Sekou Bembeya Diabate

Sekou "Bembeya" Diabaté, also known as "Diamond Fingers," is a legend of West African guitar. As the lead guitarist for Bembeya Jazz, he helped to pioneer a movement of modern Manding dance music that moved the musical inspiration and lyrical eloquence of the Manding griot tradition onto the dance floors and airwaves of young West African capital cities.

Following the death of Bembeya Jazz's beloved lead singer, Demba Camara, Diabaté became central to the band's draw, and he certainly rose to the occasion, spilling out elegant, fiery solos on record after record. Even when dance bands went into decline in the 1980s, Diabaté forged on recording in a variety of settings. He toured the U.S. with a small band in 1989, and he continues to record and perform both in Conakry and in Europe. His amazing guitar work has influenced and inspired all the guitarists on the African continent.

Anyone who's lucky enough to have seen legendary Guinean combo Bembeya Jazz live can tell you that one of that band's many secret weapons is the gorgeously lilting guitar work of Sekou Diabate. Diabate, nicknamed "Diamond Fingers," is one of the self-taught geniuses of the African guitar; growing up he based his playing on the sounds of the kora, the 24-stringed Manding harp. In his younger years that grounding in Manding tradition helped pioneer a new kind of dance music; today it continues to give his playing a nimbleness and grace that are seldom surpassed. And though he's recorded with Bembeya since the band's heyday in the '70s, he's seldom ventured out to record on his own, making this album a rare treat. The tracks here don't disappoint, either. From the gentle opener "Biduman" to the Latin-tinged "Dianamo" to his signature scorcher "Guitar Fo," Diabate keeps things sweet, simple and absolutely gorgeous with a band that's just bass, drums and guitars, guitars, guitars. —Courtesy Calabash Music