The Mande Variations

All instrumental, solo music by an incredibly talented and unique Kora player. The Kora is a West African stringed instrument which has also been called the lute-harp (by those who need a point of reference). You really have to hear it to believe and appreciate it. I'm an accomplished acoustic and electric guitar player, heavily influenced by a wide variety of classical misic. For long lasting, non-intrusive listenability, I highly recommend this, especially for musicians of stringed instruments, including of course the piano. The melodic and rhytmic counterpoint is phenomenal and unique. I get drawn into it similar to the way that Mozart's Nachtmusik or Vivaldi's Four Seasons do, it's meditative. His earlier album is very similar, Kaira. Fame did not spoil this talent. I bought them both at the same time. Make no mistake: this is very fine art.

During a stay at a friend's house, I was introduced to the intoxicating music of Toumani Diabate. I can't even count the number of times I have played The Mande Variations, probably hundreds. The heartfelt connection from a musician to his instrument has never been more beautifully expressed than the music from this album. Reviews with the words, "addictive", "amazing" and my own, "intoxicating" are all true. I have this album on my iPod and brought it with me to Burning Man to be played at a theme camp on stadium speakers. In about 10 minutes, hundreds of people were drawn to this music, it is that powerful. There is a utube video of him playing, eyes closed and you watch a musician totally in the zone and in the moment of bliss. This music is bliss. This man is magic and a gift to us all.

There are a ton of reasons why people consider this a classic. It lifts and soothes. It runs through your skin into your beating heart. Wow!

Toumani Diabaté comes from a long line of Malian kora players, the kora being a 21-string harp crafted from a halved calabash gourd and cow skin, with nylon strings. This is only his second solo album from a large discography - the first one was in 1988. He has however recorded duet albums, like the lyrical New Ancient Strings with another talented kora player Ballake Cissoko and more recently a gently mesmerising In The Heart of The Moon, with the late Ali Farka Toure. He then assembled the enormous Symmetric Orchestra to record Boulevard de L'independence, a funky but somewhat noisy dance extravaganza where his usual subtlety was set aside.

Now he comes full circle back to his roots with a fascinating and gorgeous Mande Variations for solo kora (albeit with a few overdubs), a suite of original compositions, including a tribute to Ali Farka Toure. This is true griot-based music (despite the brief allusion to the Good Bad & the Ugly at one point), but don't think because he plays a primitive instrument the music is likewise. It is sophisticated, elaborate music - perhaps the sound equivalent of the most exquisite Berber carpet - washing over the listener with lush melodies and rhythms that are expanded with extraordinarily virtuosic improvisations. He is certainly at his brilliant best here - clear, confident, subtle and mesmerising, confirming once again his place as one of the masters of this beautiful and distinctive instrument.

Another quietly beautiful and reflective masterpiece from Toumani Diabate. He is by far one of the most luminous West African musicians the world has been honored to listen to. I would probably never get to listen to him live, so this is as good as it gets for me! And I'm never disappointed with his albums. At once spiritual and tender, not to be missed...because if you haven't discovered it,the kora is the instrument which is connected to our heartstrings and our mind's inflections. Savor it, find yourself in it.

Toumani Diabaté, the kora guru of Africa, has outdone himself with this collection of solo instrumental pieces. The virtuosity in fingering the kora, the richness of the rhythms and range of melodies is unmatched by anything this Malian musician has done previously. I enjoyed his earlier solo collection, "Kaira", produced twenty years ago and his "New Ancient Strings" (1999), with which he and the younger Ballake Sissoko paid homage to their fathers' musical genius. Yet now, with this CD he has reached a level of maturity, depth and musicality not previously achieved. For fans of the West African kora, this is a must in their collection; for the "newbies", this is a great introduction into a mesmerizing aspect of Malian music and treat to enjoy over and over again. It will very likely become addictive. This is music to lose yourself in.

