Abdoulaye Diabaté was born in Kela, Mali, to the Diabaté family. Raised in the heart of the Mande tradition from a long line of dialys, Abdoulaye has also spent some twenty years performing contemporary and popular music. His musical career led him to a fusion of these styles. In 1973 he joined the Tenetemba Jazz in Bamako, Mali. Then, he was noted as the lead singer of the Koule Star Band of Kouchala. In 1975 he moved to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where he formed his own twelve piece band, Super Mande. In this band some of the greatest luminaries of West African music circulated as bandmembers: Salif Keita, Mory Kante, Kante Manfila, Ousmane Kouyate and many more... In 1978, Super Mande released its first recording: Wahabia-Ke Daschi. The album was banned from airplay because the title song criticized some marabouts religious leaders. In 1992, Abdoulaye joined the world reknowned Ballets Koteba as a singer and guitarist. He also toured the world with Les Go de Koteba in the mid-nineties. He was noted in 2002 as the star of the Smithsonian Folkways compilation: Badenya, Manden Jaliya in New York City. Abdoulaye was featured on the cover of the album wearing his irresistible smile. Since then, he has made further inroads in the World consciousness with collaborations with jazzmen Don Byron, Peter Apfelbaum and guitarist-journalist Banning Eyre. He also released his own album: Haklima.

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