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‘Wait till you hear my son, Toumani!’
Tony Burke speaks with LUCY DURAN producer of a reissue series of Toumani’s Diabate recordings

FOUNDED in 1980 Joe Boyd’s Hannibal Records was a world music pioneering record label and Malian kora player Toumani Diabate was one of Boyd’s important signings.

He was the world’s finest exponent of the kora, the 21-stringed instrument which is played by plucking the strings like a harp, but with a richer and resonant sound.

Former BBC Radio 3 World Routes presenter Lucy Duran, a leading authority on African and Cuban music, is currently producing a reissue series of Toumani’s Hannibal releases for Chrysalis Records.

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