The remastered album is available now.
Following the reissue of Toumani Diabaté and Ballaké Sissoko’s New Ancient Strings, in January Chrysalis will release Diabaté’s debut album, 1988’s Kaira.
Toumani Diabaté, who sadly passed away in July of 2024 (described as “a bold and innovative musical visionary” in The Times’ obituary), was a master player of the Malian Kora, a 21-stringed harp. He came from a long line of Kora players, with his family’s oral tradition telling of 70 generations of musicians preceding him, with his own father the renowned and celebrated Sidiki Diabaté, known as ‘the king of the kora’, who recorded the first ever Kora album in 1970.
In 1988, when Diabaté was just 23 years of age, his debut solo album, which mixed the ancient and the modern was released. Hailed as a timeless classic, the album was produced by Lucy Durán and turned him into a star overnight.
Featuring five pieces of music, the album showcases Diabaté’s reputation as an inventive and lyrical performer. The length of the tracks allowed him improvise and to reveal his remarkable talent and incredible virtuosity.
Remastered from the production masters by Phil Kindare, and cut by Jasper Ward, at AIR Mastering and pressed on 180g vinyl and housed in a poly-lined inner sleeve. The album is accompanied by a 12”x12” double-sided insert with new sleevenotes and previously unseen photographs by co-producer Lucy Durán.
Chrysalis Records recently acquired Toumani Diabaté’s albums from Warner Music (originally released on Hannibal Records, the label of acclaimed producer Joe Boyd). The release of Kaira marks the continuation of Chrysalis’s reissue campaign of this extraordinary artist’s music. Listen to the album below.
Photo credit: Lucy Duran
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