Toumani Diabaté will be remembered around the world for his mastery of the kora, the 21-string musical instrument beloved across West Africa.
Malians remember him in many more ways: the undisputed king of the kora, yes, but also a patron of the local arts, a campaigner for HIV awareness and a star in a legendary family of griots.
Diabaté was born on 10 August 1965 in Bamako, to musical parents. His mother, Nama Koïta, was a singer, and his father, Sidiki Diabaté, was crowned king of the kora at Festac ’77, the now legendary month-long festival of black arts and culture held in Lagos in 1977.
The men come from a long line of griots – custodians of the Mandingo storytelling traditions – who have played the kora for more than 70 generations.
Diabaté started playing the kora at age five, under his father’s tutelage, and as a teenager was part of a musical group in Koulikoro on the banks of the River Niger. At 13, he took part in the Koulikoro Biennale, where his group won the prize for best traditional orchestra.
Until his death at 58, Diabaté graced many global, regional and national stages, performing with famous artists like Bassekou Sissoko, Youssou N’Dour and Ali Farka Toure.
Yet he remained just as popular with his fans within Mali. He was more than a musical genius. As Senegalese singer N’Dour wrote, he was “an ambassador for Mali, an ambassador for Africa”.
Diabaté worked hard at passing the mic and shining the spotlight on other musicians of similar heritage.
His Symmetric Orchestra was mostly composed of other West African griots.
He founded the annual Festival Acoustik Bamako, hosting its first edition in 2016, which happened in the tense atmosphere that followed the 2015 terrorist attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako.
Diabaté saw Mali as “the heart of culture” in Africa, and was determined to engineer a cultural renaissance even as the country battles ongoing insecurity.
The king of the kora gave us a lot – at least 19 records – and the world gave him many of his flowers while he still lived.
The School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London awarded him an honorary doctorate for taking the kora to the world, and he was nominated for five Grammys – winning two.
He graced global festival stages including Glastonbury and Womad in the United Kingdom, Roskilde in Denmark, Sziget in Hungary and Womadelaide in Australia.
Still, it is sad that he is not here to see us enjoy the last music he made: Toumani, Family and Friends, a musical project with a number of artists from West Africa, including Tiken Jah Fakoly, Alpha Blondi and his son Sidiki. The album was set to be launched this month.
Through 32-year-old Sidiki, his uncle Mamadou Sidiki Diabaté and his second aunt, the Gambian musician Sona Jobarteh, West African griot culture lives on through the kora.
