Prince Diabate - Biography
By Nick Castro
Prince Diabate is one of the most famous kora playing griots to cross the ocean from Guinea. He has both upheld traditions of his country, we well as having blurred the lines of world music and and world fusion. His endless collaborations have produced works that have both inspired and entertained audiences across the world. Though many world music purists have brought his works under close scrutiny, Diabate is indeed a master at his instrument and he has come from the traditional background needed to induce confidence in his authenticity, though his choices of collaborators may belie that fact. Diabate originally came from a Malinké background. Diabate's whole family played the kora, even his mother, which was considered highly unorthodox for Guinea at that time. As a young child, Diabate would accompany his parents at concerts and he already knew that a life in music was an obvious choice for him. He also attended the National Academy of the Arts, in Guinea.
Diabate's instrument, the kora, is made from a bottle gourd, which has matured to an age that will insure its sturdy outer shell. The gourd is cut in half and covered in cow skin, to be used as a resonating chamber. A long neck is then inserted to the gourd and 21 strings cascade down the side, to create a harp like instrument, whose sound has often been compared to that of the flamenco guitar styles of southern Spain. The instrument is generally played with 2 fingers to pluck the strings, often with virtuosic speed. Usually, the instrument is learned by griot musicians in West Africa. The griots orally pass down the regional histories of their people through the use of song. Though the intonation is slightly different, the scales used by most griots similarly resemble those used by western musicians, such as major and minor scales. It is said the origins of the kora lie somewhere in the 17th century. In many West African countries, one who plays the kora is known as a Jali. Other than Prince Diabate, some notable modern kora players include Mamadou Diabate, Toumani Kouyate and Foday Musa Suso, who also plays a modified electric version called the gravikord.
Over the years, Diabate has had many partners in music. Often he chooses to mix instrumentation of different cultures to create a unique blend of timbre and styles. One of Diabate's many groups are Tumbafé, who are a quartet who combine musicians from the United States, Africa and India. The group serve as both performers and teachers, offering instruction at the Sangeet School of World Music & Dance, in Los Angeles. The instrumentation of the group consisted of kora, sitar and mridangam, a double headed Indian drum, and the talking drum, a pitch changing drum from Africa.
Diabate began to collaborate with Amara Sanoh, in 1986, and for ten years they toured the world and released the album Guinea: Song & Kora (1995 - Buda Musique), as Prince Diabate & Amara Sanoh. Together, they composed every track on the disc, such as the album's opener "La Maranaa". Diabate has also joined forced with The New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Adam Del Monte, Hassan Hakmoun as well as Ozomatli and Michael Brook.
Diabate has managed to garner not only attention from the world music media but also has been able to gain grants for his work from Los Angeles institutions as varied as The Durfee Foundation, Los Angeles County Arts Commision and the Alliance for California Traditional Arts.
Diabate's first album was New Life (2001 - Sunrise), which is produced like an afropop record with song styles as varied as merengue, rap, reggae and middle eastern. Diabate handles much of the song compositions, such as "Hadja Sira" and " Cora-Sabar". He sings in many languages on the album, including English, French, Suse and Malinké. His viruosic playing on this album is what led to his nickname The Hendrix of the Kora. Diabate also very liberally mixed electric and acoustic instruments. Other musicians on the album include Abdoulaye Diabate on acoustic guitar, Andre Manga on keyboards, Ken Rosser on guitar, Richard Fultaneer on drums and Cee Van Der Lindon on bass. Half of the the record was recorded in Los Angeles and half was recorded in Brooklyn, New York.
Diabate also released the album Djerelon (2006 - Kora Company Collection), which features the famed Salif Keita on acoustic guitar. Although this album is far more acoustic than his previous album, he still manages to mix in some electric bass and guitar. Also featured on the album is balafon, which is a type of African marimba. The album is upbeat, though it manages to work in many minor key melodies, which in the west, are not commonly associated with upbeat musics. Some of his compositions are "Barki" and "Fulbe Fouta".
Diabate has made major contributions to both the world music scene at large as well as to the Los Angeles one. Hs influenece can be heard through many of the young musician in the Los Angeles area who have even a passing interest in the music of Africa and the griots. Though Diabate may be breaking tradition by not passing his skills down within the Guinea society, he has passed his skills on in a more universal setting. His music has carried him to prestigious concert dates across the world in places such as Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Montreal and London.
Diabate can be heard in his Los Angeles concerts with fellow musicians Ken Rosser on guitar, Becky Allen on vocals, Linda Albertano on bolon and Richard Fultineer on krin and doundounba. Diabate manages to maintain bands in Los Angeles, New York and Paris simultaneously. He is considered one of the world's premiere kora virtuosos.
