Mamadou Sidiki Diabaté (born September 23, 1982) is a prominent Mandé kora player and jeli from Bamako, Mali.
"Mandé," often used to describe Madou and his family, is a broad cultural designation of several ethnic groups in West Africa, including (though not exclusively) the Mandinka, Maninka (or "Malinke"), Sarakole, Bambara, and Dyula, residing primarily in Gambia, Senegal, Guinea, Mali, the northern regions of Ivory Coast, and the western regions of Burkina Faso.
Since 1997, Madou has been playing lead kora with some of the most important West African singers and musicians, including Kandia Kouyaté, Baaba Maal, and Salif Keita, among others.
Madou is renowned for his extensive knowledge of traditional kora repertoire and command of both jazz sensibilities and foreign influences.
The Diabaté family has produced 72 generations of kora players and jalis, the Malian counterpart of griots, or West African historians.
A jali transmits the ancient oral history of western Africa through poetry and praise songs, and, like the Diabaté family, they are often also musicians.
"Kaira," one of Sidiki's more popular songs, shares its name with a collective of young jalis in the Kita region of western Mali.
Although the group was banned by the colonial French, the song remained popular and encouraged support for the Malian branch of the African Democratic Rally, led by the first president of independent Mali, Modibo Keita.
Toumani was the first kora player to win a Grammy Award in 2006 and he has collaborated with musicians from all over the world, including Taj Mahal, Ketama, and Roswell Rudd.
Lucy Durán writes that the album "is rooted in the timeless classical tradition of the Mali that was once, during the pre-colonial era, played at the courts of kings and emperors; but it is reworked to the contemporary styles that are currently in favour in Bamako – the hot-house of many of West Africa’s finest musicians".
The Mandé Sound is characterized by samba rhythms, parallel thirds vocal harmony, and smooth, virtuosic electric guitar leads.
This style frequently makes use of traditional Mandé instruments such as the kora, ngoni (plucked lute,) and balafon (framed xylophone).