May
03
Filed Under (Ethnomusicology, General, Malian culture) by Rob on 03-05-2010

Is one of Mali’s most prestigious virtuoso Kora players, and I got to see him perform in Bamako recently:

The photo above was taken at said concert, which was a great occasion with some fab playing! His entourage was a band of around 15 people, including guitars, djembe, tamanin, vocalists and the balafon (seen at the bottom of the picture). The only minor disappointment was that, given the size of the band, Toumani himself played relatively few solos, even though most of us had come to here him! Great gig, nonetheless, and definitely worth seeing.

I was surprised, I must confess, to discover that Toumani was only born in 1965, as he seemed much older than that to me. Find out more about him on Wikipedia: here and also click here for his ‘My Space’ page.

UK readers – I see he’s doing a few concerts in ‘Old Blighty’ in the next couple of months, notably:

Belfast on Wednesday 5th May
Minehead on Friday 7th May
The Barbican, London, on 2nd June (info here).
Cheltenham on 5th June

Unfortunately, you’ll have to pay significantly more than the £4.30 (3000 cfa) it cost me to see him in his home country, but still worthwhile if you can afford it!

Finally, here’s a vid of Toumani in action – amazing stuff! Thanks for reading.



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