On 19 July the world lost one of its most eloquent instrumentalists..
Malian kora virtuoso Toumani Diabate was 58; he died after a short illness.
He was not the only great kora player, but he was, unquestionably, the kora’s most prominent and most influential exponent; Toumani Diabate turned it into a “concert” instrument.
At age 22 he recorded Kaira – the world’s first absolutely solo kora album.
(oft-misdescribed as an African “harp”, the kora is in fact a harp-lute)
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