Music CD - Toumani Diabate: The Mande Variations

	Music CD: The Mande Variations Artist: Toumani Diabate List Price: $18.98 Our Price: $13.42 Your Save: $ 5.56 ( 29% ) Availability: Usually ships in 1 to 2 days Manufacturer: Nonesuch
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Tracks: 1. Si Naani 2. Elyne Road 3. Ali Farka Toure 4. Kaounding Cissoko 5. Ismael Drame 6. Djourou Kara Nany 7. El Nabiyouna 8. Cantelowes
Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0075597994421 Label: Nonesuch Manufacturer: Nonesuch Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Nonesuch Release Date: 2008-02-26 Studio: Nonesuch
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Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Intoxicating Comment: During a stay at a friend's house, I was introduced to the intoxicating music of Toumani Diabate. I can't even count the number of times I have played The Mande Variations, probably hundreds. The heartfelt connection from a musician to his instrument has never been more beautifully expressed than the music from this album. Reviews with the words, "addictive", "amazing" and my own, "intoxicating" are all true. I have this album on my iPod and brought it with me to Burning Man to be played at a theme camp on stadium speakers. In about 10 minutes, hundreds of people were drawn to this music, it is that powerful. There is a utube video of him playing, eyes closed and you watch a musician totally in the zone and in the moment of bliss. This music is bliss. This man is magic and a gift to us all. Customer Rating: Summary: Incredible Comment: There are a ton of reasons why people consider this a classic. It lifts and soothes. It runs through your skin into your beating heart. Wow! Customer Rating: Summary: Toumani at his best doing sophisticated roots music Comment: Toumani Diabaté comes from a long line of Malian kora players, the kora being a 21-string harp crafted from a halved calabash gourd and cow skin, with nylon strings. This is only his second solo album from a large discography - the first one was in 1988. He has however recorded duet albums, like the lyrical New Ancient Strings with another talented kora player Ballake Cissoko and more recently a gently mesmerising In The Heart of The Moon, with the late Ali Farka Toure. He then assembled the enormous Symmetric Orchestra to record Boulevard de L'independence, a funky but somewhat noisy dance extravaganza where his usual subtlety was set aside. Now he comes full circle back to his roots with a fascinating and gorgeous Mande Variations for solo kora (albeit with a few overdubs), a suite of original compositions, including a tribute to Ali Farka Toure. This is true griot-based music (despite the brief allusion to the Good Bad & the Ugly at one point), but don't think because he plays a primitive instrument the music is likewise. It is sophisticated, elaborate music - perhaps the sound equivalent of the most exquisite Berber carpet - washing over the listener with lush melodies and rhythms that are expanded with extraordinarily virtuosic improvisations. He is certainly at his brilliant best here - clear, confident, subtle and mesmerising, confirming once again his place as one of the masters of this beautiful and distinctive instrument. Customer Rating: Summary: Sublime Comment: Another quietly beautiful and reflective masterpiece from Toumani Diabate. He is by far one of the most luminous West African musicians the world has been honored to listen to. I would probably never get to listen to him live, so this is as good as it gets for me! And I'm never disappointed with his albums. At once spiritual and tender, not to be missed...because if you haven't discovered it,the kora is the instrument which is connected to our heartstrings and our mind's inflections. Savor it, find yourself in it. Customer Rating: Summary: Warning - highly addictive Comment: Toumani Diabaté, the kora guru of Africa, has outdone himself with this collection of solo instrumental pieces. The virtuosity in fingering the kora, the richness of the rhythms and range of melodies is unmatched by anything this Malian musician has done previously. I enjoyed his earlier solo collection, "Kaira", produced twenty years ago and his "New Ancient Strings" (1999), with which he and the younger Ballake Sissoko paid homage to their fathers' musical genius. Yet now, with this CD he has reached a level of maturity, depth and musicality not previously achieved. For fans of the West African kora, this is a must in their collection; for the "newbies", this is a great introduction into a mesmerizing aspect of Malian music and treat to enjoy over and over again. It will very likely become addictive. This is music to lose yourself in. Toumani Diabaté comes from a long line of Malian musicians. His father was the most famous kora player of his time and Toumani often pays credit to him through his music. Nonetheless, the younger Diabaté has refined the abilities of the instrument and enriched the playing techniques over the years. Elements of these could already be detected in the award winning "In The Heart of the Moon", a collaboration with the legendary guitarist, the late Ali Farka Touré. Toumani, being largely self-taught, has been open to experimenting with this traditional instrument, without abandoning its unique sound and complex harmonies. As he traveled the world, he absorbed and learned from other musical cultures, such as Indian classical music, flamenco and blues. The compositions on this CD harmoniously integrate such influences with melodies and rhythms of the past. All are his, or presented in his adaptation. Soft melodies that seem to tell gentle stories alternate with more vivacious and energetic pieces. Not surprisingly, a special homage is included for Ali Farka that he would have treasured. Toumani's extraordinary technical skill lets him expand the fingering to incorporate the bass line as an accompaniment creating the impression that two koras are playing. Furthermore, recently Toumani has been experimenting, successfully as the pieces here exemplify, with two differently strung koras, one for the traditional melodies and harmonies, the other for his more "modern" compositions. The photos in the included booklet show the details of the finger settings. The explanations of the background to the two kora stringings and insights into the stories behind each piece are written by the musician himself. A beautiful gift to yourself or for people you care deeply about. [Friederike Knabe] More Reviews
Editorial Reviews: The Mand‚ Variations is Malian legend Toumani Diabat‚'s first solo recording in 20 years and it is a stunningly beautiful, immediately accessible blend of traditional melodies, original compositions and breathtaking improvisations from the world-renowned virtuoso of the kora, the 21-stringed West African harp. According to London's The Guardian, 'Diabat‚ mixes fearsome technique with a deep humanism and a magical ability to improvise scintillating runs out of thin air.' American concertgoers who saw Diabat‚ with members of his celebrated dance band, the Symmetric Orchestra, on his spring-summer '07 tour in support of his previous World Circuit Nonesuch disc, Boulevard de L'Independanc‚, witnessed a performance that was nothing short of astonishing.