One of the most appealing aspects of Mande griot culture is the way it is both so flexible and available to new input, while at the same time so fiercely true to its essential sound and character.  The latest, vivid example of this enchanting duality comes from DC-based griot, Cheikh Hamla Diabaté.  I met Diabaté in 1993, when I first went to the home of guitar virtuoso Djelimady Tounkara to record a session for Afropop Worlwide.  Hamala was one of the two ngoni players I recorded that day.  By the time I returned to Bamako to study guitar with Djelimady in 1995, he had moved to Washington, where he’s lived ever since, acting as griot to visiting African dignitaries, performing and speaking about Mande culture, and collaborating with all sorts of local musicians.  Today, the quintessential image of Diabaté is the one that appears on the inside sleeve of his latest CD—the man himself, dressed in traditional garb, ngoni in one hand, cell phone in the other, connecting ancient and modern worlds in real time.

Ake Doni Doni is a wide-ranging, high-spirited session involving many collaborators, from US based griots like Balla Tounkara (kora) and Balla Kouyate (balafon) to bluesman Corey Harris (vocals, slide guitar), to a tabla player, and a large brass section.  The CD was produced by Diabaté and guitarist and African music veteran Michael Shereikis.  Their unhurried approach—reflected in the CD’s title, meaning “take it easy”—pays off beautifully in performances that feel relaxed and intimate, even at full throttle.  The opener sets the mood for what’s to come.  “Den Woulou Lalou”—a song about the pain and nobility of raising children—insinuates a reggae feel, dressed up with fine string riffing and choral vocals.  Hamala’s niece Astou Diabaté delivers the real thing with a terrific lead vocal, deliciously set off by Corey Harris’s metallic slide guitar riffs.  Harris also summos his best djeli-gut-cry on an English language vocal passage. 

The ten tracks that follow include a rolling Wassoulou music groove (“Wanto Doke”), an instrumental guitar feature in which Diabaté lets fly on his six-string axe (“Den Den”), and a joyous reggae-tinged Mande vamp in praise of the maestro’s mother, “Djely Fily Tounkara.”  Diabaté received a Grammy nomination for his provocative collaboration with banjo player Bob Carlin in 2007.  The CD was called From Mali to America, and it broke new ground in exploring the banjo-ngoni connection.  On “Djely Fila Tounkara,” Diabaté completes the circle, bringing the banjo into an African song with delightful results.  He finds just the right tone and attack to make a banjo part that feels completely at home in the seat of Mande music. 

As befitting his griot heritage, Diabaté peppers his CD with praise for people he admires, including a couple of well known figures—Malian President Amadou Toumani Touré and the mysterious Malian patron of musicians Foutanga Babani Sissoko.  It all adds up to a big, warm embrace, a gesture of inclusion that makes Mali and America feel closer than ever.  With this bold and adventurous project, Diabaté gives us a new landmark for Mali music in America.