Pitchfork: Toumani Diabate's "Mande Variations" is "Captivating from Start to Finish"

Toumani Diabate, on his recent release, The Mande Variations, has recorded his first solo kora album in two decades. Pitchfork gives it an 8.3 rating, with reviewer Joshua Klein calling it "the real thing, casually captivating from start to finish, with Diabaté's modesty and restraint keeping his virtuosity and the rigor of his compositions from calling conspicuous attention to themselves."

In contrast to his 2006 album Boulevard de l'Independence, with his full Symmetric Orchestra, The Mande Variations is "just Diabaté and his unadorned kora," writes Klein, "recorded with maximum clarity as he pays tribute to his roots and peers."

Pitchfork points to the many collaborations with which Toumani has been involved over the years, with artists from Björk to Ali Farka Toure (In the Heart of the Moon), as "a real testament to Diabaté's talent that an instrument as distinctive as the kora can be made to fit in such disparate surroundings," and sees the new solo album "as a sort of crash course in the kora's versatility."

"It's haunting stuff, no doubt," concludes the review, "... in the awe inspired by hearing music this pure woven from the hands of a man."

To read the full review, visit pitchforkmedia.com.

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