Sound Republic: Music News

The Woodford Files: Mamadou Diabate

Share |

By Richard Wilson
24 December 2008

Related Artists

Mamadou Diabate

Related Festivals

Woodford Folk Festival (2008)

Next as part of Soulshine's Woodford Files comes Mamadou Diabate from Mali, representing just a small portion of the international and world music on offer at the Woodford Folk Festival.

Mamadou Diabate graced our shores earlier this year with a number of performances, firstly at WOMADelaide and then later with daily performances at Bluesfest at Byron Bay. Anyone that has seen him will profess to the truly beatific sound created by the kora, his unique indigenous instrument that could best be described sound-wise as a combination of a harp and guitar.

Mamadou's father Djelimory played the kora, the jeli's venerable 21-string harp. He was widely known as N'fa Diabate, performing in the Instrumental Ensemble of Mali and recording on the National Radio of Mali. At the age of four, Mamadou went to live with his father in Bamako, where the Ensemble was based. When it came time for him to return to Kita and go to school, Mamadou knew that the kora was his destiny. His father had taught him how to play the instrument, and from there he listened and watched and devoted himself to practicing the kora, to the point that his mother worried that he was not concentrating enough on school. When she took it away, it only reduced his interest in studying, and he quickly resorted to making his own kora so he could continue.

Before long, Mamadou left school and began playing kora for local jeli singers, and traveling throughout the region to play at the ceremonies where modern jelis ply their trade, mostly weddings and baptisms. When he was fifteen, Mamadou won first prize for his kora playing in a regional competition and instantly became something of a local celebrity. The next 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 the powerful at the city's posh Amitié Hotel. Toumani gave his cousin the nickname "Djelika Djan" meaning "Tall Griot," a reference to Mamadou's impressive physical stature. The name has stuck.

Mamadou Diabate performs five times across the festival. Saturday, Sunday and Thursday at the Concert, at 10am, 12:40pm and 2pm respectively. Wednesday he performs at the Bazaar at 12pm and also later that night takes part in The Big Bang New Year's Eve celebrations which kick off at 9pm in the Amphitheatre.

Check out Mamadou's melodic sounds in the Soulshine Music Player, currently available on our homepage.

Note: times and dates of performances may change and should be used as a guide only. Please check with the Woodford Folk Festival website for the latest: http://www.woodfordfolkfestival.com/

Share |