Mamadou Diabaté
Encyclopedia
Mamadou Diabaté is a kora
Kora (instrument)
The kora is a 21-string bridge-harp used extensively in West Africa.-Description:A kora is built from a large calabash cut in half and covered with cow skin to make a resonator, and has a notched bridge. It does not fit well into any one category of western instruments and would have to be...

 player. He began playing quite early in his life, became known as a musician in the area of Mali in which he lived, and has since moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, recording several albums.

Life and career

Diabaté was born in Kita
Kita, Mali
Kita is a town and commune in western Mali. It lies on the eastern slope of Mount Kita , known for its caves and rock paintings. Today, the city is known for its music, its annual Roman Catholic pilgrimage and its role as a processing center for the surrounding cotton- and peanut-growing region...

, Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...

, a town relatively near to Mali's capital of Bamako
Bamako
Bamako is the capital of Mali and its largest city with a population of 1.8 million . Currently, it is estimated to be the fastest growing city in Africa and sixth fastest in the world...

, known for its artistic and cultural prominence within the Manding
Mandinka people
The Mandinka, Malinke are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa with an estimated population of eleven million ....

 community of West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...

. He was born into a family of griot
Griot
A griot or jeli is a West African storyteller. The griot delivers history as a poet, praise singer, and wandering musician. The griot is a repository of oral tradition. As such, they are sometimes also called bards...

s, with his father, Djelimory Diabaté, also a kora musician and a member of the Instrumental Ensemble of Mali. He moved to Bamako at four years old with his father, but returned to his birthplace to attend school. He began playing the kora, a 21-string harp, at a very young age, and became so enthralled with the instrument that his mother eventually forbade him to play it in order to do academic work, though he quickly began attempts to make one himself. After he had left school to further pursue the instrument, Diabaté began to perform at various public events such as baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...

s and wedding
Wedding
A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...

s. He had won several music competitions by the time he was 15, and was becoming somewhat of a regional celebrity by that time as well, having performed for several important personages.

At 16 he went to Bamako again, this time to study the kora with his cousin, the musician Toumani Diabaté
Toumani Diabaté
Toumani Diabaté is a Malian kora player. In addition to performing the traditional music of Mali, he has also been involved in cross-cultural collaborations with flamenco, blues, jazz, and other international styles.-Biography:...

. In 1996, he went on to travel with a group of the Instrumental Ensemble of Mali, and eventually settled in the United States, first in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, then in Durham
Durham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...

, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

.

Since his move to the U.S., Diabaté has performed with several musicians from the country, including jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 players Randy Weston
Randy Weston
Randy Weston , is an American jazz pianist and composer, of Jamaican parentage.-Biography:Weston studied classical piano as a child. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he ran a restaurant that was frequented by many of the leading bebop musicians...

 and Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd
Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a...

, as well as with a griot ensemble composed of musicians from Mali and the United States. In 2005, Diabaté was nominated for a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

, but lost to his cousin, Toumani. He received a second nomination in 2010 in the Best Traditional World Music category for his album Douga Mansa, and won his first Grammy award on January 31, 2010.

Diabaté should not be confused with the balafon player of the same name from Burkina Faso. For information on the other Mamadou Diabaté, refer to his website. Note that the discography attributed to Mamadou Diabaté at Allmusic (see link below) is effectively a joint discography for the two musicians.

Diabaté won the Grammy Award for Best Tradition Music January 31, 2010

He is cousins with the famous Malian Kora player Toumani Diabaté
Toumani Diabaté
Toumani Diabaté is a Malian kora player. In addition to performing the traditional music of Mali, he has also been involved in cross-cultural collaborations with flamenco, blues, jazz, and other international styles.-Biography:...

.

External links

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