Toumani Diabaté, Virtuoso Kora Player, Passes Away

On July 19, Toumani Diabaté, the virtuoso kora player from Mali passed away at the too young age of 58.  Back in April of 1989, when I was hosting Folkwave on WNYC, I arranged for the recording for broadcast on WNYC of a concert promoted by the World Music Institute of Hamza El Din, the Nubian Egyptian musician—and the concert also featured as its opening act Toumani Diabaté.  23 years old at the time, Toumani Diabaté was already a master musician playing the 21-string West African kora.  Over the years he has recorded collaborations with prominent musicians from many cultures, including Taj Mahal, the flamenco group Ketama, Ali Farka Touré, and many others. Still, in this concert, you can hear his music at its purest in a solo performance at the Borough of Manhattan Community College captured beautifully by engineer Christopher Czeh.

You can listen to later performances by Toumani Diabaté on Soundcheck and Studio 360.