Kélétigui Diabaté

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Kélétigui Diabaté (1931–30 November 2012) was a famous Malian musician and a master balafon player. He also played guitar and saxophone, coming from a family of musicians. Beginning his career in the 1950s, he helped form the Orchestre de la Garde Républicaine and was a founding guitarist of L’Orchestre National "A" de la République de Mali (Formation A) created at Mali’s independence in 1960. An album by Formation A was released in Germany in 1970.

Diabaté later joined Les Ambassadeurs, led after 1972 by Salif Keita. After a 1978 US tour sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, where he performed with American jazz musicians, he developed his style further and often used two balafons tuned a semitone apart. He reunited with Salif Keita on the 1989 Ko-Yan album and contributed to works by many artists, including Zap Mama, Ketama, and Bonnie Raitt. From 1993 he played with the Symmetric Orchestra led by Toumani Diabaté. Between 1998 and 2009 he performed with Habib Koité’s band Bamada and participated in tours with The Art Ensemble of Chicago’s The Art Ensemble of Africa. He released his own album Sandiya in 2004 on the Contre-Jour label.

Diabaté died in Bamako in November 2012, aged 81, after performing up to a month before his death.