Toumani Diabaté, the renowned Malian virtuoso of the 21-stringed kora, has passed away at the age of 58 due to kidney failure, confirmed by his manager. Diabaté, who died on July 19 in a Bamako hospital, leaves behind a profound legacy in the world of music.
As a 71st-generation kora player, Diabaté masterfully blended traditional spiritual music with modern influences throughout his illustrious career. His collaborations included notable artists such as Björk, Taj Mahal, Damon Albarn, Béla Fleck, and the famed Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré.
Born in Bamako in 1965, Diabaté hailed from a lineage of griots—West African musicians dedicated to preserving oral histories through music. His father, Sidiki Diabaté Sr., was a legendary kora player, and his mother, Nene Koita, was a prominent singer. Despite this musical heritage, Toumani Diabaté developed his skills independently, learning by ear from family performances. His son Sidiki, also a kora player, joined him on the albums Toumani & Sidiki (2014) and Lamomali (2017).
Diabaté began his professional journey at just 13, playing with a group from Koulikoro, Mali. By 19, he was performing with the renowned singer and kora player Kandia Kouyaté. A pivotal moment in his career came in the late 1980s when he moved to London, collaborating with British producer Lucy Durán on his ground-breaking solo debut, Kaira, released in 1988.
His discography includes acclaimed albums with blues icon Taj Mahal and banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck, as well as two Grammy-winning records with Ali Farka Touré: In the Heart of the Moon (2005) and Ali and Toumani (2010). Diabaté also contributed to Björk’s Volta (2007) and performed with her live in 2008.
Damon Albarn, the influential frontman of Gorillaz and Blur, was among Diabaté’s closest collaborators. Diabaté worked with Albarn on the Mali Music project in 2016 and participated in Festival Acoustik Bamako, an event created in response to a tragic terrorist attack in 2015.
In a 2007 interview, Diabaté spoke passionately about the universal language of music, stating, “Music has been created as its own language… The ‘G’ on the kora is the same ‘G’ that’s on a piano. It’s the same ‘G’ that Carlos Santana was playing. The ‘B’ on the kora is the same as the one that the hip hop people have.”
