Live: Toumani Diabate Gives Pounds to the Crowd at Le Poisson Rouge
One of my favorite listening moments of last year came at the tail end of kora player Toumani Diabate's stunning solo display, The Mande Variations. After an elaborate showcase that wound through a classical piece commemorating Alexander the Great and a ruminative homage to the recently departed Malian guitarist Ali Farka Toure (the two dueted brilliantly on 2005's In the Heart of the Moon), Diabate put 700 years of the kora's tradition behind him as he reprised the theme from "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." From Morricone's iconic whistled melody, Diabate veered back to the spellbinding nuances of this 21-string harp-lute (comprised of calabash, fishing line, a wooden bridge, and cow skin) that has graced recordings of jazz trombonist Roswell Rudd, blues maker Taj Mahal, and Bjork's Volta. For an instant, time was suspended. 
Diabate and the Symmetric Orchestra, elsewhere.
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