The Diabate Family Ensemble

Throughout West Africa, the name Diabate is well-known and synonymous with music. The Griot (called Djeli in the Manding culture of Mali) is the historian (the book), the bard, and musician of the society who keeps the history and culture of the people alive. The Diabate are a Griot family with a rich tradition dating back over eight hundred years, to the founding of the great Malian empire and the rule of the famous king, Sundiata Keita. One has to be born into a Griot family and over generations the Diabate family has passed down the heritage of their ancestor to each succeeding generation. They have become the master musicians who now have hundreds of songs in their repertoire and play the primary instruments key to the Griot tradition: ngoni (stringed lute), ballaphone (xylophone-like instrument), kora (stringed gourd), and various drums. The Diabate Family Ensemble plays the indigenous music from that ancient tradition, each piece representing the music that accompanies the songs and oral tradition relevant to the Manding society. The members include Cheick Hamala Diabate (ngoni/Koni), Boubacar Diabate (djembe drum), Mamadou Diabate (kora), Famorou Diabate (ballaphone), and Broulaye Diabate (vocals). Mamadou Diabate was born in 1975 in Kita, Mali. At fifteen he won first prize for his kora playing in a regional competition and instantly became something of a local celebrity. The following year he went to Bamako, and under the tutelage of his famous kora playing cousin, Toumani Diabate, he worked the jeli circuit, backing singers at neighborhood weddings and baptisms and entertaining at the city’s posh Amitie Hotel. In 1996 a touring group from the Instrumental Ensemble of Mali offered him the chance to travel to the U.S. and he has since made his home in and around New York. He gets frequent invitations to perform with visiting Malian stars, and has performed at the United Nations and the Smithsonian Institute. He addition, he has jammed with all manner of New York musicians, including jazz luminaries Donald Byrd and Randy Weston.