GRAMMY–WINNING KORA PLAYER’S FIRST SOLO ALBUM IN TWO DECADES TO BE RELEASED FEBRUARY 26

“…the work of a modern virtuoso rethinking an age-old instrument… On its own, in close-up, the kora sounds radiant.”—The New York Times

World Circuit/Nonesuch Records releases The Mandé Variations, Grammy Award–winning kora virtuoso Toumani Diabaté’s first solo record in more than 20 years.The Malian musician’s previous album, 2006’s Boulevard de l’Indépendance with Symmetric Orchestra, was critically praised in the U.S. and overseas. The Washington Post called the record. “Irresistible.”

The Mandé Variations will be released February 25 in the U.K., where Q calls it “the very definition of a virtuoso performance,” and Songlines, in a five-star review, describes it as “an heroic record, in every sense.”

Named after the ethnic group in West Africa from which Diabaté descends, The Mandé Variations title alludes to a historic regional culture straddling several countries. The album is a return to the simplicity of Diabaté’s international debut Kaira (1988). It was recorded without accompaniment and contains no overdubs, and features simply Diabaté’s kora—the 21-string West African harp-lute. True to the artist’s griot tradition, the recording explores classic themes and modes alongside improvised pieces. Diabatégrounds the eight pieces in the past, present, and future of Mandé traditional music.

Fifty-fourth in a hereditary line of master musicians and griots, Toumani Diabaté is at once revered as the guardian of an ancient musical tradition and as a bold, boundary-crossing experimentalist. He has earned acclaim for inventive solo records as well as collaborations with Björk, Blur’s Damon Albarn, Dee Dee Bridgewater, American bluesman Taj Mahal, and jazz trombonist Roswell Rudd, among others. Diabaté won a Grammy in 2006 for his collaboration with the late Ali Farka Touré, In the Heart of the Moon.

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For more information, please contact Carla Sacks or Brian Shimkovitz at Sacks & Co., 212.741.1000.

photo credit: Ed Alcock

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