Mamadou Diabate
MAMADOU DIABATE’S PERCUSSION MANIA
Mamadou Diabate: he brings the sun of West Africa on our stage! Colorful ,as the atmosphere on a market place somewhere in West Africa, is the music of Mamadou Diabate and Percussion Mania. Kanuya – the name of the latest CD – means friendship, respect and appreciation.
You can hear and feel all these with the six musicians on stage. Virtuosic balafonmusic, supported by powerful African rhythms and refined by African chants. A complete scene, in which the body can´t sit still anymore…. See for yourself! . They owe their popularity mainly to the spectacular and virtuosic “balafon duel” between the two brothers, Mamadou and Yacouba.
The master of the Balafon Mamadou Diabate lives and works in Vienna. He composes, sings and plays the balafon as well as various percussion instruments. His concert tours took him to many contries and prestigious festivals. After 12 CDs and countless concerts he became an indispensable part of the world music scene. “He brings the sun of West Africa to our concert stage! In this few words you can rewrite the emotion and energy in Mamadous music. “
Mamadou Diabate – SOLOBALAFON
The balafon as solo-instruments opens a door to West African melodies for European listeners. The Balafons, which are used in the concerts are different in tones, or say harmonies, and so they can demonstrate different ways of african music. On the one hand the compositions are traditional pieces from Burkina Faso, which are played since many many years. And the other side there are compositions from Mamadou, which are influenced by from his life in Europe. In incredible virtuosity Mamadou plays wonderful melodies with rhythmic finesse, completed with the sound of his voice. The sticks are moving in a velocity, which you can´t really realize with your eyes. And if you can not see, that Mamadou is standing alone on stage, because of the sound you would think that there are playing 3 musicians…..
Mamadou Diabate with Percussion Mania
Video clip for CD Seengwa
The Language-Music Connection with Laura McPherson at the Dartmouth College/USA
Kalanso, a song from the CD Nakan played in TivoliVredenburg Utrecht, Holland, 16. May 2019
Live on KEXP - Seattle, 2018-10-18
Folikelaw played at the Africa Festival Hertme, Holland, 2. July 2017
Mamadou about the talking balafon interviewed in TivoliVredenburg Utrecht, Holland, 16. May 2019
with Percussion Mania in India 2016
When Musical Instruments 'Talk'
Press
Balafon, Burkina Faso to Vienna: An Interview With Mamadou Diabaté
When Diabaté is on stage playing the balafon, something magical happens between him and the audience. With his tight strokes, he makes the audience move. When this 46-year-old Burkinabe virtuoso is on fire and plays as fast as he can—which is really fast—the audience stands up and starts dancing. At the end of the show everybody is dancing like mad.
- Bastiaan Springer, Afropop Worldwide
Mamadou Diabaté, porte-parole du balafon Sambla
Mamadou Diabaté, porte-parole du balafon Sambla
Le virtuose balafoniste burkinabé basé en Autriche fait découvrir au monde la richesse de la culture sambla, dont le balafon est le maître-instrument.
- Vladimir Cagnorali, Pan African Music
Sambla Rhythms Bring African Language to Life
The performance was impressive: the xylophone players were at times so fast that the mallets used to hit the keys could barely be seen. After a few songs, the public followed Mamadou’s invitation to stand up and dance, and the second half of the concert saw an entranced crowd dance to Sambla traditional rhythms, and sing along with the band.... "I didn’t expect to have as much fun while learning so much at the same time!" - said one student... - Princeton University - Linguistics
Samblan musicians induce a jubilee of expression with the xylophone
The balafons started, quietly at first, the notes inducing tingles on my spine. Suddenly they began to crescendo. Dembélé joined with his flute, adding in vocals that mimicked the same pitches as the flute itself. The sound was raw, freeing—a jubilee of expression. They began to play louder and louder, the small room becoming engulfed in rich sound. Mamadou began to sing, his voice husky yet soft like butter. The buzzing resonance underneath the clear pitches washed over us. It seemed to me that the musicians and instruments were radiating an energy and light. Every person in the room was immersed in the music. People smiled, swayed and tapped their feet, present in the moment. As I listened, I felt the urge to just run somewhere in an open field or dance.
- Sophie Welch, The Brandeis Hoot
CD Kanuya
Mamadou Diabate`s new CD "Kanuya" is a wonderful example of the fact that stylistic restrictions don`t really have any place in music. He slips into the role of a bridge builder who knows neither musically nor culturally any fear of contact. The fact that the pieces on his album sound so multi-layered is of course also due to the fact that Mamadou Diabate`s combo Percussion Mania (Karim Sanou, Seydou Diabate, Abdoulaye Dembele, Madou Kote and Zakaria Kone) was able to win over people like Wolfgang Puschnig, Jon Sass, Silvio Gabriel as well as the à capella troupe Insingizi for the collaboration. "Kanuya" is an album that simply radiates joie de vivre due to the joy of playing that is palpable at every moment.
- Michael Ternai (MICA)
CD Keneya
The sound of the Sambla balafon, in all its variations, is one that touches souls. To listen to Mamadou Diabate, as the maestro plays the Sambla bala, is truly an awakening experience."
- Issa Mansaray in the
- GlobalRhythm
CD Kamalenya
This record here is a little masterpiece by the balaphonist Mamadou. Together with his fellow countrymen Karim and Louis Sanou he burns down rhythmical fireworks, which are not only exciting in tempo but also played in a quite subtle and sophisticated manner. Along with wonderfully lightfooted and narrative runs on the balaphon there are not only the jembe drums but also the warm sounds of the Ngoni, a (mostly six stringed) relative of the kora. Thus lyrical elements are coming into the game, and especially from the balaphon you’ll hear sequences clearly marking the kinship between African roots and American (Jazz) blossoms.
- Norbert Mojo Mendiola
CD Sira Fila
...the relaxed contributions of the trombonist convey a very soulful feeling, the acoustic bass is anchor and focus in the swirling Afrobeat... for the friends of pure drum fever there are two djembe-based treats to hear.... a round, stimulating thing, not only for dancing and not only for Afro fans! - Robert Stubenrauch in JazzLive a pulsating brew of magnificent melodic arcs, carried by the loud-painting balafon playing, as well as uniting sound cultures at the highest level. - Manfred Horak in JazzZeit The music is beautiful, carried by an incomparable tension.... A wonderful gift. - Serge Taffou in der Wiener Zeitung
CD Masaba Kan
On "Masaba Kan" the charismatic musician shows his sound world in 13 gripping pieces full of improvisational finesse, powerful melodicism and rhythmic complexity. He is supported by his seven-piece band with the spit lute ngoni, flute, djembe, talking drums, bass drum dundun and electric bass. Again and again, the bright voice of singer Kandy Guira stands out from the densely woven grooves; she is the second star next to Mamadou´s breakneck virtuoso intermezzi. Forward-storming dance pieces like "Tonton Tanti" alternate with bluesy hymns ("Fenba") majestic balafon traditions ("Son Min te Ne La", "Yentogon") with melancholic pop tones ("Sanji") or fusion rock structures ("Danga").
- Stefan Franzen,
Jazzhaus Records
Calendar
Discography
SEENGWA - 2022 (Delicious Tunes)
NAKAN - 2019 (Lotus Records)
DOUBA FOLI: NOIR ET BLANC - 2016 (ATS Records)