Toumani Diabaté comes from a long line of Malian musicians. His father was the most famous kora player of his time and Toumani often pays credit to him through his music. Nonetheless, the younger Diabaté has refined the abilities of the instrument and enriched the playing techniques over the years. Elements of these could already be detected in the award winning "In The Heart of the Moon", a collaboration with the legendary guitarist, the late Ali Farka Touré. Toumani, being largely self-taught, has been open to experimenting with this traditional instrument, without abandoning its unique sound and complex harmonies. As he traveled the world, he absorbed and learned from other musical cultures, such as Indian classical music, flamenco and blues. The compositions on this CD harmoniously integrate such influences with melodies and rhythms of the past. All are his, or presented in his adaptation. Soft melodies that seem to tell gentle stories alternate with more vivacious and energetic pieces. Not surprisingly, a special homage is included for Ali Farka that he would have treasured. Toumani's extraordinary technical skill lets him expand the fingering to incorporate the bass line as an accompaniment creating the impression that two koras are playing. Furthermore, recently Toumani has been experimenting, successfully as the pieces here exemplify, with two differently strung koras, one for the traditional melodies and harmonies, the other for his more "modern" compositions. The photos in the included booklet show the details of the finger settings. The explanations of the background to the two kora stringings and insights into the stories behind each piece are written by the musician himself. A beautiful gift to yourself or for people you care deeply about. [Friederike Knabe]

This is a fantastic album from Toumani Diabate which brings out the beauty of the kora. Diabate is a master at this instrument and he weaves magic into his tunes. It is easy to drift away into a fantasyland while listening to his soothing yet fully alive music. Also, for people familiar with Indian music, the instrument (or perhaps Diabate's playing) sounds a little like the santoor (dulcimer) even though it is very different in design. Si Naani, Elyne Road, Kaounding Cissko and Cantelowes are my favorites. You can't go wrong with this album.

This is another great complation of music. Toumani Diabate is one of my favorite artists. His humility comes through in all his music and this CD is no exception. I play this and other of his work during parties, family gatherings etc and someone ALWAYS says how deep and meaningful it is, as well as beautiful - even those whose only concept of music is classic rock!!

Toumani Diabate is a master musician from West Africa who has played the multi-stringed, lute-like harp known as a kora in a wide variety of circumstances and styles. He has played both traditional music and experimental pop crossovers, with expansive arrangements and simple, stripped-down sets.

This elegant album of solo kora pieces is one of Diabate's purest and most personal recordings. A real jaw-dropper from a technical standpoint, "The Mande Variations" shows an amazing stylistic and tonal breadth - some pieces are quiet, peaceful mediations, others are driving and intense, a whirlwind flurry of notes and emotional power. It is certainly one of the finest African albums of recent years, utterly beautiful and quite moving from start to finish. Highly recommended! (DJ Joe Sixpack, Slipcue world music reviews)

Toumani Diabate is obviously a master. His string based kora sound is clear and complex and creates a listener experience which remains fresh. It has a ringing, chiming quality and forms a sound of immense range. The music is not strange to westerners: it is so "musical" by any standard. Because of its fresh chiming presence the work is a masterpiece.

Toumani Diabate is a master on this musical instrument the core'...an african harp. Beautiful music, great music to have on in the house, if you like harp music with a world music sound I highly recommend this...

I brought this home and listened to it four times running; then ordered 4 more CDs by Toumani Diabate.

It's hard to believe that this is only one person playing. The rhythms are complex, but every note glows.

The only other performer I have ever heard with this level of musicianship is Andres Segovia.

Toumani Diabate has out done himself. Being one of the greatest Jeli on the kora is no easy task. As they say in Mandekan, "the four thousand four hundred and four Jelis from which he descends would be proud." The Mande Variations is a testiment to a civilization dating to at least 1600 BCE in Dhar Tichitt. By 250 BCE, Ancient Jenne became the commercial centre of the Mande. Around 300 CE, the Mande established a great empire, known popularly as Ghana. Around 1220 CE, Sundiata of Mali shifted expanded the empire to unprecedented heights. And now, Toumani Diabate does the same with his kora.

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