Diabaté

His fellow musicians often refer to him as just "Diabaté". But if you search on the internet you'll soon find that Abdoulaye Diabaté is the subject - or victim even - of a lot of confusion.
So let me get a few things straight. He doesn't play the kora, but does have an above average talent as a drummer. He does have a brother, but isn't the brother of Kassemady. He does not live in Canada or the US, but in Koutiala in the Sikasso region of Mali.

This Abdoulaye Diabaté (subject of earlier posts, here and here) is the man who drove audiences wild* at the Biennales in the 1980s.
I first met him at the 1988 Biennale, which was the last of the old style Biennales. I even interviewed him and Mamadou Diakité, chef d'orchestre of the Kéné Star, the regional orchestra of Sikasso. He struck me then as a somewhat shy person, who left all the talking to Mamadou Diakité.
I met him again just over a year later, when he was playing with his own Koule Star in Markala, near Segou. Surrounded by local (female) fans, he was far more relaxed and obviously in his element. He even allowed me to make some recordings, which I may post at a later date.

Both at the Biennale and at the Markala concert he played most of the tracks of this cassette. The track "Louanze", about the poor legal position of tenants, even became a nationwide hit.
At the concert in Markala he surprised me by dedicating a song to me; much to my annoyance the song was "Africa", which I consider to be the most irritating song on this album.....

This is certainly not my favourite album by Abdoulaye Diabaté. It was recorded in Abidjan, and that is always a huge handicap for Malian musicians. It usually means arrogant recording engineers imposing their technical gadgets on overwhelmed artists. In that respect the lp, which was later released for the western market, is in my opinion slightly worse than the cassette. So I am including both the cassette and the lp, so you can make up your own mind.

Luckily Diabaté did manage to slip in two more 'basic' tracks, with only guitar and ngoni accompanying his (brilliant) vocals. These two tracks alone justify posting this album.....

SYL 8387 cassette
Syllart 8387, Melodie 38765 lp

As a bonus I am adding this video, from a concert in 1988 in Bamako. The track is actually from the cassette which I posted earlier.


*all within Malian proportions, that is. So no hysterical scenes....

EDIT March 14, 2016: the link to the cassette version has been renewed!

Koulé Star

The Koulé Star, orchestra of the cercle of Koutiala, was founded in 1958. They never rose above the level of local fame, until in 1976 they managed to convince Abdoulaye Diabaté to join them as a singer.

Abdoulaye Diabaté is originally from Zinzana, a village not far from Ségou. His father, Baba, was a 'furuboloma', a griot who acts as a marriage intermediary and organiser, and his mother Assitan Dembélé, a well-known singer in the Bambara tradition. Although Abdoulaye started singing as a young boy of eight, he was hesitant to choose singing as a career, and instead preferred to finish his studies to become an accountant.
Having completed a two-year study in Bamako, he travels to Koutiala in 1972 to start a job as an accountant. Caught by rain and thunder on his arrival, an older lady, Mamou Diallo, offers the tired traveller shelter and food. As she is the jatigi (host), she claims Abdoulaye (being a Diabaté - i.e. from a griot family) as her griot. Abdoulaye agrees to this. As her griot he subsequently studies the lineage of Peul families (Diallo is one of the Peul families). But his main occupation remains the job as an accountant.
He doesn't perform in public, until Mamou Diallo asks him to compete in a competition between quartiers. He contributes five songs, and his quartier wins the competition.

A year later, in 1976, the lead vocalist of the local orchestra, the Koulé Star, doesn't show up at a concert, and Diabaté is persuaded to join them, - initially for one concert, but after the huge success of that performance, and after consulting his employer ànd Mamou Diallo, as a permanent member.

In a future post I will focus on Abdoulaye's association with the regional orchestra of Sikasso.
But for now, here is a cassette which the Koulé Star released in the 1980s. I bought it in 1988, but I am sure the recordings were made earlier.
Unfortunately, as with the cassette I posted earlier, the quality is rather poor. This is not due to the cassette itself, but to the recording. The cassette has been recently re-released in Mali and this re-release has the same flaw as the earlier version.
The music itself is, however, brilliant and the cassette is one of the many classics of Malian music.

SYL 8343

Additionally, here is video clip of Abdoulaye Diabaté singing/playbacking the track "Mamou Diallo". This video was recorded at least a decade after the cassette, probably in Koutiala. The sound quality is remarkably good; and I like the dancing.....