culture. Mali is the heart of culture in the world. It is very important. Our country is going through an extremely difficult time in its history.
In 2016, he created the Bamako Acoustic Festival to revive traditional Malian music that had been banned during the jihadist occupation.
David Baché
Born into a family where music is passed down from father to son, his father Sidiki Diabate is nicknamed the King of the Kora and is famous throughout West Africa. Little Toumani began playing at the age of 5. At 13, he was part of the Koulikoro ensemble which won the prize for the best traditional orchestra at the Mali Biennale. He then joined his country’s national orchestra.
You know, being born into a family of griots is the great school. The Diabaté family is already a school since it is a family of griots. When I was born, I had already found the Cora. It had already been there for dozens, dozens, dozens of years. I say, thank God for having had this sense of contributing to opening universal doors for the Cora, because that was my idea. Since I started playing the Cora, while listening to other modern orchestras from Africa, but also Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Otis Redding, Johnny Hallyday, Nana Mouskouri etc. I listened to this music, so I tried to have that in my head, but always remaining African, always remaining a griot. And I went with my style in that direction.
Throughout his career, he has multiplied collaborations. He notably accompanied the singer Kandia Kouyaté, played with Ballake Sissoko, another Kora virtuoso, and Ali Farka Touré, with whom he produced the album “In the Heart of the Moon” in 2005. He also won several Grammy Awards with this collaboration.
I am lost for words. It is sad. I do not know what to say, he has done so much for kore and African music. He is a monument that has just left.
The musician Ballaké Sissoko
He also crossed West African music with the blues thanks to his meeting with Taj Mahal and collaborated with Björk, the Icelandic star, and Damon Albarn. He thus mixed the centuries-old Mandingo tradition with Western music.
If today the Cora has this notoriety and has entered into different musical genres (…) we owe it to this gentleman.
“He mixed the Cora into all kinds of music,” observes Mory Touré.
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« My brother and friend, the Kora virtuoso and outstanding musical arranger, Toumani Diabaté has just left us. An Ambassador of Mali, an Ambassador of Africa has just left us. My condolences to all his family ” shared Senegalese musician Youssou N’Dour on X.
« This is a huge loss for Malian music. Toumani was a kora virtuoso who amazed us for years. “, reacted on RFI Mory Touré, specialist in African music, cultural presenter and correspondent for Couleurs Tropicales in Mali.
He was a generous man, a unifying man. He was a night owl.
“Toumani was not just an artist,” reacts Mory Touré
Read on RFI MusiqueThe biography of Toumani Diabaté
