Ouagadougou: Malian artist Toumani Diabaté and father of artist Sidiki Diabaté, put away his kora for good this Friday at the age of 58, at the Golden Life hospital in Bamako, we learned the AIB.

Toumani Diabaté is the son of the diva Nama Koïta and Sidiki Diabaté (1922-1996), a kora player of legendary notoriety throughout West Africa nicknamed the ‘king of the kora’. He is also the cousin of the Korist Mamadou Diabaté.

The father of young star Sidiki Diabaté, the late Toumani Diabaté, began playing the Kora at the age of five.

At the age of 13, he participated in the Mali Biennale with the Koulikoro Instrumental Ensemble, which won the prize for best traditional orchestra. He then joined the National Instrumental Ensemble of Mali.

Toumani Diabaté has played with the singer Kandia Kouyaté, the great kora player Ballaké Sissoko, with Taj Mahal, as well as with Ali Farka Touré with whom he produced the album In the Heart of the Moon in 2005.

The song Tapha Niang is part of the soundtrack of the globally s
uccessful dreamlike video game LittleBigPlanet released in 2008.

Following the start of a controversy regarding the use of two verses from the Koran in the lyrics of the song (the mixture of music and sacred texts would be considered offensive by certain interpretations of Islam), in order to spare the susceptibilities, Sony Computer Entertainment chose to include an instrumental version of Tapha Niang in the final version of the game.

His career was marked by numerous international successes. He is considered one of the greatest kora players. His album Songhai won the prize for best foreign album of the year 1988 from the New Musical Express. As well as ‘In the Heart of the Moon’ also won the Grammy Awards for best traditional world music album awarded on February 8, 2006.

On February 13, 2011, Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté won the Grammy for Best Traditional Music Album at the 53rd Grammy Awards, in Los Angeles, United States, for their album Ali and Toumani.

Burkina Faso information agency with E
ssor Mali

Source: Burkina Information Agency