Toumani Diabaté

Toumani Diabaté
I’ve been listening to Toumani Diabaté for years, especially to "New Ancient Strings",a spooky mix between strings, tribal rhythms, brass, kora...It had already influenced me for Vespertine, where I soiled the sound of the too angelical instruments, like the harp or the glockenspiel...

Les Inrockuptibles, March 2007

Toumani Diabaté
She wanted everything to work naturally. In Mali, I played and she sang, trying lyrics she had brought until the syllables fit and they had a few songs. She chose “Hope“ and handed another one to me. She said, ‘Take this and use it any way you like.’ I couldn’t imagine a superstar doing that. She opened a new door for the kora.

the New York Times, 29 april 2007

Toumani Diabate
She’s very nice. She listened to ’New Ancient Strings’ and decided to include kora in her music. She spent the week in Bamako, going to the market to go shopping. She was very cool, not playing the big superstar.

www.ft.com, February 2 2008

Toumani Diabate
Both Konono and Toumani Diabate – they changed my music. Toumani Diabate especially. I mean, he’s a virtuoso of highest degree. Playing with him was such a privilege, because his kora playing just makes your head want to fall off. I went to Mali for a week and we tried several things – and I’m going to meet him more often here. It makes we want to shout and scream, it’s exciting.

TheLipster.com, April 10 2008

working with Toumani Diabaté
We could have exchanged musical ideas electronically. But I wanted to sing it with him at the same moment, because it’s always different when you do that.

the New York Times, 29 april 2007