The Malian musician Toumani Diabaté, who has died aged 58 after a short illness, was the undisputed master of the kora, the stately and stirring 21-stringed harp that is the most important classical instrument of west Africa. He played at festivals and concert halls around the world, and worked both as a soloist and with a remarkable array of other artists, ranging from his own Symmetric Orchestra to the guitarist Ali Farka Touré, the London Symphony Orchestra, and musicians from Spain, Cuba and Brazil.
Coming from a caste of traditional musicians and historians, the griots, he traced his family back 71 generations to the era when the Mande empire controlled much of west Africa.
