Toumani & Sidiki Diabaté

SEVEN CENTURIES OF MYSTICAL TRADITION

In a rare father-and-son collaboration, Toumani Diabaté, genius of African music and widely recognised as the greatest living kora player, has recorded an album of duets with his son Sidiki, the instrument's emerging star.

The kora is a 21-string West African harp which the Diabaté dynasty has elevated into the most iconic of African instruments. Descended from a line of griots - custodians of the ancient oral traditions of West Africa's Mandé people stretching back seven hundred years - the names Toumani and Sidiki are significant names in the annals of African music. Toumani recorded the first solo kora album in 1988, and has brought the instrument to the world, with albums, tours, GRAMMY awards and collaborations with the likes of Ali Farka Touré, Herbie Hancock, Damon Albarn and Bjork. He also has built an impressive array of fans along the way, including President Barack Obama, who chose Toumani's collaboration with Taj Mahal as his all-time favourite album.

Toumani's eldest son Sidiki moves things forward again. In Mali's capital Bamako the 23 year old is a star. Voted Mali's best beat maker in 2013, Sidiki runs his own recording and programming studio and alongside rapper 'Iba One' is one half of the country's premier hip-hop duo, who fill the 20,000 seater Modibo Keita stadium. At the same time he has a deep knowledge of Mande culture and a formidable technique on the kora.

The playing is extraordinary. There is telepathic communication, the finishing of each other's musical sentences - dazzling musicianship. The kora is the quietest of instruments but is here played with verve and attack, groove, wit, swing and bounce, ecstatic excitement and exquisite intimacy. And always with a flowing pulse and groove. Toumani & Sidiki sounds unlike any other album of kora duets.

"Every note in this rich tapestry of strings is exquisitely calibrated in the pursuit of perfection." (Songlines *****)

"A rare treat, one of the CDs of the year." (Evening Standard *****)

"This album ranks among Toumani's best work" (The Times ****)