West African string master Toumani Diabaté takes ancient music in new directions

Toumani Diabaté carries the history of 71 generations in his fingers.

An unsurpassed master of the kora, the 21-string harp played throughout the West African territory once encompassed by the vast Manding Empire, Diabaté belongs to a caste of griots who have maintained an unbroken chain of memory for the Mandé people dating back to the 13th century.

Born in Mali, he hails from kora royalty as the son of Sidiki Diabaté, who recorded the first album featuring the instrument in 1970. Toumani Diabaté made history himself in 1988 with his landmark solo kora album “Kaira” (Hannibal), a tour de force that announced the arrival of a world-class artist.

Over the past two decades, Diabaté has gained widespread attention in the West through his collaborations with Björk, Taj Mahal and Blur’s Damon Albarn, as well as jazz greats Roswell Rudd, Randy Weston and Dee Dee Bridgewater.

He also has become a leader in bringing together West African musicians across ethnic lines through his work in the all-star Symmetric Orchestra, which he documented on the acclaimed 2006 Nonesuch CD “Boulevard de l’Independence.” But on his latest album, “Mandé Variations” (Nonesuch), he returns to the solo context, focusing on traditional melodies informed by his wide-ranging musical travels.

“I’m an ambassador of my country’s culture,” says Diabaté, 43, who performs solo on Wednesday at Herbst Theatre as part of the San Francisco Jazz Festival, and for ZookBeat on Nov. 8 at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz.

“I’m a griot, and I’m open to any collaboration or fusion with anyone who plays music from the heart. When I play with Björk or Dee Dee Bridgewater or Taj Mahal, I don’t play their music; I play my own music, and it comes together with theirs and becomes new music. The music I’m playing has a history, a geography, a legend.”

If “Kaira” announced the arrival of a brash new virtuoso, “Mandé Variations” is the work of a mature artist with an orchestral sensibility capable of playing bass lines, melodic lead and improvisational counterlines simultaneously. The effect is incantatory, as Diabaté creates a rolling, hypnotic vibe that gives the album the feel of an extended suite.

One of the loveliest tracks is “Ali Farka Touré,” a beatific improvisation honoring his mentor, Mali’s late guitar hero, with whom he recorded the Grammy-winning 2005 collaboration “In the Heart of the Moon” (Nonesuch). The kora’s sharp metallic twang seems to mediate between the earthly and the ethereal, as his two-handed flurries flow like a clear, life-giving stream.

“Playing the kora with bass, melody and improvisation is part of the tradition now,” Diabaté says. “My father started doing that, and I’ve been developing the style since I came to the kora. It’s a complete instrument. I feel that I’m representing an orchestra, showing the power and energy that the kora has.”

Diabaté’s belief in his instrument’s potency doesn’t mean he sees it as an unchangeable artifact. Throughout “Mandé Variations,” he alternates between a traditional kora with leather tuning rings and a contemporary “machine-head” instrument with metallic tuning pegs. Both koras are strung with harp strings and nylon fishing line cut from different gauges.

He opens the album on contemporary kora, playing a stunning 10-minute piece based on a traditional song of the Mali’s nomadic Peul people, “Si naani,” and switches to a traditional instrument given him by his father on “Elyne Road,” a melody inspired by UB40’s version of “Kingston Town” combined with a phrase from a traditional song from Mali’s Bamana people.

“When you listen, you can feel the different sounds of the instruments,” Diabaté says. “On ‘Si naani,’ I wanted to transpose the original song to this Egyptian-scale tuning. One thing is to show that the kora is not a limited instrument. It can fit everywhere, depending on how you learn, and how much power you get from God. It’s a really spiritual instrument.”

Diabaté continues to take the kora into uncharted territory. Last week, he collaborated with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra, and plans have been made for a concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, featuring arrangements of material from “Mandé Variations” and “In the Heart of the Moon.”

“That was my dream,” Diabaté says. “When my father was playing the kora, American people said this is very nice music from Africa, but they don’t take the guitar and play with it. When I started to play the kora, I did my own style and made it flexible.

“Today, I work in pop music, rock, jazz, electronic and classical music. Now I’m looking for saxophone players, violin players, trumpet players, piano players and guitar players. If you have any friends who play, let them know.”