Toumani Diabaté

Toumani Diabaté (10 August 1965 – 19 July 2024) was a Malian kora player and composer, born and deceased at Bamako. ^{1 2} He came from a long patrilineal line of kora players in a griot family: the family's oral tradition tells of seventy generations of musicians preceding him, and the French article counts him as the seventy-first generation. ^{1 2} His father, Sidiki Diabaté, recorded the first-ever kora album in 1970. ¹ With Ali Farka Touré he won a Grammy Award for In the Heart of the Moon (2005), and he is among the players who introduced the kora to the world. ^{1 2}

He was born in Bamako, the capital of Mali, five years after the country gained independence from France, and learned by watching his father and grandfather play; a childhood illness cost him the use of his right leg, and he walked using a crutch. ¹ The French article says he began learning at the age of five, took part at thirteen in the Biennale du Mali with the Ensemble de Koulikoro, which won the prize for best traditional orchestra, and then joined the Ensemble instrumental national du Mali; the English article adds that he was performing in public by thirteen and played in the backing group of the jelimuso (female griot singer) Kandia Kouyaté. ^{2 1}

In 1987 he appeared on Ba Togoma, an album of his father's ensemble, his chance to be heard outside his homeland; in 1988 he released his first album in the West, the solo Kaira, recorded in one afternoon in London and produced by Lucy Durán — the French article's discography dates Kaira to 1987, against both articles' text, and the text is followed here. ^{1 2}

His cross-cultural work ran wide: the group Songhai with the flamenco group Ketama; Kulanjan (1999) with the American blues musician Taj Mahal; MALIcool (2002) with the jazz trombonist Roswell Rudd; and Björk's Volta (2007), followed by an appearance with her at Glastonbury. ¹ In 1999 he released New Ancient Strings with Ballaké Sissoko, and in September 2005 In the Heart of the Moon with Ali Farka Touré, which won the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Traditional World Music Album; Boulevard de l'Indépendance (2006), recorded with his Symmetric Orchestra, followed — both albums belong to the Hotel Mandé Sessions recorded by Nick Gold for World Circuit Records. ^{1 2}

His albums include Kaira (1988); Songhai (1988) and Songhai II (1994) with Ketama; Djelika (1995); New Ancient Strings with Sissoko (1999); Kulanjan with Taj Mahal (1999); In the Heart of the Moon with Ali Farka Touré (2005); The Mandé Variations (2008), his solo album, widely praised and Grammy-nominated; Ali and Toumani (2010), which won the Grammy for best traditional world music album at the ceremony of 13 February 2011; Toumani & Sidiki (2014) with his son Sidiki; Kôrôlén (2021) with the London Symphony Orchestra; and The Sky Is the Same Colour Everywhere (2023) with Kayhan Kalhor. ^{1 2}

In December 2008 he was appointed a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the work he did in highlighting HIV and AIDS through his music, and in March 2014 he received an honorary doctorate in music from SOAS for raising awareness of the kora and traditional Malian music. ¹ In 2015 he joined Lamomali, the collective formed by the French musician -M-; their album appeared in 2017, and Totem followed posthumously in 2025. ¹ In February 2016 he hosted Festival Acoustik Bamako, a three-day festival with a message of peace; its outdoor events were cancelled after the 2015 Bamako hotel attack. ¹ He died after a short illness on 19 July 2024, at the age of 58. ^{1 2}

This section sets out different positions as reported in the sources. It is not a verdict by the museum.

The "Tapha Niang" affair (2008). In October 2008, the Arabic-language lyrics of his song "Tapha Niang" (from Boulevard de l'Indépendance) were removed from the PlayStation 3 game LittleBigPlanet after objections from a Muslim individual to their inclusion of verses from the Qur'an; the French article speaks of two verses and of a beginning of controversy over mixing music with sacred texts, which some interpretations of Islam consider offensive. The publisher, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, delayed the launch by a week and recalled most discs to replace the song with a lyric-free instrumental version, though some original copies had already been sold in the Middle East and the United States. ^{1 3 2}

Critical standing. In 2006 a panel commissioned by The Independent named him one of the fifty best African artists across media, and The Times' obituary described him as "a bold and innovative musical visionary"; many reviewers praised The Mandé Variations for its improvisation and range of influences. ¹ No consulted source states a personal religious affiliation or school for him: his descent in a griot line and the devotional material in his repertoire are lineage and work, not an attestation. ^{1 2 4}

• The defined source entities cited above, recorded in data/source/.
• Revisions of this article must be dated, and must name the source that changed each fact.