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Sidiki Diabaté
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Sidiki Diabaté is a Malian kora player, singer and music producer, born in Bamako in 1992. He is the son of the kora player Toumani Diabaté and the grandson of his namesake Sidiki Diabaté. He belongs to the 77th generation of a family of griots, musicians who preserve and pass on the history of their people. In his family almost all the musicians are kora players. His uncle Mamadou Sidiki Diabaté plays the kora, and so does Sona Jobarteh, a cousin of his father, who is a well-known kora player and the first female kora player from a griot family.
Music and breakthrough
The kora is a West African harp with a large calabash as its resonating body and a long neck. His best-known record is Toumani & Sidiki from 2014, an album on which father and son play together. In 2016 came Diabateba Music, Vol. 1. Since 2015 he has been a member of the musical collective Lamomali, led by Matthieu Chedid.
Influence
With his work he continues a long tradition, but he also connects it with younger forms. Anyone who hears Toumani & Sidiki hears two generations in conversation. In 2020 he was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a former girlfriend.