The Mande Variations

by

Toumani Diabaté

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The West African kora is one of the most seductive instruments on the planet - a sublime concoction of calabash gourd, cowskin and fishing line. And Toumani Diabaté, from a hereditary family of musicians in Mali, is its greatest exponent.

With filigree, rippling melodies, the music is soft, elegant and profound.

As the title suggests, this is a sort of classical kora album revisiting some classic tracks, but also laying down improvisations which sound experimental even if you've never heard a note of kora music before, such as his homage to his friend and fellow musician Ali Farka Touré.

Never has the Malian kora harp sounded so beautiful as in this new record by its greatest living master.

Toumani is said to descend from 70 generations of kora players, stretching back to the golden age of the medieval Mande empire.

He's always experimented alongside the traditional Malian modes, and his collaborators have included Björk and Damon Albarn and winning a Grammy in tandem with Ali Farka Touré for "In the Heart of the Moon" was just his latest exploit.

And now comes this CD.

Blissfully devoid of any amplification, electronic tampering, or accompaniment, it weaves a spell which is powerfully reinforced by the sheer quality of its recording.

The instrument sings with extraordinary resonance, in an acoustic so sensitive that we hear every creak of its wood and sinew; the music itself is rapt and reflective, and the tracks are luxuriously long.

What's most interesting is the way his stylistic inflections are starting to resemble those of North Indian raga music.

The new album, entitled "The Mandé Variations", has no backing musicians, no overdubbed Western stars like Björk, just the unadorned sound of the kora, an exotic-looking 21-string harp made from a halved calabash shell covered with cow-hide and "spiked" with a wooden pole.

This, cooed the letter, would make it appealing to me because it was more "classical".

As with all powerfully affecting music ("classical" included), Diabaté's is rooted in primitive things.

For a start there's the rich, resonant thrumming of the kora, which must be among the most sheerly seductive sounds of any instrument in the world.

Then there's the pleasure to be had from the dizzying virtuosity of Diabaté's playing.

He'll take the end of a melodic phrase and spin it into a whirling Catherine-wheel figuration out of sheer joie de vivre.

Two titles, "Elyne Road" and "Cantelowes", are named after streets in London although the music takes you to another place, another world.

In the Heart of the Moon

Boulevard de l'Independance

Savane

Stereo Spirit

Aman Iman: Water is Life

Segu Blue

Rokku Mi Rokka

Afriki