Mamadou Diabaté

Mamadou Diabaté is a genius kora player from Mali. He is the brother of Toumani and Mahamadou Diabaté. He started playing the kora at a very young age with his father, who was a legendary kora player too. At eight-years-old, he was already performing on TV shows. He studied music at the National Institute of Arts (INA), in Bamako. Since then he has pursued his musical career, collaborating with artists such as Rokia Traoré, Babani Koné, Mariam Kouyaté and Toumani Diabaté.

Mamadou was in Kirina the day we recorded the dreams of Kirina video and the very first track on Three Little Birds for the PFC2 - Songs Around The World with Baaba Maal. The idea was to bring together musicians from Mali and Senegal and recorded them playing together in Kirina, as that village is a symbol for all West Africa. Mamadou's virtuosity on kora can be appreciated in the Dreams of Kirina video, featuring Baaba Maal, from Senegal.