Senegalese musician Diabel Cissokho is part of the great line of Cissokho griots. Growing up in Dakar and Tambacounda, surrounded by a rich musical heritage and a family of musicians, Diabel began playing a number of traditional instruments. However, Diabel’s affinity with the kora was clear from an early age. Diabel’s musical pedigree is exceptional. International tours with his family’s band Bannaya led to a long stint as Baaba Maal’s kora player, as well as with acclaimed musicians such as Kandia Kouy ate, Pee Wee Ellis, Omar Pene, Cheikh Lo, Ernest Ranglin and Youssou N’Dour.

Now well established in the UK, Diabel’s virtuosic talent, his “resonant voice and rocking kora style” (Songlines),

have been welcomed everywhere from WOMAD and Glastonbury to London’s Barbican, where he performed alongside Femi Kuti, Cheikh Lo and Manu Dibango, and more recently at theQueen Elizabeth Hall, London, with his band. Diabel’s success with bluesman Ramon Goose cemented his reputation as a versatile musician, able to effortlessly cross cultures. Their album Mansana Blues was lauded as “a flavoursome mix of slide guitar, mellow kora and undulating Mandinka rhythms” (fRoots)which “delivers moments of steamy pleasure” (Songlines).

A 2010 European tour culminated in the DNA Culture Project with Ramon, Robert Plant’s guitarist Justin Adams, Gambian riti player Juldeh Camara and bassist Julian Joseph at Dakar’s renowned venue Just4You.

Diabel’s  eagerly  awaited  fourth  album  Tambacounda  Express,  is an  album  that  draws  on  the  eclectic  mix  of  cultures  that  pass  through  the  region  where  he  was  born, Tambacounda  in  Senegal. With  influences  from  Mali,  to  Mauritania,  Guinea,  Niger,  and  Morocco, the result is a rhythmically, lyrically and melodically diverse collection of songs with strong roots in the  blues, alongside the traditional Mandikan melodies of his griot ancestry.

Diabel will be supported by Amira Kheir, hailed as the ‘diva of the Sudanese desert’ (BBC World News).