Toumani Diabaté

Photo: Ed Alcock

As the current standard-bearer in a hereditary line of kora players that stretches back 71 generations, Mali’s Toumani Diabaté has his work cut out for him in managing the family business. He’s heir to the throne of the late Sidiki Diabaté—a national hero christened “King of the Kora.” The elder Diabaté’s seminal recordings and Parisian concert appearances in the ’70s introduced much of the world to West Africa’s 21-string gourd harp.

But as the world’s greatest living virtuoso, Toumani Diabaté has outshone his predecessors by elevating the kora to an instrument of global fusion and one worthy of concert-hall respect. After 2,000 concerts and more than 170 festivals, Diabaté has earned the right to take risks. Some of his collaborations have fared better than others; Ali Farka Touré, Taj Mahal and the nuevo-flamenco group Ketama, for instance, were natural collaborators for the underpinning desert blues. Björk enlisted Diabaté on last year’s Volta, where his fluttering plucks added an unplaceable exoticism.

Leaving behind his usual bandmates, the all-star Afropop-inflected Symmetric Orchestra, in Bamako for this solo tour, Diabaté circles back to his roots in support of the exquisite new Nick Gold–produced The Mandé Variations (Nonesuch), his first solo kora album since his debut, Kaira, 20 years ago. His global influences are present here but muted in favor of original compositions, modern interpretations of centuries-old griot arrangements and experimental tunings.

His technical prowess and flights of fancy lie somewhere between Hendrix and Paco de Lucía. When the simultaneous bass lines, rhythm accompaniment and solo improvisations (with, astonishingly, zero overdubs) hit at warp speed, it’s clear Diabaté has evolved into a full-string orchestra unto himself.