Post by borborygmus on Jul 27, 2024 16:36:41 GMT
Toumani Diabaté (1965-2024)
My best music buddy and I were having dinner in London on Sunday evening, prior to seeing Patti Smith at Somerset House (great, BTW). He said he's been listening to a jazzy band called Les Égarés, which is well out of his normal wheelhouse, but he liked. "They have an accordion and one of those Malian guitar things." I mimed air guitar - "not this" - I placed my two hands in front of me, thumbs side by side - "but this?" Yes, he said.
A kora.
When I got home and looked up Les Égarés, I found out that the kora player is Ballaké Sissoko. I like it.
My introduction to this stuff was a record called New Ancient Strings by Toumani Diabaté (featuring the aforesaid Ballaké Sissoko). I was driving in the USA, California I think, about 20 years ago when I heard a track from this record on some sort of college radio station. I had never heard anything like it before, it was wonderful, and I had to pull over to the side of the road to try and write down the really weird name phonetically. I did find and buy the record when I got home. I loved it - still do. I did see Toumani Diabaté live a few years later at the Cambridge Folk Festival.
Yesterday, with some sort of awful cosmic irony, I read Toumani Diabaté's obituary in The Times.
Do explore Toumani Diabaté's work, if you haven't before.
Peter
My best music buddy and I were having dinner in London on Sunday evening, prior to seeing Patti Smith at Somerset House (great, BTW). He said he's been listening to a jazzy band called Les Égarés, which is well out of his normal wheelhouse, but he liked. "They have an accordion and one of those Malian guitar things." I mimed air guitar - "not this" - I placed my two hands in front of me, thumbs side by side - "but this?" Yes, he said.
A kora.
When I got home and looked up Les Égarés, I found out that the kora player is Ballaké Sissoko. I like it.
My introduction to this stuff was a record called New Ancient Strings by Toumani Diabaté (featuring the aforesaid Ballaké Sissoko). I was driving in the USA, California I think, about 20 years ago when I heard a track from this record on some sort of college radio station. I had never heard anything like it before, it was wonderful, and I had to pull over to the side of the road to try and write down the really weird name phonetically. I did find and buy the record when I got home. I loved it - still do. I did see Toumani Diabaté live a few years later at the Cambridge Folk Festival.
Yesterday, with some sort of awful cosmic irony, I read Toumani Diabaté's obituary in The Times.
Do explore Toumani Diabaté's work, if you haven't before.
Peter
Jo whoever he is.
